Vorail: Social Media for People with Vision Loss

October 15, 2016 | 1 Comment

by David Flament, Manager of Adaptive Technology

Tags: Blind, Facebook, iPhone, social media, Vorail

I have found a new iOS (iPhone and iPad) app called Vorail I think is really cool.  Vorail is the exciting new social media app designed specifically for the low vision and blind community.  The developers of Vorail call it Facebook for the blind.  And just in case you’re wondering, it’s free!

 

How It Works

I use Facebook all the time but still find plenty of uses for the Vorail app.  Rather than typing in text posts and receiving text responses, posts are in the people’s actual voices.  When I want to leave a post, the app records my own voice and everyone hears my voice as the post.  Likewise, when someone responds to my post, the app records their voice and I hear their reply in their own voice.  In Vorail, posts are called “Questions,” but they can be questions, comments or updates, just like in Facebook.

 

Accessibility

The app is simple to use with a menu along the bottom of the screen.  From left to right, the menu options include Feeds, Questions, Inbox, Likes and Ask Me. Here’s a rundown of what each tab contains:

• Feeds:  gives you a list of every answer (or response) to each question (or post) similar to the comments on a Facebook post.
• Questions:  Lists all the questions similar to people’s posts on Facebook.  Unlike Facebook, you don’t have a personalized news feed, you see every single post from every person on Vorail.
• Inbox: The place where all your private messages and answers to your questions are located.  Once you listen to, or answer a message, it disappears from your inbox.  Did I mention you can send private messages to a single person similar to chatting with them?
• Likes: People who have liked you and people you have liked.  If you like each other, this is a mutual like.  Once you have a mutual like with someone, all your private messages with that person are saved in this location.
• Ask Me: The place where you let the Vorail community know which topics you are knowledgeable about and feel comfortable answering related questions.

 

Signing Up

When you first sign up, and the sign up is short, you will receive several messages in your inbox explaining how to use Vorail.  You should start by listening to these messages.  They will get you going in no time.

I look forward to hearing you on Vorail!

David is the Manager of Adaptive Technology at Second Sense.