Hot on the heels of the launch of the Google Pixel 8 smartphone comes a brand new feature, Magnifier, which helps unlock access to visual information for those with low vision. The app has been warmly welcomed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), which played a key role in co-designing Magnifier.
For many partially sighted people, reading travel information such as airport and train station departure boards, printed menus or counter displays at restaurants has long been a source of frustration and a barrier to independence, but this kind of technology is bringing solutions to these challenges.
The latest feature is the new Magnifier app for Google Pixel phones, which enables people to turn their phone’s camera into a live magnifier with powerful zoom, making it possible to see distant sights more clearly, or read small print information. This new app is available for download from Google’s Play Store for those with a Google Pixel 5 or later model. RNIB’s Inclusive Design team assisted Google in designing the technology to solve real needs of people with low vision.
The app features large + and – buttons on screen to control the level of zoom. Users can also adjust various settings like contrast and brightness as well as applying filters to make text easier to read. Pictures captured on the app can be shared to Google Lens' Text Mode with one tap, enabling someone with low vision to listen to it via text-to-speech or copy the text to share to other apps.
There are an estimated two million people living with some form of sight loss in the UK, many of whom already use a range of technological solutions to help them with everyday tasks which are made more difficult because of their sight. The magnifier offers useful functions for everyone, not just those who are registered as sight impaired.
Robin Spinks, Head of Inclusive Design for RNIB, and himself a low vision Pixel user, said: “I was excited to be able to work with Google’s Pixel team to build a vision of what Magnifier could be, and I have been delighted to see the buzz generated among the low vision community for this game-changing technology.
“Part of the process involved us working with Google designers to develop examples of how partially sighted people might integrate this technology into their daily lives. Whether it’s allowing you to quickly take out your phone and view the menu on the back wall at the coffee shop or zooming in on the information display at the train station to check you are heading to the right platform, it takes away some of the frictions of living in a world designed by fully sighted people.”
This new technology follows the launch of Google’s Accessibility Discovery Centre (ADC) in the UK. The ADC, which launched in Google’s King’s Cross office last year and built in consultation with the RNIB, serves as a space where Google’s engineers, researchers, product teams can work with partners to build new kinds of helpful accessible technologies to remove more of the barriers that people with disabilities face every day.
Christopher Patnoe, Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, EMEA at Google said: "We're delighted to see this feature come to life on Pixel, and it’s been wonderful to collaborate with RNIB to develop this technology to better assist people living with low vision across the globe.
“Collaborations like this are exactly why we opened our Accessibility Discovery Centre in the UK last year. The centre serves as a space for our product teams to work with partners to help build new accessible technologies to remove more of the barriers that people with disabilities face every day. We look forward to continuing this vital work with RNIB and other partners."
The Google Pixel 8 also sees an update to the Guided Frame feature, which was launched in 2022 and uses audio and haptic prompts to help blind and low-vision Pixel users take selfies, and which is now available on the rear camera setting too.
For more information and support around a range of different technologies, see Assistive aids and technology | RNIB, and how to use Pixel Magnifier here. Additionally, see Magnifier in action in a video featuring 12-year-old coin enthusiast Brendan using Magnifier to zoom in on details in his collection.
