BlindSquare vs Orinav

BlindSquare is pioneering accessible navigation both indoors and outdoors. Know where you are, know where you're going, travel with confidence. BlindSquare is a new solution that combines the latest technology to help the blind with their daily lives. It has been developed in collaboration with blind people and carefully field tested. You need either an iPhone or an iPad to get started. It also supports some additional accessories to enhance the experience. How does it work? BlindSquare uses GPS and the compass to locate you. It then gathers information about the surrounding environment from FourSquare. BlindSquare has some unique algorithms to decide what information is the most relevant and then speaks it to you with high quality speech synthesis. “What's the most popular café within 200 meters radius? Where is the post office or the library?” You can control BlindSquare also through voice commands. The Voice Command feature is a premium service requiring purchase of credits for continuous use. Voice Command Credits are available as an in-app purchase on the App Store. Using BlindSquare as a GPS solution: When you start the app, it will start telling you the interesting places and street crossings around you. By changing the radius, you can limit the area you are interested in. You can also search by search term or by category. You can select an interesting place from the search results and perform the following tasks: 1) Get contact info (address, phone number) 2) Open twitter feed or restaurant menu (if provided) 3) Make a phone call 4) Start tracking the place (BlindSquare will assist you by repeating the distance and the clock face direction) 5) Start your favourite navigator for turn-by-turn instructions (TomTom, Navigon or Apple Maps) BlindSquare is aware of when you travel by car, bus or train and starts to report interesting places in front of you (for example, the next stops) and street crossings when you are passing them. You can also save your own private places to iCloud so they will be found with your every device. Using BlindSquare as a Foursquare client: If you like to play Foursquare, you can do the following with BlindSquare: 1) Get a list of nearby FourSquare venues 2) When you are in a place, you can check in by shaking your device 3) Do a check in with commenting and twitter/facebook sharing 4) Correct the location of the place BlindSquare supports the following languages: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean (South Korea), Norwegian, Polish, Portugues, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. VoiceOver usage is supported but it also includes higher quality additional speech synthesis by Acapela Text-To-Speech from Acapela Group. Instructions in English: https://www.blindsquare.com/user-guide/ and https://www.blindsquare.com/faq/ Please note: This app retrieves data in real time from Foursquare and Open Street Map. Use of a flat rate data plan is highly recommended. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Having only been released in May 2012, BlindSquare has already received several prizes and awards: - GSMA: Global Mobile Awards 2013, Best Mobile Health Product or Service - Apps4Finland 2012 - OpenCities App Challenge 2012 - The Finnish Information Processing Association: Best Product 2012 Please note: To use BlindSquare, your iCloud account has to be active so BlindSquare can access it to save your settings and places. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

Explore freely, move boldly. Orinav is an AI-powered navigation app built for people with visual impairments. Plan accessible routes and receive clear walking guidance while understanding what is happening around you — all from one app designed for independent travel. NAVIGATE WITH CLEAR, ACCESSIBLE GUIDANCE* Orinav gives you frequent, practical instructions throughout your journey. Hear when to make your next turn, how far you have left to walk, which direction to face, and other information relevant to your route. • Clock-face orientation — Hear prompts such as Turn 3 o'clock to quickly align yourself with the correct direction. • Step-based guidance — Get instructions based on walking distance and upcoming actions. • Frequent route updates — Receive information throughout your journey so you can keep track of where you are. • Shake to repeat — Repeat the latest navigation instruction whenever you need it. • Accessible route information — Compare routes using details such as tactile paving and other accessibility-related infrastructure. • Screen-reader support — Orinav is designed to work with accessibility technologies including VoiceOver. EXPLORE YOUR SURROUNDINGS WITH AI Raise your phone whenever you want more information about the environment around you. Explore uses on-device intelligence to recognize useful details in real time while working alongside navigation. Orinav can help identify: • Nearby obstacles and obstacle-dense areas • Objects in your surroundings • Traffic lights and signal information • Pedestrian crossings • Hazards and other useful environmental cues Explore works together with Navigate, allowing environmental information to appear when it is relevant to your journey. Orinav uses navigation context to automatically activate features that may be useful along the way. ONE APP FOR THE WHOLE JOURNEY Accessible travel can involve many different kinds of information. Orinav brings route planning, turn-by-turn guidance, orientation, crossing information, traffic-light recognition, and environmental awareness into a single navigation experience. There is no additional wearable hardware to buy. Orinav uses the phone you already carry. PRIVACY-FOCUSED ENVIRONMENT RECOGNITION Explore features use on-device machine learning, allowing environmental recognition to run directly on your device. This keeps environmental processing close to you while giving you immediate information as you travel. DESIGNED WITH PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS Orinav has been developed through research and field evaluation with people with varying degrees of visual impairment. In a study involving 18 participants on a typical suburban route, Orinav was associated with a 12% improvement in navigation time, 44% fewer hesitations, and 43% fewer hazard approaches compared with a traditional navigation application. Orinav has now been awarded Highly Commended at the Tech4Good Awards 2026 and selected as an Inclusive Innovations Presenter in 2025. EXPLORE FREELY. MOVE BOLDLY. It is free to get started. Download Orinav and bring accessible navigation and environmental awareness together wherever your next journey takes you. IMPORTANT HEALTH AND SAFETY INFORMATION Orinav is provided for informational and navigational assistance purposes only. Orinav is not a medical device. It should not be relied upon as the sole means of navigation and does not replace service animals, mobility aids, orientation and mobility training, or professional medical or safety advice. You remain solely responsible for your own safety and for exercising independent judgment while using Orinav. Orinav cannot be held liable for any health or safety issues that may occur during your usage. Terms of service: https://orinav.com/terms Privacy policy: https://orinav.com/privacy *Features may not be available in all countries.