I get pitched a lot. Most of it I delete. But every once in a while, something lands in my inbox or my podcast feed and I think — okay, this one’s worth paying attention to. So I’m starting an occasional series here on the blog: companies and tools in the blind and low vision AT space that I think are worth keeping an eye on, with honest takes on what they’re doing well and where the catches are.
Quick ground rules so we’re clear: nobody on this list paid me a dime. I haven’t necessarily tested every product personally. I’m flagging them because I find what they’re building genuinely interesting, not because I’m endorsing them. You’re smart enough to make your own decisions — I just want to make sure you know they exist.
Let’s get into it.
1. AGIGA — EchoVision Smart Glasses
AGIGA is a Silicon Valley startup that launched EchoVision in early 2026. Smart glasses with a wide field-of-view camera, open-ear audio, a physical button, and on-device AI running on a Snapdragon chip. Press a button for scene descriptions, switch to reading mode for printed text with audio cues that help you position the camera, or connect hands-free to Aira agents or Be My Eyes volunteers.
What I like: the 110-degree field of view is wider than most competitors, which matters because you don’t have to swing your head around like you’re tracking a fly to capture a scene. The hands-free remote assistance integration is genuinely useful. And $599 is on the more accessible end of dedicated AT glasses — way below OrCam, well below Envision’s wearable.
The honest catch: the AI service is a subscription on top of the hardware, so you’re committing to ongoing cost. And they’re swimming upstream against Meta Ray-Bans, which run $300 and now integrate with Be My Eyes. Whether a dedicated AT device wins out over a mainstream device with AT features added is the open question for every company on this list.
2. Envision — Ally Solos Glasses
Envision has been around longer than most, but they’re worth flagging here because their Ally Solos collaboration represents a different strategy than AGIGA. CEO Karthik Mahadevan has said publicly he doesn’t believe a manufacturer focused only on the blind community can be both affordable and viable long-term, so Envision is partnering with mainstream eyewear maker Solos and putting their accessibility-first Ally AI assistant on it.
Ally reads print, describes scenes, scans documents, searches the web, checks your calendar — it’s trying to be a daily-driver AI assistant, not just a vision aid. Pricing runs around $699 with a year of Ally included, then $10 per month after.
The honest catch: subscription model again. And you’re betting on Envision’s software being good enough long-term to justify the monthly fee versus the free or near-free options that keep improving (Be My AI, Seeing AI, Meta’s own AI). I’d argue the bet is reasonable — Envision has been iterating on this problem for years — but it’s still a bet.
3. Glidance — Glide
This one isn’t glasses. Glide is a self-guided mobility aid — two all-terrain wheels, a telescoping handle, AI and sensors built in. You nudge it forward and it physically steers you through your environment. Sidewalks, malls, airports. It’s not a guide dog replacement, and it’s not pretending to be, but for folks who don’t have a dog or want something supplemental for unfamiliar environments, it’s a genuinely novel approach.
I’ll be honest, Norris has my heart and isn’t going anywhere. But I know plenty of people in our community who either can’t have a dog, don’t want one, or use a cane and would love an option that’s smarter than a cane but doesn’t involve a living creature with vet bills.
The honest catch: it’s hardware-heavy, which means cost and durability questions. And mobility devices in particular have a long history of looking great in CES demos and then quietly disappearing. Worth watching, not yet worth committing to.
4. HapWare
HapWare won the CTA Foundation Innovation Challenge at CES 2026 — a wristband that pairs with Meta and other smart glasses to give wearers haptic feedback about social cues. Where people are looking, facial expressions, that kind of thing. The team includes Bryan Duarte as CTO, who’s blind himself and holds a Ph.D., which I think shows up in the product design.
Why I find this interesting: most AT glasses today focus on visual information about objects and text. Social information — am I making eye contact, is the person across from me smiling, did someone just walk into the room — is way harder and way more important for a lot of daily situations. If HapWare can actually nail this, it solves a problem the big players haven’t.
The honest catch: it’s early. Winning an innovation challenge is not the same as shipping a reliable product to thousands of users. But the problem they’re trying to solve is real, and the team has lived experience driving it.
5. OKO AI
OKO is a phone app that uses your rear camera to detect pedestrian walk and don’t walk signals and gives you audio feedback in real time. Not flashy. Not a wearable. Just a focused tool that solves one specific problem — knowing when it’s safe to cross a street where the city hasn’t bothered to install accessible pedestrian signals.
I include this one because not every important AT advance has to be a $600 piece of hardware. Some of the best stuff in our space is a focused mobile app solving a real problem. OKO is a great example of that, and it’s a good reminder that you don’t need to wait for the next big wearable to get value out of what’s already on your phone.
6. Be My Eyes Foundation
Last one, and this is a different category entirely. Be My Eyes the app has been a household name in our community for years. What’s newer — announced at CSUN 2026 — is the Be My Eyes Foundation, a nonprofit arm focused on broader accessibility impact beyond the app itself.
I’m flagging this because I think the move from “AT company” to “AT company plus foundation” is going to be a trend, and how Be My Eyes navigates it matters for the whole space. The app itself remains free and one of the most genuinely useful tools we have. The foundation is one to watch.
A few honest observations to close
The AT space in 2026 is more crowded than it’s ever been, and that’s mostly good. More competition means better products and lower prices. But it also means more noise, more vaporware, and more companies that look great on a Kickstarter page and then ghost.
A few patterns I’d encourage you to think about before you pull out your card for anything in this space:
- Subscription costs add up. A $599 device with a $20/month AI subscription is a $1,079 device over two years. Do that math on anything you’re considering.
- Mainstream is catching up fast. Meta Ray-Bans with Be My Eyes integration aren’t a dedicated AT device, but they’re $300 and the AI is getting genuinely good. That changes the value calculation on niche devices.
- Abandonment is real. A 2026 study from NYU and Cornell looked at why so much AT ends up in a drawer. The biggest reasons: bad design, ugly aesthetics, users not involved in development, and inadequate training. Ask hard questions about training and support before you buy anything.
- The CES darling is not always the CES survivor. Every January there’s a hot new AT product. Most of them are gone by the next CES. Give new entrants a year or two before you commit.
I’ll do another one of these every few months as the landscape shifts. If there’s a company or tool you think I should be watching, drop me a line through the contact page. I read everything, even if I can’t reply to everything.
Stay groovy. Lots of love.
— Tony
Tony Gebhard 