Typically, when we review higher-tech software, the biggest barrier we see for potential consumers is the high cost of purchase. Of course, many of these apps (such as the previously mentioned Dragon Dictation) offer life-changing features that ultimately make the purchase worth it for persons with disabilities. Sometimes however, we are introduced to an app that is both life-changing for persons with disabilities, as well as being affordable.
Cephable is an accessible control app designed for individuals with physical disabilities, and it’s completely free for personal use. The app uses a combination of voice control, head motion, facial expressions, and virtual buttons to give you unprecedented control over all of your devices, including Mac, PC, Android, and iOS.
The app also offers a ton of AI-bolstered customization options, so you can easily create your own actions for any app that is compatible with Cephable without any kind of programming knowledge required. There’s also a wide variety of pre-made controls and templates to choose from, including mouse and keyboard controls, adapted video game controls, external switch controls, templates for writing and editing, controls for accessing media and browsers, and more.
The voice control functions are highly adaptive and easy to use, and they work across virtually all apps. The speech recognition runs offline, which means that it is both faster and more secure than other always-online speech recognition apps.
The camera controls are even more impressive. Using only a basic webcam, Cephable can track head and face movements and translate them into controls, turning your eyebrows, mouth, and head into input devices. For example, you can turn your head into a virtual mouse, where your head movements translate into mouse movements, and a blink of your right eye translates into a right click.
Cephable also offers a free companion app that allows you to have even more control over your computer. You can add virtual buttons to your phone that will then send inputs to your PC, use motion controls on your phone such as tilting, turning, or shaking, and you can even use your phone’s camera or microphone to control your PC directly. Any settings you adjust or controls you set up are immediately synced across all your devices.
Cephable is available for PC and Mac, and the companion app is available for iOS and Android. Both versions of the app are free for personal use. The app currently supports English, Spanish, and French, with more languages coming soon. To learn more, click here (new window).
This post originally appeared on the AT Help Desk (new window) website.