Vadim Artsev († March 2021), a totally blind user of The vOICe vision glasses in Russia, won the
![]() ![]()
A YouTube
The vOICe vision glasses will next compete head-on with the
| ![]() |
The goal of the usage notes is to
minimize the need for sighted assistance. The VISION-800 smart glasses come with the Google TalkBack
screen reader (part of the Android Accessibility Suite), Google text-to-speech and Google Play pre-installed.
If you are blind then you probably need only one-time sighted assistance to activate the Google TalkBack
screen reader, and should be able to do everything else independently. The self-contained glasses include
two mono earbuds, one for each leg, that together give stereo.
Instructions
![]() |
Once connected to Google Play, the automatic update process will start for pre-installed apps, which may help fix regular pop-up error messages that you may have encountered up to this point e.g. with the Google or Google Play app. The automatic update process can take half an hour or so, depending on connection speed.
By default The vOICe will launch automatically after a reboot (except when a screen reader is running) for blind accessibility out-of-the-box, but you can readily change this default behavior in The vOICe's own Options menu, via the entry Other settings. There you can also toggle the built-in cataract simulator on and off, a feature that is meant to let normally sighted users experience blindness in combination with The vOICe sensory substitution, whereas blind or low vision users may prefer the more detailed high contrast view that closely matches the soundscape content.
![]() |
In case you do not have access to Google Play you can also get the latest version
of The vOICe for Android directly as an APK file
vOICeAndroid.apk and install it with
ADB
using the command "adb install -r -g vOICeAndroid.apk" (leave out the -g option if your device does not know it
or if it returns an error message like "You need the android.permission.INSTALL_GRANT_RUNTIME_PERMISSIONS permission" that you cannot resolve
via system Settings | Developer options | "USB debugging (Security settings)" in addition to "USB debugging" and "Install via USB").
Next launch the app on your device. You can also launch it from the PC with "adb shell am start -n vOICe.vOICe/.The_vOICe",
and uninstall it from the PC with "adb uninstall vOICe.vOICe".
Beware: the last version of The vOICe for Android supported by the VISION-800 glasses is 2.72b with APK file vOICeAndroid2.72b.apk, because the Android development tools stopped supporting Android 4.4 (API level 19) as used by the VISION-800 glasses. So installing The vOICe for Android on VISION-800 can soon no longer be done via Google Play nor using vOICeAndroid.apk but must be done with this last compatible APK file.
Congenitally blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
For more information about learning to see with sound, check out The vOICe Training Manual for the blind |
Information in Russian / Информация на русском языке
|
![]() |
Blind user of The vOICe in Russia fetching multiple objects |
Blind user of The vOICe in Russia playing billiards |
Blind user of The vOICe in Russia following line |
Blind user of The vOICe in Russia running |
Other smart glasses for The vOICe (Vuzix and others)
The vOICe for Android is known to run also on smart glasses from
Vuzix
(
Vuzix App Store),
Epson Moverio
(
ThirdEye Gen (
ThirdEye App Store),
Optinvent
and
Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 (no longer supported as of September 2023).
The vOICe for Android runs on Vuzix Blade smart glasses and even won the Vuzix Blade augmented reality glasses contest in the
Personal category
(
2020 Vuzix press release), and also runs on the newer and more powerful Vuzix Shield smart glasses.
Preliminary test reports indicate that The vOICe for Android also runs on the
RayNeo X2 glasses
from TCL and on the
ARGO smartglasses
from DigiLens that both have a camera in the bridge above the nose. Adaptations to the user interface may follow in future releases of The vOICe for Android
after hands-on testing. Expand the text below for further details.
Other smart glasses that may be able to run The vOICe for Android (untested!) include the
Air 2 smartglasses
from INMO.
The vOICe for Android has not yet been prepared to detect these glasses as smartglasses as needed to automatically switch its user interface into smartglasses mode.
Companies seeking to have their new smart glasses detected by The vOICe can contact the developer to provide the required android.os.Build parameters.
Please note that sound quality of smart glasses is often mediocre at best, such that you may
want to use them in combination with a Bluetooth stereo bone conduction headset such as the
Shokz (formerly AfterShokz) Aeropex. Good quality headphones make The vOICe soundscapes far less obtrusive.
Note that on smart glasses running Android 11 or later you may get a permissions dialog at app startup asking you to give permission to let The vOICe for Android display over other apps. This is an Android quirk, because this permission only serves to enable The vOICe to launch automatically after a reboot ("autostart"). This is a necessary feature for blind users if the smart glasses lack a screen reader, because in that case blind users cannot navigate the home screen on their own to manually locate and launch The vOICe app.
When using the cataract simulator as a normally sighted person, it is advisable to add opaque shades to the smart glasses in order to only see the degraded view for a realistic simulation of what it is like to have cataracts. Such shades are not needed for the VISION-800 glasses, because contrary to most other smart glasses they have no semi-transparent "see-through" display.
Congenitally blind user of The vOICe wearing Vuzix Blade smart glasses |
Beware that it is currently unknown which smart glasses other than the VISION-800 glasses can make good
use of Google's
TalkBack
screen reader for blind accessibility. At the time of writing, Vuzix Blade 2 glasses come with Android 11
but do not include nor support the Google TalkBack screen reader, so you may need to install another
screen reader such as the Jieshuo screen reader.
Controlling smart glasses with switches, scroll wheels or tiny touchpads can be laborious and error-prone, and sighted users may therefore while configuring smart glasses complement this by connecting
the glasses to a PC via USB and using scrcpy USB for more convenient access to the various settings on the glasses.
+ Show additional notes about smart glasses (expand text)
The Vuzix Blade glasses run an older version of Android, Android 5.1.1 (API level 22), and something in recent versions of the Android development tools or their associated Google libraries broke that causes The vOICe for Android to crash at launch, but you can still install and run The vOICe for Android version 2.68 with APK file vOICeAndroid2.68.apk on the Vuzix Blade glasses.
Additional notes for Vuzix Blade 2 glasses (you likely need sighted assistance with some of the steps):
In order to install APK files, first enable developer mode via Settings | System | About, and swipe left (forward) until developer mode is activated. Next enable ADB debugging in the Dev Options. Via a USB connection a PC you can install the APK file of theJieshuo screen reader (also known as the Commentary screen reader, CSR), through the
ADB command "adb install -r -g jieshuo-20240401.apk" (adapt the version number as needed for later versions) and run its setup wizard on the Blade glasses, giving permissions as needed. Under Settings | Personal | Accessibility, in the Text-to-Speech output dialog set the preferred engine to Jieshuo+, and in the Jieshuo+ dialog turn on the screen reader. Beware: you may find that this switch remains stuck at the off position, in which case you need to apply the ADB command "adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.nirenr.talkman/com.nirenr.talkman.TalkManAccessibilityService" to activate the Jieshuo screen reader, and under the Text-to-speech output dialog select as Preferred engine Jieshuo+. To let the Jieshuo screen reader automatically start upon a reboot it may be necessary to explicitly set the permission to "Display over other apps" using "adb shell pm grant com.nirenr.talkman android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW". The Jieshuo screen reader can if desired be uninstalled with "adb uninstall com.nirenr.talkman", or you can merely kill its current activity with "adb shell am force-stop com.nirenr.talkman". Other quirks include that some menu items remain unspoken, or even that that the screen reader beeps but does not speak at all via the built-in speakers, in which case you must use a separate Bluetooth audio headset to get speech (one report suggests that the built-in speakers started to give speech after this step, which would be very weird but is mentioned here for completeness). Moreover, even with the Jieshuo screen reader speaking most menu items, it may not speak all of them, in which case you need to install and use the
Vuzix Companion app on your phone as a stopgap to have silent items spoken via the screen reader on your phone. Finally, the home screen icons of the Blade 2 glasses are still unlabeled, such that a screen reader cannot speak and identify them for blind users. This makes it hard for blind users to select a launch a desired app. Hopefully Vuzix will fix this general oversight through a firmware update, as well as bundle and support the Google TalkBack screen reader, such that activation via menus under Settings | Personal | Accessibility, or if nothing else works through the ADB command "adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.google.android.marvin.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService", will then activate the TalkBack screen reader and give speech. Currently TalkBack doesn't work on the Blade 2 glasses, even after installing the
Android Accessibility Suite for 32-bit devices from the APKMirror website with "adb install -r -g com.google.android.marvin.talkback_13.1.0.501229322-60129517_minAPI26(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk" and activating TalkBack there is only an occasional split second of speech, as if TalkBack speech is always cut off. The Jieshuo screen reader works well though.
Attempts to get the 32-bit version of the
Prudence screen reader to work on the Blade 2 glasses failed in similar fashion to Google TalkBack: installing its APK file using the ADB command "adb install -r -g psr_32.apk" worked, but the switch to activate the Prudence screen reader via Settings | Personal | Accessibility remained stuck at the off position. Alternative activation through the ADB command "adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.prudence.reader/com.prudence.reader.TalkBackService" then worked to turn on the Prudence screen reader, but it still gave no speech. So for now only the Jieshuo screen reader can be made to work and speak on the Vuzix Blade 2 smart glasses, and hopefully Vuzix and Google can figure out why and fix the various above-mentioned accessibility issues.
Many thanks go to The Yangsi Michael Dillon, Stefan Moisei, Nimer Jaber and Jacob Kruger for help with finding the above workarounds for making the Vuzix Blade 2 glasses accessible to blind users using the Jieshuo screen reader and for suggestions for use of other screen readers.
Contrary to the original Vuzix Blade glasses running Android 5.5, the newer Vuzix Blade 2 glasses running Android 11 may show stability issues where the glasses suddenly and completely power off after launching The vOICe, which ought to be impossible for an app and requires a 15 second long-press on the power button to get the glasses running again. No solution is known yet.
Additional notes for Vuzix Shield glasses:
You can install the Jieshuo screen reader as described above, and you need to separately grant permission to The vOICe to "Display over other apps" using "adb shell pm grant vOICe.vOICe android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW". Beyond these few steps and granting Jieshuo all the permissions that it asks for, preliminary and very limited testing suggests that blind accessibility of the Vuzix Shield glasses (using the Jieshuo screen reader) is out-of-the-box much better than with the Blade 2 glasses.
Additional notes for TCL RayNeo X2 glasses:
In preliminary testing of The vOICe for Android on RayNeo X2 glasses, a suspected firmware bug was found (CameraInfo.orientation = 0 instead of 90), causing the camera view to appear 90 degree rotated. As of The vOICe for Android version 2.69 a workaround has been included to handle this firmware bug. The RayNeo X2 glasses do not include the Google Play store.To enable installation of APK files on the RayNeo X2 glasses, apply the ADB command "adb shell settings put global mercury_install_allowed 1". After that you should be able to install The vOICe APK file (download link given above) with "adb install -r -g vOICeAndroid.apk" and launch it from the home screen of the glasses or from the PC using the ADB command "adb shell am start -n vOICe.vOICe/.The_vOICe". Some permission dialogs automatically vanish after mere seconds, making it hard to grant permission even if sighted, notably the permission dialog for "Display over other apps" as required for automatic launch of The vOICe after reboot. This permission is not even listed by the RayNeo X2 glasses under system Settings | General | App permissions | The vOICe for Android, but can be granted using ADB with "adb shell pm grant vOICe.vOICe android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW". The RayNeo X2 glasses come without a text-to-speech (TTS) engine, so The vOICe will initially not be self-voicing. It was found that installing the
RHVoice APK file worked (using "adb install com.github.olga_yakovleva.rhvoice.android_114000.apk", adapt APK version number as needed), but doing so is at your own risk because safety of this source is unknown. This may be OK if you treat the RayNeo X2 glasses as an insecure device for all your use cases.
Also note that access to the various options and settings of The vOICe app on RayNeo X2 glasses is currently only available if a screen reader is active and detected. Moreover, the glasses require usage of the RayNeo X2 ring for interacting with regular side-loaded Android apps, or else it refuses to launch the app or gives a split binocular view with different halves of the app screen showing to left and right eye. The ring adds the hassle of often having to reconnect to the ring to proceed, and overall degrades the user experience for stand-alone smartglasses with built-in touchpads. In addition, the ring needs to recharge at inconvenient times as it has a battery of its own. Technically there is no reason to require use of the ring with side-loaded Android apps, because the RayNeo X2 glasses already "know" that an Android app is side-loaded, or else the ring connection dialog could not pop up. The glasses just need to start up by default in the proper monocular screen mode where both eyes get the same view, without any involvement of the RayNeo X2 ring. The manufacturer seems to further discourage use of regular side-loaded Android apps through distorted display colors and lowered brightness.
The various issues and limitations are under investigation. Currently, without a screen reader, a double tap exits The vOICe, a slow forward (backward) swipe on the right leg touchpad halves (doubles) the scan rate, and a fast forward (backward) fling additionally toggles the talking color identifier (negative video mode) on and off. The touchpad on the left leg can be used to adjust audio volume through forward and backward swiping. The screen may show some artifacts resulting from mapping a monocular app view to a binocular display, such as showing some items only in one eye. This was the price to pay for not having to connect and use the RayNeo X2 ring when launching The vOICe as a dedicated X2 app in binocular screen mode.
You can install and run the Jieshuo screen reader as described above. However, there are still many blind accessibility issues with touch and swipe handling on the RayNeo X2 glasses, such that the glasses cannot be recommended to blind users for general system navigation and app use. For instance, swiping tends to generate bursts of touch events that make focus jump across many user interface items in a list of items, making it next to impossible to simply navigate to a next item. Hopefully, TCL will address the core issues through future firmware upgrades. Until then, basic use of exclusively The vOICe and no other apps, automatically launching The vOICe through autostart, works well enough on RayNeo X2 glasses. General blind accessibility looks too broken. Best results have thus far been obtained by changing the default gesture handling of Jieshuo: in Jieshuo, go to Operation settings | Gestures default settings | Default navigation gestures style, and select Default2. Then a fast quad tap (4 taps) acts as the back button for leaving dialogs and apps. Alternatively, a fast backward and forward swipe in one move does the same. In the app center, a fast forward and backward swipe in one move enters a scroll mode where you can move focus among apps with single swipes. The gestures may be a bit tricky to master. Finally, to turn the RayNeo X2 glasses off you press the power button for about 5 seconds, followed by a tap on the right touchpad to shut down (which then gives a brief confirmation sound).
Users and developers alike can report experiences and bugs encountered with the RayNeo X2 glasses on
Discord (TCL RayNeo Developer channel) and
Facebook (RayNeo X2 True AR Glasses Launch Group). Thanks go to Mikael Holmgren for his invaluable help with investigating blind accessibility options for the RayNeo X2 glasses.
Notes for manufacturers and vendors of Android smartglasses:
The Google TalkBack screen reader for blind people is available for free from Google viaTalkBack on GitHub under a permissive
Apache License 2.0 for TalkBack, also for commercial use. A free text-to-speech (TTS) engine is eSpeak, available from e.g.
eSpeak on GitHub under a
GPL version 3 license for eSpeak. Need legal advice to decide if this license is compatible with bundling TalkBack and eSpeak in commercial smartglasses provided that TalkBack source code can be provided at no charge?
Moreover, many brands and types of smart glasses are not yet
so-called Google Approved or Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) compliant Android devices. Manufacturers
need a corresponding license from Google to sell devices with for instance the Google Play store app
and Google Play Services (Google Mobile Services, GMS) pre-installed. The vOICe will degrade gracefully
upon lacking the latter, but it may lack some features such as the real-time talking OCR function.
However, although the manufacturer may not be licensed to do so, you might as a (blind or sighted)
end user still be able to legally download and install
Google Play Services
by side-loading its APK. In order to find out which version (for which Android version and CPU type)
to download you can make use of the
Play Services Info app
by weberdo. Even so, there is no known way to get Google Play Services to work on Google Glass, and
in general you should expect that the OCR functionality of The vOICe is not available on smart glasses.
Can The vOICe be used with a Facebook/Meta Quest headset?
Unfortunately not: although the Quest headsets run Android apps, and although you can sideload and run The vOICe for Android on for instance the Meta Quest 2, it then only gives error messages about not being able to access the camera until it gives up after about half a minute. This access limitation is due to Facebook/Meta policies that block third-party Android apps (and web apps) from pixel-level access to the live (passthrough) camera view, because technically there is otherwise no reason why The vOICe could not be used on the Quest 2, Quest 3 or Quest Pro just like it can be used on an Android smartphone. It is hoped that Meta will someday lift this accessibility constraint, because the Quest headsets could then make for a nice training device for learning to see with sound.
More sample videos
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
Blind user of The vOICe wearing VISION-800 smart glasses |
In order to pair Shokz Bluetooth bone conduction headphones without sighted assistance, apply the following steps:
If the pairing does not work the first time, you can reset the headphones via the following steps:
Your headphones are now reset and can be re-paired to your glasses. If it still did not work then reboot your glasses.
The VISION-800 glasses have a tiny reset hole on the inner side of the glasses, between the left hinge and the left eye piece. The reset button can be pressed by gently pushing a needle in the reset hole, which will turn off the device in case it was stuck in some way. However, it is not known if this helps with any of the problems discussed on this page.