App Showcase: Black Lens

Project Manager by day, first-ever blind reality-show contestant, and now an app developer! Meet Steve.

Steve has always been excited to make apps, but without a technical background, the path wasn’t easy. Steve has about 10% vision, meaning he can typically see one or two letters on a screen at a time. Traditional development tools just aren’t made with someone like Steve in mind. And then he chanced across Bitrig.

Because Bitrig is fully accessible, Steve was able to hit the ground running. Dictation makes it easy to work with the AI, VoiceOver reads out the transcript, and the entire interface is designed to be navigable with assistive technology. Like SwiftUI, Bitrig was built with accessibility in mind, ensuring that everyone can create great apps that are themselves accessible.

Thanks to his passion and determination, and Bitrig’s approachable stack, Steve is now a bona fide app developer! His first app, Black Lens, which helps people with low-vision take great selfies, is available now on the App Store. “As a blind person, everything is difficult,” Steve told us. “It’s like walking around with a thorn in your paw. Bitrig is like pulling out that thorn.”

This isn’t the first time Steve has blazed a trail. He recently appeared on a reality TV show near his UK home, becoming the first blind contestant to compete. In Hunted, Series 8, he embodied the role of a fugitive, attempting to outsmart the authorities. This is a #nospoiler zone, but you can read all about Steve’s entertaining descent into a life of crime.

Steve’s journey as a developer is only beginning. Keep an eye on the App Store for more of his apps, coming soon.