Sesame Enable Unveils App that Turns Android into Touch-Free Smartphone

Sesame Enable announced today at Google I/O the launch of its technology as a downloadable app, enabling millions of people with disabilities to utilize Google’s next release of Android as a completely touch-free smartphone. Sesame Enable, based in Israel, is demonstrating its solution at Google I/O as part of the Google.org initiatives.

Android N, Google’s newest OS for Android devices, will be equipped with new AP’s for accessibility services that enable users with motor impairments to interact with the screen. The new APIs will facilitate features such as face-tracking, eye-tracking and point scanning to meet the needs of quadriplegics, people with spinal cord injuries, severe arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, and any other impairment that limits a user’s ability to touch the phone.

Users of the Android N will be able to download the Sesame Enable app from the Google Play store. The app will be available through a subscription-based model, with the first month of use offered for free. The free trial month will empower users to evaluate the Sesame solution according to their specific needs.

Until now, Sesame Enable was available exclusively as a hardware solution, in which Google’s Nexus 5 was preconfigured by the Sesame team as the world’s first completely touch-free smartphone. This groundbreaking technological solution for the disabled population has won acclaim from around the world, including Verizon’s Powerful Answers Award, Michael Bloomberg’s Genesis Generation Challenge and the Nominet Trust 100. Sesame was also a finalist for the 2016 SXSW Interactive Innovation Award.

Google recently announced a beta for voice control to command some primary Android functions. The Sesame Enable app will allow people with disabilities to utilize ALL smartphone functions and apps, making all aspects of the smartphone fully accessible to them. Face-tracking, point scanning and eye-tracking are features that will allow millions of people with motor disabilities to use a smartphone independently for the first time in their lives.

Google has been a major player in the campaign to improve technological accessibility for people with disabilities. This year, Google’s philanthropic arm donated $1 million in order for Sesame Enable to provide its technology for free to every single Israeli who needs it. The project, administered by Israel’s Beit Issie Shapiro, is ongoing, and is empowering people with disabilities who were until recently disconnected from their loved ones and required the near-constant assistance of aids in order to communicate.