Oko It is a testament to the power of simplicity.
The 2024 Apple Design Award winner for Inclusivity and the 2024 App Store Award winner for Cultural Impact leverages Artificial Intelligence to help people who are blind or have low vision navigate pedestrian sidewalks by alerting them to the status of signs (“Walk,” “Don’t Walk,” and similar) through haptic, audio, and visual feedback. The app instantly gives more confidence to its users. Its basic user interface masks a powerful combination of visual and artificial intelligence tools under the hood. And it’s an especially impressive achievement for a team that had no experience in iOS or Swift development before launch.
“The biggest response we get is, ‘It’s so simple that it’s not complex at all,’ and it’s great to hear that,” says Vincent Janssen, one of OkoThe three founders based in Belgium. “But we designed it that way because that’s what we knew how to do. And it turned out that it was the right thing to do, too.”
ADA FACT SHEET
From left to right: Willem Van de Mierop, Michiel Janssen and Vincent Janssen are the three co-founders of Oko. The name of the app means “eye”.
Oko
- Winner: Inclusivity
- Equipment: AYES BV
- Available in: iPhone
- Team size: 6
- Previous recognitions: Winner of the 2024 App Store Award for Cultural Impact; App Store Editors’ Choice
Download Oko from the App Store
For Janssen and his co-founders, his brother Michiel and his old friend Willem Van de Mierop, Oko (the name translates as “eye”) was a passion project that emerged during the pandemic. All three studied computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence and had spent years working in their hometown of Antwerp. But at the beginning of 2021, the trio was feeling restless. “We all had full-time jobs,” Janssen says, “but the weekends were pretty boring.” However, they knew their experience couldn’t compare to that of an old friend with low vision, who Janssen noticed was becoming more affected as the fall and winter months progressed.
“We really started to notice that he felt more isolated than the others,” Janssen says. “Here in Belgium, we were allowed to go for walks, but you had to be alone or with your family. That meant you couldn’t go with a volunteer or a guide. As AI engineers, that made us think, ‘Well, there are all these stories about autonomous vehicles. Could we come up with a similar image or video system that would help people find their way around public spaces?'”
I had maybe opened Xcode three times a few years before, but otherwise neither of us had any experience with iOS or Swift.
Vicente Janssen, Oko founder
The trio began building a prototype that consisted of a microcomputer, 3D printed materials, and a small portable speaker borrowed from the Janssen brothers’ father. Today, Janssen calls it “hacky hardware,” something like a small computer with a camera. But it allowed the team and their friend (now their main evaluator) to analyze the idea and explore the potential of the technology. Could AI recognize the state of a pedestrian signal? How far away could you spot a Do Not Walk sign? How would it perform in rain, wind or snow? There was only one way to find out. “We went for long walks,” Janssen says.
And while the AI and hardware performed well in their practical tests, issues arose around the size and usability of the hardware, and the team began to realize that the software offered a better solution. The fact that none of the three had the slightest experience creating iOS apps was simply an obstacle to overcome. “I had maybe opened Xcode three times a few years before,” Janssen says, “but otherwise, neither of us had any experience with iOS or Swift.”
Oko helps people navigate pedestrian walkways through interactive maps and audio, visual and haptic feedback.
So that summer, the team pivoted to software, quit their full-time jobs, and dedicated themselves to learning Swift through tutorials, videos, and reliable web searches. The core idea quickly crystallized: create a simple app that relied on the camera, the Maps SDK, and a powerful AI algorithm that could help people get around the city. “Nowadays, it’s a little more complex, but in the beginning the application basically opened a camera and a Core ML model to process the images,” says Janssen, noting that the original model was brought over from Python. “Fortunately, the tools made the conversion really easy.” (OkoAI models run locally on the device).
Once the software took shape, more field testing was needed. The team reached out to accessibility-oriented organizations across Belgium and formed a team of about 100 testers to “co-develop the app,” Janssen says. Among the initial comments: Although Oko was originally designed to be used in landscape mode, almost everyone preferred to hold their phones in portrait mode. “To be honest, I had the same experience,” Janssen said, “but that meant we needed to redesign everything.”
He Oko The team explores prototypes at a review session in their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium.
Other changes included modifying the audio feedback to more closely mimic existing real-world sounds and addressing requests to add more visual feedback. The experience was equivalent to receiving real-world accessibility education on the go. “We found ourselves learning about VoiceOver and haptic feedback very quickly,” Janssen says.
Still, the project went remarkably quickly. Oko It launched on the App Store in December 2021, not even a year after the trio conceived it. “It took us a little while to do things, like making sure the UI wasn’t blocked, especially since we didn’t fully understand the code we wrote in Swift,” Janssen laughs, “but in the end, the app was doing what it needed to do.”
We are learning about VoiceOver and haptic feedback.
Vicente Janssen, Oko founder
The accessibility community took notice. And in the following months, the Oko The team continued to expand its reach: Michiel Janssen and Van de Mierop traveled to the US to meet with accessibility organizations and gain first-hand experience with American street traffic and pedestrian patterns. But even as the app expanded, the team kept its focus on simplicity. In fact, Janssen says, they explored and ultimately discarded some expansion ideas, including one designed to help people find and board public transportation, that made the app seem overly complex.
Today, the Oko Team number 6 includes a fleet of developers handling more advanced Swift issues. “About a year after launch, we received feedback about additional features and speed improvements, and we needed to find people who were better at Swift than us,” Janssen laughs. At the same time, the original trio is now learning about business, marketing and expansion.
In essence, Oko It remains a shining example of a simple app that does its job well. “It’s still a work in progress and we’re learning every day,” Janssen says. In other words, there are still many ways to go.
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