How to Get Free Use of the Disabled App at Starbucks
Aira is a service that allows blind and visually impaired people to receive audio descriptions of their surroundings from a live operator. This is similar to FaceTime; you dial the service number, point the camera at your surroundings, and the person looking through it becomes your eyes. They will tell you what they see, for example by reading the text of small labels or menus to help you navigate your day, wherever you are.
The downside of the service is that it is quite expensive if you are not currently taking advantage of the free promotional offer or referral bonus. For example, after installing the application, I was only allowed to make one call of less than five minutes every 24 hours for free; otherwise, access to helpful Aira agents will cost me a minimum of $ 30 per month per minute per day and $ 100 for a couple of hours:
However, Aira has now struck a new partnership with Starbucks that will provide everyone with 30 minutes of free service when they are at their designated coffee dispensing location. I have not had the opportunity to use the app personally, but I am guessing that it will either detect when you are at your Starbucks location (assuming you have given the app access to your location settings), or perhaps pay attention when you connected to the Starbucks Wi-Fi network.
However, the identification process works, after which you get half an hour of access to Aira, which should be more than enough to find what you are looking for and make a purchase. I have not yet been able to confirm if it is free half an hour a day or a visit to Starbucks. Suffice it to say that unless you are one of those people who mostly live at Starbucks during their work hours, it is unlikely that you will need much longer than half an hour.
The Aira app is available for both Android and iOS , and all you have to do to get started is give your phone number (although you can also subscribe to the free tier of service using your email address). And if you don’t feel like messing with Aira, there are tons of other apps that can help describe what you’re looking at, including Be My Eyes on a volunteer basis (similar to Aira), TapTapSee , Google Lens , Seeing AI , Lookout, and RightHear. – here are just a few of them.