Do you have difficulty reading the names in your contact list due to vision impairments such as cataracts, poor lighting, or just leaving your glasses in the other room? Do you have difficulty selecting the contact you want due to large fingers or shaky hands?

It is now easy to call the ones you love with Call Me, a simple and intuitive large format contact list app. After setting up the app by selecting names from your address book, it displays contacts one at a time using a large image and name pulled directly from the address book. You can swipe between contacts quickly and simply tap the screen to make a call.

The app was designed, programmed, and marketed by the championship Call Me FIRST LEGO League Team (11141) from Alta Sierra Intermediate in Clovis CA. It is the innovation we developed for our research project for the 2012-3 Senior Solutions season. You can learn more about our project at callmeapp.org. Our team of five 12 and 13 year old boys originally came up with the idea for the app as a way to help our grandparents and other seniors stay connected and independent. We are grateful for feedback and guidance we have received from an eye doctor at Insight Vision Center, app programmers and designers at BCT Consulting, the Fresno State Office for Students with Disabilities, opportunity assessment experts in the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and our FLL judges.

Since developing the app, we have found that it provides benefits to a much wider group of people. Many of us have difficulty with the small interface when we are on the move, don’t have glasses handy, or are just tired. As pointed out by one of our judges, the app can also help people suffering from short term memory impairments such as head injuries or Alzheimer’s disease. Just load some of the older pictures they recognize into your contact list.

Download the Call Me app for free, give it a try, and let us know what you think and how it helps you. We decided to offer the app for free to share our experiences and what we learned with you. We thought helping seniors stay connected and independent was more important than making a few bucks. If you love the Call Me app consider supporting innovators in your local First Lego League teams (firstlegoleague.org) with your time or financial resources. Of course, you can also support our team by sending donations to the Alta Sierra Robotics program (altasierra.cusd.com).


Instructions: callmeapp.org/instructions.html.