Originally published at: Smartphone attachment lets you test your eyesight at home | Boing Boing
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EyeQue is a nifty little gadget that lets you test your eyes using your phone, then order lenses with the specs it produces.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that “specs” above means specifications and that the app does not itself magically produce spectacles. One day there WILL be apps that generate specifications and then magically transform matter to produce the physical item required (if Star Trek is to be believed.)
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Decided to look up reviews for this because I love the idea. Unfortunately, unless you have a pretty simple prescription, it’s not a good buy. If you’ve got severe astigmatism in either eye, it’s not going to give you a good result (which, of course, I do). Save yourself the money and go to your eye doctor once a year.
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Snellen acuity is measured at 20 feet. There is simply no way to do that right inside a few inch tube. You might get something roughly equivalent to an autorefractometer but any good optometrist will refine that starting point by having you look at the chart 20 feet away.
There are already computer based vision tests for home that actually have the screen at a distance with nothing extra to buy. I don’t see the point of buying a worse test.
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But how will I justify my trip to Barnard Castle now?
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That tube is too long for my eyes, so it’s unlikely to capture my prescription. Both eyes are -9.5 or worse, so I can actually only focus without lenses to a point about 8 cm from the front of my cornea. That means I’m really good at close-up work.
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I was gonna make a snarky comment “well, does it give you a prescription too…” but then I clicked and read and it does give you a prescription. So now I have no snark and maybe I need to get one of these since I’m avoiding my eye doctor during the pandemic.
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Here’s how the app works: stare at your phone for 6 hours a day. Congratulations! Now you need glasses.
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My experience with the EyeQueue is that it was difficult to use and produced readings that varied significantly with each testing iteration.
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Pfft. Mine were about -16. 
I could focus 1 cm from my eyes. I say “were” because I got IOLs a few years ago (at a youngish age, relatively) that fixed it. (I really looked forward to getting cataracts.) I’ve lost my microscopic vision but it was worth it. Optivisors solved that problem.
That said, I remember reading a paper about a proposed home eye pressure test. That would really be useful; glaucoma can rob your sight. I use drops for it, but due to COVID19, I missed my last office visit.
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