About Aira
What is Aira?
Aira is a service where you can call an agent in real time to assist you with tasks in which visual information might be helpful. Agents have undergone rigorous training and have been through various clearances and background checks so that you can feel confident that your information and privacy will be protected throughout all Aira calls.
How do I use Aira?
Using the camera on your phone, the agent can provide you with information about your environment or answer visual questions for you at your request.
How can Aira help me in school or on the job?
Aira has a number of great uses, including but certainly not limited to:
- Being a reader for menus, books, important documents, and written signs in your surroundings
- Providing assistance with navigating or getting information from inaccessible websites (we recommend downloading Team Viewer to your computer for this purpose)
- Assistance with taking photos, formatting documents, and so much more!
Can I trust Aria?
Aira provides its agents with rigorous training and conducts various clearances and background checks . Therefore, users can feel confident that their information and privacy will be protected throughout all Aira calls.
Getting Started with Aira
First, you will need to download the free Aira Explorer app in the Apple App Store or the free AiraExplorer app in the Google Play Store. You just need your name, an email address, and a password to register with Aira.
You’ll also need either a mobile phone number or an email to set up a free account. If you need help, call 1-800-835-1934 or go to AIRA’s website (https://aira.io/guests) to get a link to download the app. Using this method, you will open a Guest account (they are free).
Paying for Aira
Aira is a great service, but it is also a private business. As a private business, Aira must, at minimum, cover its costs, including labor, support staff, technology, and marketing.
Prior to 2023, Aira’s pricing model had not changed for five years. This was great for all involved, but it does tend to make the current price and service changes more intense for users.
Aira offers paid plans for subscribers, and it still offers free services to people who have never subscribed. In this post, we will refer to individuals with paid plans as “subscribers” and to individuals without paid plans as “non-subscribers.”
Free minutes
As of September 4, 2023, Aria offered the following services at no cost:
- Aira Access
- Offers some level of free Aira service to both subscribers and non-subscribers
- A list of Aira Access partners as of September 2023 set forth below at: “Aira Access Partners, According to the Aira Access Partners web page”
- Example: Up to 30 minutes at Starbucks (in store, on the app, or online)
- Includes certain other retails, software companies, airlines, banks, colleges, and more.
- Notable Aira Access partners in the Maryland region include Wegman’s grocery store, Target, Starbucks, TD Bank, Bank of America, and the National Federation of the Blind as well as the Smithsonian (including online), the American Foundation for the Blind, the American Council of the Blind in Washington, D.C. Additionally, there are multiple museums, including quite a few in Washington, DC, that offer free Aira Access during your visits there.
- Sometimes offered as a “pop-up” location for a special event
- Find more on the Aira app
- First, must download and install the Aira app (it’s free)
- On the “Home” page, select “Apply a free Access offer”
- Choose from the listed categories (currently “Promotions, Products, and Locations”)
- Offers some level of free Aira service to both subscribers and non-subscribers
- Task-specific free AIRA minutes
- Job Seeker: up to 30 minutes every 24 hours for job-seeking tasks
- Aira demo: teaching a friend to use Aira; up to 10 minutes at a time
- Free minutes for anything
- Non-subscribers: One call of up to five (5) minutes every 48 hours (two days)
- Subscribers: One call of up to five (5) minutes every 12 hours
- Getting Started with Aira
- One-time, up to sixty minutes within a seven-day period
Paid plans
NEW features
- Sharing Minutes: Yes. Under this new pricing model, subscribers may now share minutes with others. Sharing is not required, but it is available on all but the lowest plan.
- Rollover Minutes: No. Aira no longer offers rollover minutes. Any minutes that are left unused at the end of a month go away forever.
Pricing Plans
- Aira’s new pricing plan has many components. There are three plan types (Silver, Gold, and Platinum), and there are three levels (1, 2, and 3) for each plan type.
- As one moves up (Silver 1 to Silver 2 AND Silver 3 to Gold 1), the number of minutes provided and the prices for each plan increase.
- Plan types offer different levels of sharing minutes:
- Silver 1: Sharing not permitted
- Silver 2 and 3: Up to two (2) total members may share a plan
- Gold (all 3 levels): Up to three (3) total members may share a plan
- Platinum (all 3 levels): Up to five (5) total members may share a plan
- Price range:
- Silver, Level 1: 15 minutes for $65
- Platinum, Level 3: 800 minutes for $2,900
- Purchased minutes
- These are available for purchase anytime you find that you need additional minutes.
- Like all Aira minutes, these may not be rolled over for use in future months.
- Prices:
- 25 minutes are $100.00
- 50 minutes are $190.00
- 100 minutes are $365.00
Find more details on the Aira’s 2023 Plans and Prices website.
Aira Offset/Affordable Personal Plan
Aira now offers an “Affordable Personal Plan,” also called the “Aira Offset.”
- This plan provides individuals a discount from the price plan rate. The discount is 60% off of the retail price for each plan.
- This is only available to individuals; schools, agencies, and employers are not eligible for this discount.
- From Aira: “Our goal is to reduce the cost of our service for individual people, not enterprises. We are not asking for any proof nor do we require any documentation. Aira will grant the offset based on your request alone. Simply by contacting Customer Care and answering several questions, you will be eligible.”
- This discount only applies to monthly plans; the additional purchased minutes are not discounted.
- Discounted price range for individuals:
- Silver, Level 1: 15 minutes for $26
- Platinum, Level 3: 800 minutes for $1,160
Find more details on the Aira’s 2023 Plans and Prices for Individuals web page.
Aira Access Partners, According to the Aira Access Partners web page
Consumer Products Goods
Procter & Gamble (an employment partner)
Dining
McDonald’s (an employment partner)
Starbucks
Education
Adelphi University, New York
Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind
Ball State University, Indiana
California Department of Education
California State University Long Beach
College of Lake County, Illinois
Columbia University, New York
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Duke University, North Carolina
George Mason University, Virginia
Georgia Institute of Technology
Indiana University
Johnson County Community College, Kansas
Los Rios Community College District, California
Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana
Middle Tennessee State University
Northern Arizona University
Ohlone College, California
Palomar College
Perkins School for the Blind, Massachusetts
Princeton University, New Jersey
Rutgers University
Southern University Law Center
Suffolk University
Temple University
Texas A&M University
Texas Tech University
The Ohio State University
University of Alaska
University of California, Irvine
University of California, San Diego
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Massachusetts, Boston
University of Pennsylvania
University of Phoenix
University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Vista Higher Learning, Inc.
Wichita State University
Entertainment
Dickie’s Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
Miami Beach Convention Center
NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Toledo Zoo
Financial Services
Bank of America
Booz Allen Hamilton
Brookline Bank
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
TD Bank
Government
Arkansas Division of Services for the Blind
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
City of Lynn Haven, FL.
City of Minneapolis
Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons
New Hampshire Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Rhode Island Department of Human Services
Sedgwick County, Wichita, KS
State of Connecticut
Texas Workforce Commission
U.S. Access Board
West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services
Hospitality
Visit Mesa, Mesa, Arizona
Museums
Grand Rapids Public Museum
Irish Architecture Foundation
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Museum of Science Boston
Natural History Museum of Utah
Nova Scotia Museum
Oakland Museum of California
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Palo Alto Art Museum
Space Center, Houston, Texas
The Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio
The Smithsonian
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Not for Profit
Accessible Media Inc.
Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind
American Council of the Blind
American Foundation for the Blind
American Printing House for the Blind
Beacon Lighthouse, Inc.
Beyond Vision
Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.
Envision
Massachusetts Association for the Blind
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
National Disability Rights Network
National Federation of the Blind
National Industries for the Blind
New York Association on Independent Living
New York Institute for Special Education
Thomas Pocklington Trust
Vision Forward Association
Retail
Gucci
Meijer
Target
Wegmans
Technology
Amazon (an employment partner)
Charter Communications
Comcast
Expedia
Google (an employment partner)
Intuit
Microsoft (an employment partner)
Salesforce (an employment partner)
Vispero
Transportation
Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Ohio
City of El Paso, Texas
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina
Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Ohio
Dallas Love Field, Texas
Edmonton Regional Airports Authority, Canada
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Florida
General Mitchell International, Wisconsin
Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport, Wisconsin
Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Canada
Houston Airport System, Texas
Houston Metro, Texas
Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana
JFK International Air Terminal LLC, New York
Logan International Airport, Massachusetts
Los Angeles International Airport, California
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, New Hampshire
McCarran International Airport, Nevada
Memphis International Airport, Tennessee
Metro Transit, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Milwaukee County Transit System
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, Minnesota
Niagara Falls International Airport
Omaha Airport Authority, Nebraska
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
Port Authority of NY & NJ (JFK, LGA, EWR)
Portland International Airport (PDX)
Rochester International Airport
Sacramento International Airport, California
Salt Lake City Department of Airports, Utah
San Antonio International Airport, Inc., Texas
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, California
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington
Sonoma County Airport, California
Southwest Florida International Airport
Spokane International Airport, Washington
St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Missouri
St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Florida
Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, New York
Toronto International Airport
Tulsa Transit, Oklahoma
Vancouver International Airport, Canada
Wichita Airport, Kansas
Winnipeg Airports Authority, Canada
Contact the Bridges Helpdesk for More Information
- Our Accessible web form
- Email: Helpdesk@imagemd.org
- Text: Send to: (410) 357-1546
- Voice mail: Call (410) 357-1546, leave a voice mail message, and we will return your call
This unique project is being coordinated through The IMAGE Center of Maryland, a center for independent living in Towson, and it is funded by a grant from the Maryland Department of Education Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services.
Updated as of September 4, 2023.