Cory Ballard, Director of Assistive Technology for Vision Forward, gives a demo of WayAround in this video. He says, “The WayAround system is very powerful from the easy-to-use tags and the large variety of tags that they provide.”

Watch the video below as Cory walks you through how to write and read a WayTag. He also talks about the different types of WayTags and why WayAround can be used to label a wide variety of items.

Cory starts by talking about Near-field Communication, or NFC. This is the technology behind WayAround. It’s built into most modern smartphones.

Then he discusses the different types of WayTag NFC tags.

“Their tags come in a lot of different flavors and that’s one of the things that makes the WayAround system pretty cool,” Cory says. “They have magnetic options. They have sticky options, clips, and they also have buttons that can be sewn onto your clothing.”

Getting Started with WayAround

Cory explains how easy it is to get started using WayAround. First, download the free WayAround Tag and Scan app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

“Once you have the app installed on your phone and you have your tags purchased and ready to go, then it is pretty easy to start labeling your items.”

He then gives an overview of the app. “Right on the home screen of the app, we really have two buttons,” Cory explains. “One is read, and one is create. The read button is what we use when we are ready to read a tag that we have already made. The create button is what we need when we need to create a new tag.”

Cory chooses the create button and walks through how to write information to a WayTag NFC tag to label his binder.

“The first option we come to is description. This is where we’re going to add any text that we want to.” Cory demonstrates using voice dictation to add text into the description field.  “When we do our scan, the only thing that will be read out loud immediately is what we enter in this description field.”

Using the Detail Types

Next, he explains how to use detail types.

“This is where WayAround really shines,” he says. “They give you a number of different detail types or categories in order to pick where your item fits under.”

There are ten different detail types to choose from, including Clothing Care, Grocery Item, File, and more. “What’s very cool is depending on which detail type you choose, that determines which other options are then visible for you to fill out.”

The Custom detail type allows users to fully customize their information. “We are not restricted to only options they provide,” Cory explains.

“Whatever category or detail type will then determine which details are shown for you to fill out.” Cory demonstrates the detail fields in the cleaning product and grocery item detail types.

“With every option you choose, you always get an option to add a custom field,” Cory explains. “You’ve got that ability to add any custom details to really make those tags exactly what you need.” The app also gives the option to add a hyperlink.

Once he has added all the information he wants, Cory explains how to save it to the WayTag NFC tag. “We’re going to double tap Write. Then we’re going to hold the back of our phone to the tag and it’s going to transfer our information to that WayTag.”

Cory demonstrates tapping the phone to the WayTag, and says the app “tells us that it was successfully done.”

Why WayAround is a Great System

Cory sums up the demo with some of the reasons he likes WayAround:

• “I love that you can just use the NFC reader rather than a camera. Sometimes the camera-based solutions can be difficult to line up those barcodes within the camera view. With NFC, all you need to do is just get close enough and it will automatically scan it in for you.”
• “I also like the price. The WayAround tags are about $1 a piece. The app is free. So you can start using it for a very low investment.”

Thank you for a great demo, Cory and Vision Forward!