Vision Training Programs That Disappeared, and What Happened to Each

GlassesOff (phone app, about 2013–2023)

What it was: a subscription app for iPhone, and later Android, built on Gabor-patch perceptual-learning tasks that drew on research by Uri Polat and colleagues.

What happened: its maker, GlassesOff Inc., announced in 2016 that it was renaming itself InnoVision Labs. A third-party app tracker, AppBrain, dates the app's removal from Google Play to December 12, 2022. A user review from January 2023 reproduces an email saying the app would stop working on January 27, 2023, citing the cost of moving its servers; we could not verify that email. When we checked on November 13, 2026, Apple's US App Store had no listing for it.

The full story, and what you can use instead: what happened to GlassesOff, and its alternatives.

Sources: 2016 rename notice · AppBrain record · user reviews · Polat et al. (2012)

UltimEyes (game app; FTC case in 2015)

What it was: a vision-training game app sold by Carrot Neurotechnology, Inc., promoted with studies by a researcher affiliated with the company.

What happened: in September 2015 the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with making deceptive claims that UltimEyes could improve users' vision. According to the FTC, the studies did not prove those claims, and the ads did not disclose the researcher's ties to the company. The company and its co-owners settled, agreeing to pay $150,000, and in February 2016 the FTC approved a final order requiring competent and reliable scientific evidence before such vision claims. The FTC said US sales from January 2012 to June 2015 exceeded $350,000. When we checked on November 13, 2026, Apple's US App Store had no listing for the app.

Sources: FTC, September 2015 · FTC, February 2016

See Clearly Method (exercise kit, sales ended 2006)

What it was: an at-home eye-exercise kit, about $350 per person, sold by Vision Improvement Technologies of Fairfield, Iowa, and heavily advertised on radio and television from 2001 to 2006.

What happened: in August 2005 the Iowa Attorney General sued the company, alleging it lacked a substantial scientific basis for telling customers they were very likely to improve their vision and stop wearing glasses or contacts. In November 2006 the Attorney General announced a consent decree: the company would stop selling the kit, offer restitution to customers, and stop operating by December 2006.

Sources: Radio Iowa, August 2005 · Radio Iowa, November 2006 · Wikipedia

Read Without Glasses Method (video course, sold until at least 2025)

What it was: optometrist Ray Gottlieb's course of eye-convergence exercises with printed dot charts, sold by the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision on VHS and DVD and later online.

What happened: a 2012 study of eight adults with presbyopia found no significant change in their unaided near vision. The course was still sold online in 2025; when we checked on November 13, 2026, its product page redirected to a page offering the domain for sale.

More detail: the Read Without Glasses Method, and what the one study found.

What these stories have in common

• Claims ran ahead of the evidence. Regulators challenged two of these programs' marketing, alleging the claims lacked adequate scientific support; both cases ended in settlements.
• Small or in-house studies. Several programs leaned on small studies, or on studies by people with a stake in the product.
• Apps can disappear with their company. GlassesOff reportedly depended on its company's servers; when the company stopped supporting it, the app went too.

When you look at any vision program today, including ours, check three things: whether an independent study tested that product, whether it says plainly what it can't do, and whether you can try it before you pay.

What's still available

RevitalVision, a clinical Gabor-patch program monitored by eye-care professionals, is still offered, and newer apps use Gabor patches and similar tasks. Our comparison of eye training apps covers them, including what each has and hasn't been tested for. Visionary, our app, offers short adaptive exercises on iPhone and iPad; it hasn't been tested in a study, and it doesn't promise a change in eyesight or replace glasses.

Frequently asked questions