Sapphire
Your crutches never sounded so good
They're are already in your hands all the time, why not teach then some new tricks? Sapphire is the revolutionary, patent-pending accessory that lets you control your music, wirelessly, without ever taking your hands of the handles.
It can even turn on Siri™ and Google Now™.
What is Sapphire?
Sapphire started with a problem.
If you use crutches to get around and you listen to music while you’re at it, how do you do something simple like turning up the volume? A lot of people think it’s no big deal, but someone who uses crutches every day knows how stuff that sounds easy can get complicated really fast.
You could stop, sit down (if you can even find a place to sit!), pull out your phone, change the volume and get up again.
You could balance with one crutch, let go of the other and hope it doesn’t fall while you’re fishing around in your bag for your phone.
Even headphones with a built-in remote won’t save because you still have to let go of the crutch handle to push the buttons.
And finally, after all that, you have to hope you’re not going to need to do it all over again for the next song.
What. A. Pain. 
There should be a better way, so we made one.
The idea is simple, put a Bluetooth remote control in a crutch handle so you can control your music without having to let go.
The result is pure awesome. 
With Sapphire, you can control the music on your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone with just one finger. No sitting, no fumbling, you don’t even have to stop walking. You can even use it to turn in Siri™ or Google Now™.
It’s compatible with iOS and Android. It uses Bluetooth, an open standard, and doesn’t require a special app. It charges using a Micro-USB, the same connector used by most many modern smartphones. The electronics and the software are open-source.
Get one for FREE
It’s time we learn how Sapphire works in the real world. That’s where you come in. We’re looking people to test designs, give us feedback and tell us what works and what doesn’t.
Everyone is invited to be part of our feedback group. That’s where we’ll show you what we’re working on and get your input about it. To sign up, please click here join our feedback mailing list.
Beta Testers are the people we send Sapphire test units to so we can see how they work when real people use them.
The beta-tester program is free, we’ll even cover the cost to ship your beta unit to you and back to us when the test is over. Yeah, you’ll have to send it back to us at the end. We know that sucks, but that’s the rule.
Not everyone will be able to be a beta-tester. We need people with special qualifications so we can learn what is good about our product and what isn’t so good. A good beta-tester will:
- Have any of the following models of Walk Easy-brand forearm crutches:
- Have a phone or music player that is:
- An iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 5 later.
- Running Android 4.0 or later and has Bluetooth.
- Understand how to pair new Bluetooth devices with their phone or music player.
- Be able answer questions about their experience using Sapphire.
If that sounds like you, please click here to sign up. Remember, even though we can’t accept everyone in to our beta-test program, we still value your fedback.
Open Source
Sapphire is great because it’s built on top of great things. The software and electronics are based on Arduino™ and other open-source hardware designs. Future beta designs will aim for complete Arduino compatibility so Sapphire can be used as a mobile development platform.
The source code used in Sapphire is available on Github. Electronic schematics are not yet published but will be made available with the next beta designs are finalized.
Design files for the 3D Printed parts are also available on Github under a non-commercial license.
Learn More
Want to follow the progress of Sapphire and see where we’re headed?
- Follow our blog where we will post regular update on what is happening.
- Join our mailing list to hear any news first.
- Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
We can’t wait to show you the exciting future ahead!