NaviLens
The assistance app, designed for people with severe visual impairment. Acoustic beacons to locate the stop and text-to-speech reading of lines, destinations and arrivals. Free, on iOS and Android.
EMT València
NaviLens at EMT bus stops: what it is and how to use it
Finding the stop, knowing which lines pass and how long until your bus: what a display panel solves with sight, NaviLens solves with your phone. Valencia was a pioneer in rolling these colour codes out across its whole network — some 900 shelters — and is now one of the system's global showcases. Here is how it works, and how it pairs with this site's real-time information.
Updated July 2026
What NaviLens is and why it is not a QR code
NaviLens is a high-density colour marker designed to be detected where a QR code fails: it reads from over 30 metres away, with the camera moving, out of focus or in poor light, and at an angle of up to 160 degrees. A blind person does not need to know where the code is: sweeping the surroundings with the camera is enough for the phone to find it.
When it detects the marker, the app emits sounds that work as a spatial beacon — guiding you to the shelter — and reads the service information aloud: stop name and number, the lines that call there, their destinations and real-time arrival estimates. The system translates automatically into more than 40 languages, which makes it useful for tourists too.
Two apps: NaviLens and NaviLens Go
NaviLens Go
The version for the general public: visual guides, transport maps and virtual panels with waiting times based on the code's precise geolocation. It turns any shelter into an information panel without screens.
How to use it at the stop, step by step
- Download the app that fits youNaviLens if you need visual assistance; NaviLens Go if you just want the stop information. Both are free and require no sign-up.
- Point the camera towards the shelterNo need to focus or get close: the code is detected from tens of metres away, even with the camera moving. With assistance on, acoustic tones tell you direction and distance.
- Listen to (or read) the informationThe app announces the stop number and name, the lines that call there, their destinations and the minutes until each arrival, in your language.
- Follow the guidance strip to the doorAt adapted stops, a grooved strip in the pavement leads from the shelter to the exact boarding point, and the yellow studded band warns you of the kerb.
The fully accessible stop: tactile paving and SOS
NaviLens is the digital layer of a stop that is also physically adapted. 760 shelters have certified tactile paving: a 40 cm yellow band with raised studs parallel to the kerb (warning of the drop and the road) and a perpendicular grooved strip, grey or black, guiding from the pavement to the bus boarding door.
Renovated shelters also carry an SOS intercom: an emergency button with a direct, real-time voice line to EMT's control centre, useful for anyone in a vulnerable situation, not only passengers with disabilities.
Pair it with real-time arrivals
The information NaviLens reads aloud is the same this site shows on screen: our bus stop finder and the real-time transport map give you to-the-minute arrivals for any EMT stop, with no app and no sign-up. Plan the trip from home here, use NaviLens in the street, and you carry the full system.
Frequently asked questions
Which EMT stops in Valencia have NaviLens?
The rollout covers practically the whole network: some 900 shelters across the city. If the stop has a shelter, it almost certainly has its NaviLens code.
Is NaviLens free?
Yes. Both apps (NaviLens and NaviLens Go) are free, available on iOS and Android, and require no registration.
From how far can a NaviLens code be read?
Up to about 30 metres with the phone moving, in poor light or with a blurry image, and at angles of up to 160 degrees — which is why it works where a traditional QR code does not.
Which languages does NaviLens speak?
The app automatically translates the stop information into more than 40 languages: the same shelter speaks Valencian, Spanish, English or Japanese depending on the phone scanning it.