Polish high school student creates app helping deaf people communicate

A 17-year-old Mateusz Mach from Lębork (Pomorskie voivideship) invented a messaging application for Android, iPhone, and Apple Watch dubbed Five thanks to which its users are able to throw one another custom hand signs.

Since the young entrepreneur is fond of hip-hop he wanted to create an app that would enable communication with hand signs common for rappers. "It's faster than typing," Mach says. The app includes eight gestures, but it is possible to create your own. It took six months for Mach and two other contract coders to develop the application. The team was supported by a local investor. Accidentally, he has created a tool useful for deaf people who communicate through International Sign Language (ISL). Consequently, Mach is working on building in an ISL dictionary into his app, to quickly select words and their equivalents, eventually Five may become a more complete ISL translator. Mach is going to show the app off to customers and investors at the coming Bitspiration Festival in Warsaw.