Captain Patch
Captain Patch is a cartoon player that helps young children keep their eye patch and glasses on during treatment for amblyopia (lazy eye). The cartoons only play while the front camera can see the patch and glasses in place. If they come off, the video pauses and a friendly crew member asks the little captain to put them back on.
I made it for my own toddler, who needed patching every day, so screen time could do some of the coaxing. Everything is checked on the device itself: no video is recorded, kept or sent anywhere.
- Amblyopia patching
- On-device camera check
- Cartoons included
Personal project, version 1.2. Made for my own child and not offered for download here.
iPadOS or iOS 17.6 or later, with a front camera · version 1.2
Inside Captain Patch
Plays only with the patch on
Parents choose what their child needs to wear: a patch on the left or right eye, glasses, or both. Take them off and the cartoon pauses. Put them back on and it carries on by itself.
A gentle nudge, not a telling-off
When the video pauses, a cartoon animal wearing an eye patch or a pair of glasses pops up with a pirate-flavoured message asking the captain to put theirs back on.
Cartoons included
Eleven public domain cartoons from the 1940s come with the app, and parents can add their own videos from iCloud Drive. It remembers where each cartoon stopped and moves on to the next one.
A crew to collect
Patching time unlocks new animal friends in the Crew Gallery: the first after five minutes, then each new one takes twice as long, so there is always someone to look forward to.
A log for parents
The Treasure Log charts patching time by hour, day, week and month, with totals, averages and how many cartoons were watched.
Grown-up controls
Settings sit behind a quick times-table question and the menu stays hidden during play. If the camera misses a patch that really is on, a parent can ease the check right from the pause screen.
A closer look
Good to know
- It supports patching, it does not replace the treatment plan from your child's eye doctor.
- Needs camera permission. Without it the cartoons still play, but nothing is checked.
- The patch check looks for an eye that is covered, so a squint or a closed eye can fool it. Good light and an uncovered camera help.
- Designed for the iPad, where the child watches with the front camera facing them. It also runs on iPhone.