I think learning something new is one of the best ways to stay busy. Is there something that maybe she has always been interested in/wanted to learn, but never had time for before? Maybe she wants to learn the piano, or a foreign language, or computer code, or anything really.
Another great thing is volunteering. That is one of the best ways to get your focus off your own problems. Is there an organization she has a heart for? Similarly, there are a lot of organizations/programs that hook up mentors with mentees who are both visually impaired. That can be an awesome way to give back and help someone else who is new to blindness or having a hard time. It might also help her to realize how much she is able to do when she is teaching those skills to someone else.
Does she have a pet? I don’t know what I would do without my guide dog, but even just a regular pet can be a great companion and they can definitely take up some time if you want to work with them to do obedience stuff.
I also really think group activities are better than individual activities like playing games on your phone or watching tv. Are there any community or church groups/activities she could get involved with to stay busy and meet new people?
Hope some of that is useful and helps your friend.

We go camping, hiking, fishing, concerts, and bowling. It pissed me off bowling. I suck and the blind one did better than me.
My wife suggested botanical gardens, dancing, petting zoos, and make your own pottery stores. She added bumper cars. They can do any activity anyone else can. They might not do as well but they'll have fun. I've even taken her to a gun range before.

You want a real hoot? Take them to a big, empty parking lot and let them drive. We've done that.


Edit: my blind wife says those that suggested ham radio and coding for fun are lying. Lol. She also suggested horseback riding

Arts and crafts. If at first you're thinking 'what the fuck? She's blind' don't despair.


Knitting: Use big needles and chunky wool-lots of things can be made chunky, and should be.
Crochet: Same deal
Macrame: Again, you could start simple and go by feel, relying less and less on remaining vision.
Painting: Landscapes, portraits, abstract, who cares? Sometimes it's just fun to throw paint at a canvas (or paper, or cardboard, or really anything)


Tie Dye could be fun, with a sighted assistant (or hell, just a friend/family member. Some things are just more fun when you work with someone)
Origami: Start simple, with bright paper and a sighted friend, they could learn some things they'd like to fold and go from there.


Modelling: Think polymer clay, air-dry clay, modelling clay, even start with play-doh if the person wants to get better at making by hand before using expensive supplies.
Pottery: Again, by feel.


Baking could be fun in similar vein to modelling, with the fun caveat of it's edible. Or modelling with fondant or modelling chocolate. Again, edible, so bonus points. It also ticks the box of being creative and of being similar enough to cooking.


And of course, musical instruments and learning languages can also be great fun. Depends on what you're into. There are also sight-assisted and blind/VI sports as well. Swimming, running, skiing, snowboarding, goalball. There are beeping balls you can buy for basketball, rugby, american football, european football/soccer, baseball/softball, and cricket, to name a few.


There's also extreme sports like bungee jumping and skydiving, but they're not for everyone :L


If the person in question has their own ideas, bring them here. Someone will know some way to make it happen, or make it easier, or a version of said thing that can still be enjoyed.

I code for entertainment and learning purposes, but already had years of experience before going totally blind. I doubt that I'd get into it if I had been born this way though, because what attracted me to programming back when I started is not the same thing that attracts me now, and what attracts me now requires experience.

At the moment I'm building the back-end of what will hopefully be an accessible real-time persistent mobile game, kinda like the old web games but running natively on people's phones and using modern technologies. I'm also using this project to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of the Rust programming language.

My final objective is to build a portfolio of projects developed totally blind that can impress recruiters once I begin my hunt for a job as an iOS developer later this year.

I'm glad that I found out that I could still code blind, because before I figured that I had enough skill to overcome the mental drag of doing it with this condition I felt extremely bored and useless, and while I still feel useless at least I'm not bored anymore.

I’m not sure how old this person is or what their comfort level with contact sports is, but I’ll throw in a vote for grappling martial arts such as Brazilian Jiujitsu or Judo. I’m significantly Low vision beyond hand movements territory, but I’m two years into BJJ as a blue belt. Good for physical fitness, camaraderie with training partners and a community, promotes lots of other healthy lifestyle choices, and really helps with feeling more comfortable in space given it builds a lot of kinesthesia which has benefits for us blind folk in other areas of life. Not for the faint of heart though but certainly worth looking at.

I am legally blind and enjoy playing music. I can't read sheet music obviously but I found ways to learn. There are verbal instructions that can be taught, and once learned it's like another language that is spoken between musicuans. Someone can tell me what to play and I know how to play it.

YouTube has thousands of videos on how to play tons of music on many instruments. I play drums and bass, and am learning guitar. I would say choose an instrument, and find a good teacher. It's that simple. I play everyday. I joke that a guitar is my fidget spinner, and a set of drums is my treadmill.

Ham radio? It's a pretty popular hobby amongst us blind folk.

What about self work, no sight needed just honesty and looking inside, though sometimes the books can cost a lot but if you go the eastern route there’s not that much.

What about getting in to studying mbti and socionics and the enneagram?

I got really in to that stuff and learnt so much about myself.