Apple has proven to be a decent advocate for accessibility in recent years by making everyday tasks easier for people with disabilities, learning how to best support entrepreneurs with disabilities and continuing to upgrade and expand accessibility features across all its platforms.
On Tuesday, May 13, Apple introduced multiple exciting accessibility features slated to debut “later this year” in a press release. The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, said, “At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA. Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year.”
Many of the new features are headed to iPhones, iPads and Macs exclusively, but there are also a few features planned for visionOS, watchOS and even tvOS. While there may not be a clear launch date for any of these features, there is quite a bit of info on how they’re designed to function—here’s what we know so far.
Accessibility Nutrition Labels make it easier to find disability-friendly apps
Apple plans to add a new section to product pages in the App Store that specifically mentions which accessibility features, if any, an app has before downloading it. The company is calling these new sections Accessibility Nutrition Labels, as they’ll break down important info like traditional nutritional labels do.
This is a great feature for all apps, but especially paid apps without a free trial. With these detailed labels, people with disabilities will be able to tell if an app supports VoiceOver, Larger Text, Reduced Motion and other necessary accessibility features before paying for it or spending hours reading personal reviews to potentially find a mention or two of the features they need.
Accessibility Nutrition Labels could also inspire developers to add simple accessibility features that they normally wouldn’t have.
Braille Access and Accessibility Reader help with visual impairments
With Braille Access, people using an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Vision Pro can transform the device into a “full-featured braille note taker that’s deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem.” To type, users can either use a connected Braille device or Braille Screen Input.
There’s an integrated form of Apple’s Live Captions feature with Braille Access as well, which allows users to transcribe real-time conversations on Braille displays.
Then, for those with low vision, dyslexia or other visual impairments, there’s Accessibility Reader. Apple describes this as a “new systemwide reading mode” that you can use on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. With Accessibility Reader, you can customize text font, color and spacing to your specific needs.
The Apple Vision Pro’s camera system is also getting a few vision accessibility upgrades, like a magnification feature in Zoom and a Live Recognition feature for VoiceOver users that can describe surroundings, read documents and find objects.
New support for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), Live Listen and much more
Apple has dabbled in combining its products with medical devices or features before, like how the AirPods Pro 2 provides a clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature. Now, the latest medical technology Apple is planning to support is Brain Computer Interfaces, or BCIs, which “allows users to control their device without physical movement.”
There will be a new protocol to support Switch Control for BCIs within iOS, iPadOS and visionOS later this year. Although BCI technology is rapidly improving and becoming more widespread, people with limited mobility may still turn to more common methods of controlling devices with minimal physical movement, like Voice Control or Eye Tracking and Head Tracking tools, the latter of which Apple also plans to improve this year.
Live Listen, a sister feature of Live Captions, will soon be available on Apple Watch. This feature will allow your iPhone to act as a microphone that can simultaneously stream audio content to AirPods, Beats or Made for iPhone hearing aids as well as stream a visual transcription on a paired Apple Watch.
Macs will soon receive a fan-favorite accessibility feature that has been on iPhone and iPad since 2016: Magnifier. With the Magnifier app, Mac users can zoom in, enlarge text and customize the look of what they’re reading. With all these new and improved accessibility features (plus many more), Apple is making it easier for users to carry out daily tasks and for entrepreneurs with disabilities to succeed.
Photo from Apple.com
The post Apple Announces Exciting New Accessibility Features appeared first on SUCCESS.