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Apple Highlights Accessibility Features on iPhone, Mac, and More in New Ad

An elderly blind neighbor of a friend relies on a flip phone to connect with others. She uses voice command but depends on the buttons on her phone to activate features.

I need to explore iPhone's accessibility features for the blind so maybe I can help her have a better quality of life.
 
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I would like to know some of this features. I am looking for a screen reader to help me read my Apple Books. can VoiceOver do that?
 
I just wish it's not a requirement to speak. I have a speaking disablity where it can take a longer time to say things. Siri is useless to me.
 
MarkHeijnekamp said:
I just wish it's not a requirement to speak. I have a speaking disablity where it can take a longer time to say things. Siri is useless to me.
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Consider writing a personal letter to Tim C or Craig F explaining your situation.

I wouldn't be shocked if you got a reply and that Apple might want to work with you towards finding a solution.

To enhance your odds of success, I would rephrase "Siri is useless to me."
 
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MarkHeijnekamp said:
I just wish it's not a requirement to speak. I have a speaking disablity where it can take a longer time to say things. Siri is useless to me.
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Not sure if this is helpful, but there are some options you can set to make Siri listen for a longer time:

Change Siri accessibility settings on iPhone

Change Siri accessibility settings on iPhone to best suit your needs.
support.apple.com
 
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citysnaps said:
Consider writing a personal letter to Tim C or Craig F explaining your situation.

I wouldn't be shocked if you got a reply and that Apple might want to work with you towards finding a solution.

To enhance your odds of success, I would rephrase "Siri is useless to me."
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Perhaps elaborate a bit. I'm hearing many "Siri is useless to me" comments also stem from people who can speak well, but it's more a reflection on how Siri is has been.
 
ackmondual said:
Perhaps elaborate a bit. I'm hearing many "Siri is useless to me" comments also stem from people who can speak well, but it's more a reflection on how Siri is has been.
Click to expand...

In general, when asking for help or a favor, it's better to start off being tactful rather than negative or harsh ("Siri is useless to me.").

That's all. Keep it polite and adult-like. I really do believe Apple will follow up in some manner.
 
chama98 said:
I would like to know some of this features. I am looking for a screen reader to help me read my Apple Books. can VoiceOver do that?
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Yes, kindle if you use that too, as long as it says screen reader supported, some kindle books aren't. It'll also read websites etc.
 
DrJR said:
Let’s work from the general to the specific. Id like promised features like Stage Manager to work. It is inaccessible to the general public…..
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I do not want to be rude, but regarding Stage Manager as a cool add-on, I am absolutely fine using my Apple stuff without its general availability and funtcionality. So we should be willing to get placed in second round in favor of these really helpful features illustrated here.
 
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The add was good, but I think stories like this also invite criticism of where whatever company is not doing well.

Many in the blind comunity ar starting to notice the bugs in VoiceOver that go unaddressed sometimes for years. The general consensus seems to be that VO has stagnated on the Mac and people are going back to Windows because there are third-party screen readers that provide users with the know how to improve the usability and efficiency of apps. People are saying that Safari is difficult to use with VoiceOver even on AS machines.

I have only seen a few deal-breaking bugs in iOS myself (and yes, I do sometimes install the PB versions and report bugs to Apple). Back in iOS13 there was a bug where VoiceOver would completely lock up when you hung up a call. The only way to be able to use your phone again would be to force restart, but with no audio feed back I had no way to tell when or if my phone was restarting. Since the force restart sequence is also used for activating emergency services, I had a few unintended 911 calls that I had to explain what happened. The bug didn't get fixed until iOS 13.2. If something similar happened to the everyday user, where your phone screen went black after hanging up a call, you can bet there would've been a 13.0.1 patch released within a week.

The one over all improvement I think needs to happen with accessibility would be that all apps have to meet a baseline accessibility requirement to be in the app store. I get that not every app can be made to work for everyone, but I think things could be improved within reason in many cases. Perhaps app store listings could have badges that say that an app is compatible with VoiceOver, Assistive Touch, etc., much like how apps currently list wallet or family sharing support now.

As for the features shown in the add, I haven't had much luck with them. When trying to use the image description feature, I sometimes get different descriptions even without moving. Same with the door detection feature when playing with it on a 13 Pro at the Apple store. Perhaps I'm just terrible at pointing a camera though. lol
 
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Just another plug for the idea that there should be a distinct accessibility subforum in MR. Right now information about accessibility features in iOS and MacOS are spread accross many fourms and it'd be nice to have a centralised place for information and users exchanging experience and tips.

See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accessibility-forum.2333471/
 
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antiprotest said:
Is Apple better at accessibility than Android and Windows?

My impression is that it is, but I am not familiar enough so I'm just asking.
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Yes WAY better! On Windows, accessibility can become excellent with 3rd-party add-ons like Dragon Naturally Speaking, but Apple's built-in accessibility features are just that ... built in and ready to use. No extra fee.
 
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