My legally blind mother cannot use iOS 26

[awshucks]

My mother is legally blind and was happy with iOS 18 on her 14 Pro and recently updated to 26 for security.

She said her emails are harder to read.

She cannot type on the keyboard.

The scaling and overall design changes are making her astigmatism trigger and have trouble focusing on the screen.
She said "It's like taking my glasses away and trading them for something that doesn't work."

The 26 redesign has made her feel so strongly about her phone that it has made her consider a Z Fold. Makes me feel bad for buying her that phone. This is not about her not liking progress with tech. She likes progress and used to be eager for new iPhones and such.


Personally, I’m content with my iPhone Air and Liquid Glass, but I just thought I'd share this. Do you or anyone else have other problems with this update?

 

[Paddle1]

To me it's definitely less legible in some areas as much as some may say that it isn't. In the mean time one good thing is most of the interface looks similar or the same so perhaps there are some workarounds with accessibility settings and 3rd party apps, many of which still use the old keyboard (for now). Increase Contrast, Bold Text, and Tinted glass mode or Reduce Transparency having the biggest impact.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Has she tried changing the liquid glass setting from clear to tinted in the display options?

 

[537635]

My mother is legally blind and was happy with iOS 18 on her 14 Pro and recently updated to 26 for security.

She said her emails are harder to read.

She cannot type on the keyboard.

The scaling and overall design changes are making her astigmatism trigger and have trouble focusing on the screen.
She said "It's like taking my glasses away and trading them for something that doesn't work."

The 26 redesign has made her feel so strongly about her phone that it has made her consider a Z Fold. Makes me feel bad for buying her that phone. This is not about her not liking progress with tech. She likes progress and used to be eager for new iPhones and such.


Personally, I’m content with my iPhone Air and Liquid Glass, but I just thought I'd share this. Do you or anyone else have other problems with this update?

Have you tried going into accessibility settings and tweaking some things? You can adapt the interface all the way to the bizzare interface where there are only four huge icons on the whole screen.


Apple is one of the best when it comes to accessibility settings. As her vision degrades further (and it will) it is going to be harder to read and these settings will come in handy. It also depends on the type of problems she is having (macule degeneration probably).


Get an iPad and move non-iPhone stuff to that device. Emails, SMS, etc. It is going to be much better than any iPhone of phone for that matter.


Just to wrap this, I feel that the world shouldn't be adapting to the aging population too much. This prevents progress. I see and hear often that "cars have gotten to complicated for older people to drive". No, that's just how it is if progress is faster that turnover of generations. And I'm saying this although I'm in the age where vision is degrading and one of my relatives has severe macule degeneration and I regularly need to increase visual settings in iOS and iPadOS settings so they can still keep using it.

 

[slythfox]

Hi. I am a software engineer that makes apps for Apple's platforms. I do a lot of accessibility work. I attended Apple's Liquid Glass Accessibility session and came away from that disappointed. Their team was more interested evangelizing the new design instead of supporting accessibility. Even before Liquid Glass I've lost count of how many bugs myself or my team has made with Apple and how we've been ignored over the years for the most part. It used to be that Apple had quite a positive reputation when it came to accessibility.

I am told that if you comment on accessibility forums that Apple does read those. It might take them a year to incorporate it though. Sometimes advocacy groups like the American Council of the Blind will sometimes sue. Which is a really backwards and bureaucratic way of getting attention, but it has some success.

While there might be some ways to tweak iOS to your liking, I am becoming of the view that sometimes you've gotta raise hell.

 

[SparklyApple]

I am told that if you comment on accessibility forums that Apple does read those. It might take them a year to incorporate it though. Sometimes advocacy groups like the American Council of the Blind will sometimes sue. Which is a really backwards and bureaucratic way of getting attention, but it has some success.

While there might be some ways to tweak iOS to your liking, I am becoming of the view that sometimes you've gotta raise hell.

Could you share links to the forums you believe they read please?

There’s a rather serious Bluetooth issue they’re not resolving for hearing aid wearers.

Hearing aids can be randomly punted into Bluetooth streaming mode even when no audio or video is being played by the user’s phone. This is dangerous because on many (all?) hearing aids this will alter the input from the hearing aid microphones, effectively turning the hearing aids down. If the wearer is in a noisy environment they might not even be aware this has happened – it’s more noticeable in quiet environments because you lose the rustling sounds, footsteps, which you can’t hear on a noisy city street.

Apple should be providing an option for users to block individual apps from ever playing sound/using Bluetooth if they wish, and also providing an option to “request every time” for those apps where the user may sometimes want audio or Bluetooth.

It can even happen on random websites as well. Nothing seems to be playing audio or video but yet *something* is tripping Bluetooth.

In addition to decreasing what hearing aid users hear, Bluetooth is a battery hog and will run the hearing aid batteries down faster than they otherwise would – another safety concern.

It might also affect Bluetooth headphones in the same way. I don’t have any so can’t test that. If I am right though then fixing this issue would also help everyone who uses Bluetooth headphones.

 

[SparklyApple]

Have you tried going into accessibility settings and tweaking some things? You can adapt the interface all the way to the bizzare interface where there are only four huge icons on the whole screen.


Apple is one of the best when it comes to accessibility settings. As her vision degrades further (and it will) it is going to be harder to read and these settings will come in handy. It also depends on the type of problems she is having (macule degeneration probably).


Get an iPad and move non-iPhone stuff to that device. Emails, SMS, etc. It is going to be much better than any iPhone of phone for that matter.


Just to wrap this, I feel that the world shouldn't be adapting to the aging population too much. This prevents progress. I see and hear often that "cars have gotten to complicated for older people to drive". No, that's just how it is if progress is faster that turnover of generations. And I'm saying this although I'm in the age where vision is degrading and one of my relatives has severe macule degeneration and I regularly need to increase visual settings in iOS and iPadOS settings so they can still keep using it.

That’s a lot of assumptions about OP’s mother’s eyesight. You may be right, but she equally could maintain the level of vision she has for decades to come. You don’t know her age, and you don’t know her eye condition(s). OP could be say 18 and mom 38. Or OP could be 55 and mom 85. They don’t say.

Accessibility options can help people who don’t *need* them, but prefer those options.

Subtitles being the biggest one.

Automatic transcriptions of phone calls for another.

Reducing motion/animations in the OS is another.

Being able to set a shortcut for the magnifier I find extremely helpful – as have an awful lot of my middle-aged friends who need reading glasses now. Means they don’t have to get their glasses out to read a label when shopping, or a menu when eating out.

Whilst setting up some accessibility options are incredibly specialised (eye gaze for example), there’s a lot that benefits people who do not have disabilities. And it doesn’t stop progress.

 

[cynics]

Personally, I’m content with my iPhone Air and Liquid Glass, but I just thought I'd share this. Do you or anyone else have other problems with this update?

Most of my friends finally updated to iOS 26 at the same time. It was a **** show of bitching.

Although it gave me some perceptive.

For example, one friend wanted to take a quick portrait photo of her kids and husband. She couldn't find portrait toggle and gave up. If you have ever photographed children you'll know you have about 1-2 nanoseconds before they lose interest. In her defense if you look at "Video / Photo" on the camera screen there isn't anything intuitive that would make you think that's a slider with portrait, panorama, etc hiding to the sides. You just need to start stabbing at things and see what happens.

Another friend couldn't remember what any of the buttons did in the 'playing next' section of Apple Music (crossfade, loop, repeat, autoplay). They aren't labeled, you need to learn this outside of the app itself. Doesn't seem like a great design if you are required to leave the app to figure out something as basic as that.

Settings has multiple methods of reaching the same functions which just adds additional menus and could easily be streamlined. To be honest I feel the settings app was better with iOS 18 but maybe that's just me. Thankfully there is a search function so its not the end of the world.

Small things like that throughout the UI.

Once you got it you got it no big deal, however I can guarantee some people will just not use features due to not knowing what they do or not being able to find them.

There are things I like about iOS 26 as well. Like the preview app, I like the photo app. call screening, etc.

 

[537635]

For example, one friend wanted to take a quick portrait photo of her kids and husband. She couldn't find portrait toggle and gave up. If you have ever photographed children you'll know you have about 1-2 nanoseconds before they lose interest. In her defense if you look at "Video / Photo" on the camera screen there isn't anything intuitive that would make you think that's a slider with portrait, panorama, etc hiding to the sides. You just need to start stabbing at things and see what happens.

In iOS 26 portrait mode became redundant.

It is enabled by default when you press the shutter button in normal photo mode.


This is one of those things that I mentioned, where people being unable or unwilling to change their ways hinders progress.


They simplified the interface down to "photo" or "video". And it works. You just have to use it like that.

 

[Thor_9]

Most of my friends finally updated to iOS 26 at the same time. It was a **** show of bitching.

Although it gave me some perceptive.

For example, one friend wanted to take a quick portrait photo of her kids and husband. She couldn't find portrait toggle and gave up. If you have ever photographed children you'll know you have about 1-2 nanoseconds before they lose interest. In her defense if you look at "Video / Photo" on the camera screen there isn't anything intuitive that would make you think that's a slider with portrait, panorama, etc hiding to the sides. You just need to start stabbing at things and see what happens.

Another friend couldn't remember what any of the buttons did in the 'playing next' section of Apple Music (crossfade, loop, repeat, autoplay). They aren't labeled, you need to learn this outside of the app itself. Doesn't seem like a great design if you are required to leave the app to figure out something as basic as that.

Settings has multiple methods of reaching the same functions which just adds additional menus and could easily be streamlined. To be honest I feel the settings app was better with iOS 18 but maybe that's just me. Thankfully there is a search function so its not the end of the world.

Small things like that throughout the UI.

Once you got it you got it no big deal, however I can guarantee some people will just not use features due to not knowing what they do or not being able to find them.

There are things I like about iOS 26 as well. Like the preview app, I like the photo app. call screening, etc.

And? The camera functions have always slid. Some of these complaints are ridiculous. And no, I am not an apple fanboy. Just someone with common sense.

 

[macaddiict]

I am not an apple fanboy. Just someone with common sense.

Someone doesn’t need to be an Apple fanboy to have an opinion on their phone.

Wanna talk about common sense? the first opinion to throw out is a self-professed fanboy’s biased take on something they’re defending.

 

[Thor_9]

Someone doesn’t need to be an Apple fanboy to have an opinion on their phone.

Wanna talk about common sense? the first opinion to throw out is a self-professed fanboy’s biased take on something they’re defending.

Bless your heart. Have a good day.

 

[cjsuk]

Having the same problem. Dare I say it I actually bought her a Pixel 7A the other day. It's getting locked down GrapheneOS on it.

 

[GioGiusi]

1. There are sliders to change the transparency.
2. This meme about legibility has been overblown since beta 1. If you can't read 26, you couldn't read 18 either.

 

[TumbleDryer]

And? The camera functions have always slid. Some of these complaints are ridiculous. And no, I am not an apple fanboy. Just someone with common sense.

What if you're new to iOS and don't know that there are hidden menus all over the place? A good UI would at least hint that there are elements available but not currently in view. A new user would simply think their phone is completely lacking in features and not that it just has a s**t UI.

Torch is perfect example. It can only be activated by using a particular gesture in a particular part of the screen with no visual cue whatsoever that its there. You would probably never find it by accident and the only other way to activate the torch (that im aware of) is to have a dedicated button on your lock screen. And how do you set that up? Well that's another hidden menu of course.

It's not just limited to Apple of course but all these hidden menus that you simply wouldn't know about unless you frequent forums or watch launch events (which most people do not) are simply bad UI design.

It's like buying a car and there is no hint of how to open the windows. When you go search the Internet you find out there's a hidden switch in the boot. Completely poor design.

 

[HouseLannister]

This meme about legibility has been overblown since beta 1. If you can't read 26, you couldn't read 18 either.

Did you even read the post? She's legally blind. Any change, no matter how small, is not something "overblown." It impacts people's lives. Unless you are an eye doctor or legally blind yourself, stop gaslighting people.

 

[I7guy]

Did you even read the post? She's legally blind. Any change, no matter how small, is not something "overblown." It impacts people's lives. Unless you are an eye doctor or legally blind yourself, stop gaslighting people.

It’s not overblown it’s anecdotal. The op is writing about his mother’s experience. And yes it impacts people’s lives but there are many accessibility settings and anybody who has followed Apple can see every ten years there is a design shift. And if Apple blew it with ops’ mother and millions of other people it will be felt at Apple HQ.

And ops’ mother can pick up a z fold.

 

[I7guy]

[…]

It's like buying a car and there is no hint of how to open the windows. When you go search the Internet you find out there's a hidden switch in the boot. Completely poor design.

Spot on. Beyond opening the door with the fob, many have to dig into the owners manual to figure things out. Every new car I’ve owned had to crack open the owners manual.

 

[tubemaster]

Hi. I am a software engineer that makes apps for Apple's platforms. I do a lot of accessibility work. I attended Apple's Liquid Glass Accessibility session and came away from that disappointed. Their team was more interested evangelizing the new design instead of supporting accessibility. Even before Liquid Glass I've lost count of how many bugs myself or my team has made with Apple and how we've been ignored over the years for the most part. It used to be that Apple had quite a positive reputation when it came to accessibility.

I am told that if you comment on accessibility forums that Apple does read those. It might take them a year to incorporate it though. Sometimes advocacy groups like the American Council of the Blind will sometimes sue. Which is a really backwards and bureaucratic way of getting attention, but it has some success.

While there might be some ways to tweak iOS to your liking, I am becoming of the view that sometimes you've gotta raise hell.

I tried contacting Apple accessibility about screen-induced headaches on LCD iPhones in iOS 26. I have a hunch they changed the temporal dithering algorithm or otherwise messed with the display driver to make things overly bright, "glary" and "blurry" compared side by side (11 on 26 to XR on 18 and another 11 on 18). I get they want to market P3 color and 10-bit color fidelity on 8-bit displays but what's so hard about adding a toggle to revert to the pre-iOS 16 direct color mapping?

By the way, I got a headache within seconds of looking at the 11 on iOS 26 which subsided after shifting my eyes back to the XR. I compared the phones side by side in Dark Mode with the exact amount of reduced white point and brightness in the Settings app, so transparency should not be an issue. The white text is overall brighter and harder to focus on in iOS 26.

 

[AshX]

It’s not overblown it’s anecdotal. The op is writing about his mother’s experience. And yes it impacts people’s lives but there are many accessibility settings and anybody who has followed Apple can see every ten years there is a design shift. And if Apple blew it with ops’ mother and millions of other people it will be felt at Apple HQ.

And ops’ mother can pick up a z fold.

What difference does it make if there are additional accessibility toggles when the OS itself is the cause? Let’s not kid ourselves, the outcry against liquid glass was not anecdotal - it was so loud Apple toned it down and added a slider. People like OP’s mother are severely affected, whereas for many others it’s just an annoyance. That doesn’t diminish the need to address serious design flaws.

I tried contacting Apple accessibility about screen-induced headaches on LCD iPhones in iOS 26. I have a hunch they changed the temporal dithering algorithm or otherwise messed with the display driver to make things overly bright, "glary" and "blurry" compared side by side (11 on 26 to XR on 18 and another 11 on 18). I get they want to market P3 color and 10-bit color fidelity on 8-bit displays but what's so hard about adding a toggle to revert to the pre-iOS 16 direct color mapping?

By the way, I got a headache within seconds of looking at the 11 on iOS 26 which subsided after shifting my eyes back to the XR. I compared the phones side by side in Dark Mode with the exact amount of reduced white point and brightness in the Settings app, so transparency should not be an issue. The white text is overall brighter and harder to focus on in iOS 26.

They’re always modifying the dithering algorithm, even within incremental updates of an OS. It has gotten out of hand since they switched to Apple Silicon and are pushing very high brightness for HDR content alongside managing battery life. Apple screens flicker much more now than they did a decade ago, that’s just a fact.

It wouldn’t take much to add a toggle to disable it, but I suspect much like the Pulse smoothing toggle they will perceive it as having too much of a negative effect on the display. They added a warning admitting as much on that PWM toggle so I don’t see why they can’t do the same with dithering. People should be able to choose the bitdepth (8 or 10 bits) at this point. Just bury it in settings so your average Joe doesn’t accidentally turn it on. Problem solved, numerous MacRumors threads cease to exist, and those of us affected can actually use devices without headaches, migraines, and seizures.

Accessibility settings for epileptics that dim the screen when content with flashing lights appear doesn’t so much when your products utilize PWM and dithering that are triggering the exact same symptoms.

 

[I7guy]

What difference does it make if there are additional accessibility toggles when the OS itself is the cause? Let’s not kid ourselves, the outcry against liquid glass was not anecdotal - it was so loud Apple toned it down and added a slider. People like OP’s mother are severely affected, whereas for many others it’s just an annoyance. That doesn’t diminish the need to address serious design flaws.



They’re always modifying the dithering algorithm, even within incremental updates of an OS. It has gotten out of hand since they switched to Apple Silicon and are pushing very high brightness for HDR content alongside managing battery life. Apple screens flicker much more now than they did a decade ago, that’s just a fact.

It wouldn’t take much to add a toggle to disable it, but I suspect much like the Pulse smoothing toggle they will perceive it as having too much of a negative effect on the display. They added a warning admitting as much on that PWM toggle so I don’t see why they can’t do the same with dithering. People should be able to choose the bitdepth (8 or 10 bits) at this point. Just bury it in settings so your average Joe doesn’t accidentally turn it on. Problem solved, numerous MacRumors threads cease to exist, and those of us affected can actually use devices without headaches, migraines, and seizures.

Accessibility settings for epileptics that dim the screen when content with flashing lights appear doesn’t so much when your products utilize PWM and dithering that are triggering the exact same symptoms.

I’ve been using accessibility setting s since my iPhone 4. Liquid Glass is not going away and will be tweaked over time as Apple does - and people do like it. Apple won’t be able to please everyone.

 

[HouseLannister]

What difference does it make if there are additional accessibility toggles when the OS itself is the cause?

Agreed. Half the visual glitches in the forums are from people who turned on a bunch of accessibility options they would have never needed before and now have the unintended consequence of the OS glitching oddly because Apple developers did not expect the people who need accessibility to go from a hundredth of 1 percent to possibly double digits percentile. Apple did a poor job with the Liquid Glass design and launch, but they also didn't A-B test their own accessibility options at any level of competence. It's great that the accessibility options are there for those that need them, but they aren't a fix-all and sometimes make things worse.

 

[turbineseaplane]

1. There are sliders to change the transparency.
2. This meme about legibility has been overblown since beta 1. If you can't read 26, you couldn't read 18 either.

How about having some compassion for someone who's LEGALLY BLIND and struggling here?

Goodness gracious.

 

[KPOM]

Just to wrap this, I feel that the world shouldn't be adapting to the aging population too much. This prevents progress. I see and hear often that "cars have gotten to complicated for older people to drive". No, that's just how it is if progress is faster that turnover of generations. And I'm saying this although I'm in the age where vision is degrading and one of my relatives has severe macule degeneration and I regularly need to increase visual settings in iOS and iPadOS settings so they can still keep using it.

Cars ARE getting too complicated for everyone because auto manufacturers insist on putting more of the controls onto touchscreens and they are bad at designing user interfaces. Knobs and buttons are better suited for climate control, for instance, than cascading menus.

 

[I7guy]

How about having some compassion for someone who's LEGALLY BLIND and struggling here?

Goodness gracious.

Yes the op posted about iOS 26 and how it’s not useable for his mother who is legally blind. But this is less to do with compassion and more about discussing/resolving the issue by tweaking settings faced by those who cannot see well.