My legally blind mother cannot use iOS 26

[turbineseaplane]

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.

The user I was replying to called the issues here "overblown".
That's just not an appropriate or compassionate reply to the OP given the context.

 

[I7guy]

The user I was replying to called the issues here "overblown".
That's just not an appropriate or compassionate reply to the OP given the context.

Imo some of the criticisms to iOS 26 are overblown. I have empathy for ops mother who now cannot use their phone as intended. However it seems that a z fold will solve the issue.

 

[SparklyApple]

Imo some of the criticisms to iOS 26 are overblown. I have empathy for ops mother who now cannot use their phone as intended. However it seems that a z fold will solve the issue.

Switching ecosystems is not helpful for someone with vision issues. They now have to learn an ecosystem and not just a new iOS.

 

[I7guy]

Switching ecosystems is not helpful for someone with vision issues. They now have to learn an ecosystem and not just a new iOS.

Is there an alternative? If the iPhone doesn’t work for someone’s needs what is the alternative?

 

[AshX]

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.

The issue isn’t just Liquid Glass, though. That’s only a surface level legibility problem. The problem is the entire operating system GUI relies on transparency, gradients, and animations that are visually fatiguing and GPU intensive. It’s arguably unnecessary.

This isn’t even taking into account the massive failure by Apple over the past 5 years to do what many other monitor companies and Chinese phone companies are doing by offering flicker free, eye safe devices. The reliance on PWM and spatiotemporal dithering on nearly every product is causing issues for more and more people. They can’t even be bothered to add customization options that would eliminate it or even a software toggle to at least low the bit depth down to the hardware’s native 8-bit capabilities.

You shouldn’t have to spend $5000 on the Pro Display XDR to get hardware with native 10-bit color.

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.

It’s like rearranging chairs on the titanic. Apple’s obsession with forcing users into their preferred box is having health consequences. AMD and NVIDIA have options to choose bit depth, and other OS’s allow for much more customization. This company allegedly prioritizes health and wellness, yet relies on flicker techniques to display their 10-bit OS’s. Other than some of the iPhones and the Pro Display XDR, they offer no true 10-bit solutions.

This is saying nothing of the low hanging fruit that is basic GUI design for productivity, which even the biggest Liquid glass fan will admit has not met its mark this generation.

 

[I7guy]

The issue isn’t just Liquid Glass, though. That’s only a surface level legibility problem. The problem is the entire operating system GUI relies on transparency, gradients, and animations that are visually fatiguing and GPU intensive. It’s arguably unnecessary.

This isn’t even taking into account the massive failure by Apple over the past 5 years to do what many other monitor companies and Chinese phone companies are doing by offering flicker free, eye safe devices. The reliance on PWM and spatiotemporal dithering on nearly every product is causing issues for more and more people. They can’t even be bothered to add customization options that would eliminate it or even a software toggle to at least low the bit depth down to the hardware’s native 8-bit capabilities.

You shouldn’t have to spend $5000 on the Pro Display XDR to get hardware with native 10-bit color.



It’s like rearranging chairs on the titanic. Apple’s obsession with forcing users into their preferred box is having health consequences. AMD and NVIDIA have options to choose bit depth, and other OS’s allow for much more customization. This company allegedly prioritizes health and wellness, yet relies on flicker techniques to display their 10-bit OS’s. Other than some of the iPhones and the Pro Display XDR, they offer no true 10-bit solutions.

This is saying nothing of the low hanging fruit that is basic GUI design for productivity, which even the biggest Liquid glass fan will admit has not met its mark this generation.

We should be happy there is technology available for those who have eyesight needs.

Maybe Apple will one day update their displays and drivers to make them more eyesight friendly.