Apple has just revealed some accessibility features that will come with iPadOS 17 and iOS 17. These features are for cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility for people who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.
Assistive Access
The Assistive Access feature is for people with cognitive disabilities. The feature changes the UI in order to lighten the cognitive load. Apple has tested it with people who have cognitive disabilities and used their feedback. Assistive Access brings a customized experience for Phone and FaceTime that have been combined into a single Calls app.
Live Speech
Live Speech feature lets users type what they want to and it will be spoken out loud during phone and FaceTime calls as well as in-person conversations. It allows users to save commonly used phrases. Users who are at risk of losing their ability to speak can create a Personal Voice by reading along with a randomized set of text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio on an iPhone or iPad.
Detection Mode
Apple’s Magnifier is getting Point and Speak which makes it easier for users with vision disabilities to interact with physical objects that have text labels. This feature uses LiDAR Scanner, and on-device machine learning to identify and announce the text.
Other notable features include the ability to pair Made for iPhone hearing devices directly to Mac, Voice Control guides, the ability to turn any switch into a virtual game controller for playing their favorite games, an easy way to adjust Text Size across Mac apps such as Finder, Messages, Mail, Calendar, and Notes, and more. Users who are sensitive to rapid animations can paise images with moving elements, such as GIFs, in Messages, and Safari. Users will also be able to customize the rate at which Siri speaks to them.
Apple should also preview these features at this year’s WWDC which is scheduled for June 5.
