KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Apple announced a whole slew of new accessibility features across its various platforms including iPadOS and WatchOS.
The announcement coincided with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (May 20), a day made to encourage digital creators and developers the world over to improve digital accessibility and inclusivity.
Here’s some highlights from the announcement and how they will make it easier for the disabled to interact with technology.
AssistiveTouch for watchOS: New gestures will allow users to perform various options with a combination of finger and hand gestures without actually needing to touch the Watch screen.
Eye-tracking support for iPadOS: With this, people who use eye-tracking devices will be able to use iPads with just their eyes.
Background sounds: Users who would benefit from calming sounds will now have the option of sounds such as rain, ocean and stream sounds to help them minimise background noise distractions.
Improved VoiceOver: VoiceOver will be tweaked so on-device intelligence will be able to communicate to blind and low vision users what’s in an image via a verbal descriptionS
Support for bi-directional hearing aids: This feature will help the deaf use these new hearing aids on iPhone
Sound Actions for Switch Control: instead of physical buttons, Apple will support using mouth sounds such as clicks or pops for people with limited mobility or are non-speaking
Display and Text Size settings tweaks: These will be customisable in each app for users with colourblindness or similar vision challenges
New Memoji customisations: These include oxygen tubes, cochlear implants, as well as a soft helmet for headwear.
Apple hasn’t set a timeframe for these features to go “live” but it’s likely they will be included in the next iteration of the company’s various device operating systems.
Watch how AssistiveTouch works below:
