Over the past week, Apple has shown us upcoming software for iOS and iPadOS 17. This includes Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, and concert discoverability in Music and Maps. Today, Apple silently announced many upcoming accessibility features coming to the iPhone and iPad. These features can simplify the UI or create your voice for in-app experiences.
Starting with visual changes, we get our first official look at assistive access. This is a complete overhaul of the design, with a much simpler look and feel. Buttons are bigger than normal, lists and grids are inflated, and items are scattered around the page. This is targeted at people with cognitive disabilities and is not to be used in other cases, as this is a complete overhaul of the design. However, some people see a use for children and older people.
Finally, Apple allows you to clone your voice. Introducing Live Speech, a feature that takes a lot of time to set up, but is very useful after you get it working. After navigating through a whopping 150 prompts, all your Apple devices will be able to employ machine learning to build a (basically) AI version of your voice. Just type something into the phone, and the device will speak what you typed. You can use this in a variety of places, such as FaceTime, calls, and even in-person conversations. Apple also previewed a feature that lets you save commonly used phrases for quick access. They also reassure you that this is very secure, by keeping all voice data on-device. This is targeted at people who lose their voice often, but we could able to see many use cases for people that do not.
Finally, Apple added Point and Speak to Detection Mode in the magnifier app. This feature reads aloud things with several text labels. As Apple says, "Point and Speak combines input from the camera, the LiDAR Scanner, and on-device machine learning to announce the text on each button as users move their finger across the keypad."
In conclusion, these many updated accessibility features will make the iPhone and iPad much easier to use for people with cognitive disabilities or those who lose their voice often. From the assistive access design overhaul to the Live Speech feature that clones your voice, Apple is making strides toward inclusivity and convenience. The Point and Speak feature in the magnifier app is also helpful for those with visual impairments. Overall, these enhanced accessibility features are a significant step forward for Apple and will surely result in a positive impact on the lives of many users. As Booker T. Washington once said: “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”