Apple announced in its online press room a new range of accessibility features coming to iOS and iPadOS a few weeks ahead of WWDC 2024. These are features designed to help iPhone and iPad users better interact with their devices. They will arrive “later this year”.
Because it’s important. Improving accessibility is crucial to make it easier for people with a condition that makes it difficult to operate machines Coming from a company like Apple, they also have symbolic power: they represent the importance of inclusion that takes into account all types of users.
new. Apple just announced the news:
- eye to eye. Using the front camera and AI, this feature allows users to operate their devices with just their eyes. Data is processed locally and never leaves the iPhone or iPad.
- Haptic music. using this function Haptic motor from Apple to convert sound into tactile signals, allowing people who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music through vibrations or small impulses.
- Vocal shortcuts and hearing abnormal speech. Users will be able to assign custom voice commands that Siri will understand to perform specific tasks. It targets people with speech patterns or conditions that affect their oral communication.
- Traffic signs. This innovation is designed to help people who suffer from motion sickness from using the device while traveling on the road. The function uses visual cues in the form of dots spread across the screen that replicate the vehicle’s movement to reduce sensory conflict and reduce feelings of dizziness, according to Apple.
- Reading mode in magnifying glass. A native Apple application allows those with visual problems to zoom without the camera’s limits. Now integrated A reading mode, like Safariwhich converts real-world text into fonts that we can customize to make it easier to read.
Magnifier app reader mode. Photo: Apple.
CarPlay and VisionOS as well. iOS Extensions and the Vision Pro operating system in the car receive new accessibility features The first recognizes ambient sounds when we travel in a car, as iOS already does. The second will now be able to integrate subtitles in real time for those with hearing difficulties.
Real-time subtitles in visionOS. Photo: Apple.
Voice recognition in CarPlay. For example, siren sound warning. Photo: Apple.
Apple benefits. Thanks to the vertical integration of its products (hardware, software and services), it has the ability to be more agile in integrating such functions, which use a combination of the first two and immediately integrate with the third, such as Apple Music’s Haptic Music.
These types of functions are a constant for any major tech manufacturer, but especially here Apple’s journey is long and every year it offers new features like this in terms of accessibility. They will arrive in some iOS and iPadOS updates before the end of the year.
Featured Image | Manjana
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