Intro to iOS Accessibility

What do we mean by iOS Accessibility?

Apple (iOS) devices have made huge strides forward promoting better accessibility. This in turn, has directly contributed to a more inclusive world for people with disabilities.

Although the features outlined below can apply to other iOS devices (iPad, Mac PCs), we will focus primarily on iPhone to explain the numerous accessibility options available.

Broadly speaking, there are five main areas of disability that iPhones can be customised, adapt to & assist users with the aim of providing more inclusive experiences for accessing digital content.

The five main areas of disability that iPhones can adapt to & assist with are:

• Vision

• Mobility

• Hearing

• Speech

• Cognitive

1). Vision

These features help people with a whole range of sight disabilities, from low vision to complete vision loss.

More recently, iOS 18 offers a more customisable home screen and an adjustable control panel for people with low vision.

VoiceOver:

VoiceOver is the iOS built-in screen reader used by people with vision disabilities to hear what’s on the screen (navigated using hand gestures or voice commands).

To turn on VoiceOver: Settings > Accessibility > Vision > VoiceOver.

Zoom:

For people with low vision, Apple Zoom is a great accessibility feature that can zoom screen content to make text, images, and other elements much more visible.

Display & Text Size:

People can also make text bigger, adjust display contrast & colours, and more.

It’s also possible to use an iPhone as a magnifying glass (the magnifier app has enhanced Reader Mode, making it easier to read text on the screen), in addition to being also able to point the camera to get descriptions of surroundings (e.g. people, doors, text) and get descriptions of video content.

The option to invert colours (e.g. light text on a dark background) & use of greyscale is also provided to assist low vision users reading.

Text to Speech, and Speech to Text:

Text-to-speech, and speech-to-text, features make it easy to convert written information into spoken word and vice versa. For example, text-to-speech can transform written text into natural-sounding spoken language, and it is also possible to make choices of different voice, pitch, and speaking rates.

Audio Descriptions:

People also have the choice to avail of autoplay audio description tracks for video content, when that content is made available.

Custom Home Screen & Control Panel:

For users with low vision, iOS 18 offers a more customisable home screen, and an adjustable control panel.

2). Mobility

These features help people with a whole range of mobility disabilities, from loss of fine hand skills to complete loss of limbs required to interact with screens.

To turn on mobility features: Settings > Accessibility > Physical and Motor.

Voice control with Siri:

Free with all iOS devices, Siri enables hands-free actions using just spoken commands, eye movements and/or external assistive devices.

Siri is especially useful for people with iPhones with the following tasks; calls, navigation assistance, integration with VoiceOver for screen-reading, and texting with voice commands.

It can also navigate to shortcuts on your home screen, manage schedules, alarms, play media content, and help to locate lost devices through the “Find My” option.

Face ID login:

Apple iOS allows people hand-free login to their devices simply by scanning their face.

AssistiveTouch:

AssistiveTouch is an iPhone feature that helps people who have mobility challenges pressing screen buttons. Instead of requiring specific touch targets to activate buttons, people can instead use AssistiveTouch to setup gesture movements, or use a simple sound, as an alternative to needing to press iPhone buttons.

Speech-to-Text:

Instead of having to type text, Speech-to-Text allows people with mobility challenges to convert spoken words into written text.

3). Hearing

These features help people with a whole range of hearing disabilities, from not being able to hear properly because of overwhelming external sounds, all the way to complete hearing loss.

To turn on hearing features: Settings > Accessibility > Hearing.

Pair hearing devices:

Hearing devices can be paired with iPhones, and it is also possible to stream sound from the iPhone microphone to AirPods. Another amazing option is to “feel” music by experiencing songs as taps, detailed vibrations, and other haptics synced to the rhythm of music being played.

Recognise sounds:

Settings can allow iPhone to recognise sounds like doorbells and make people aware of them by visual cues.

LED flash alerts:

Option to turn on phone LED light blinking to receive visual notification of audio alerts.

Subtitles & captions:

Real-time captioning of spoken audio from an app or live conversation, with the possibility to customise subtitles & captions.

Real-Time Text (RTT) calls:

Communicate on a phone call by typing so the person on the other end of the call sees the message as it is typed.

4). Speech

These features help people with a whole range of speech disabilities, from difficulty forming sounds, to nonspeaking, to complete speech loss.

To turn on speech features: Settings > Accessibility > Speech.

Text-to-Speech:

Instead of having to type text, Text-to-Speech allows people with speech challenges to convert typed text words into spoken voice sound.

Text-to-Speech also allows people to create a custom, personalised voice that sounds like them, or choose one of built in voices provided.

Live-Speech:

Live Speech can be used to voice text that is written in real time.

Voice commands:

Siri can be used to control iPhones using speech commands. Another great feature of this is that Siri can be trained to learn atypical speech in case of progressive voice deterioration.

5). Cognitive

These features help people with a whole range of cognitive disabilities, from processing & attention difficulties, all the way to acquired brain damage (for example).

To turn on cognitive features: Settings > Accessibility

iPhones can be setup to have a simplified interface for someone with a cognitive disability, or if more user-friendly, temporarily limit it to only having one app.

Stop or reduce motion:

It is also possible to reduce sensory stimulus from the screen, by using the Stop or reduce onscreen motion feature.

Reduce Motion settings can reduce or eliminate motion effects and help to create a more static, less visually busy user interface. It is also possible to choose whether or not animated effects auto-play.

For example, it is possible to pause the automatic display of videos, rapid animated images such as GIFs, while also automatically dimming the display of content that depicts flashing or strobing lights.

Help with attention focus:

Help people focus their attention more easily by using features like Focus, Dictation, Spoken Content, and Live Captions to assist.

Text-to-Speech / Speech-to-Text:

Text-to-speech and speech-to-text features make it possible to convert written information into spoken word, and vice versa.

One extra useful feature - Quick Access

As if all of the previously discussed features were not enough, people also have the option to quickly turn many accessibility features on or off by pressing an iPhone button, or tapping the back of iPhone. Alternatively, they can also use Control Center, Siri, or Vocal Shortcuts to do the same task, thereby accomodating a wide range of users.

To turn on quick access features: Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut