With WWDC just weeks forth , Apple on Tuesday offered a trailer of a wide range of raw approachability software package features for the iPhone , iPad , and Mac . The feature of speech , intended to make Apple ’s devices easy to habituate for those with or at risk of cognitive , vision , hearing , mouth , and mobility disabilities , will drift out later in 2023 , but the society made the declaration to tie in withGlobal Accessibility Awareness Day , which falls this year on Thursday , May 18 .
“ Today , we ’re excited to partake unbelievable new feature article that progress on our prospicient history of making technology accessible , ” said Tim Cook , “ so that everyone has the chance to make , pass along , and do what they love . ”
Assistive Access
The first new characteristic is plan to make it easier for those with cognitive disabilities to use the iPhone and iPad . Assistive Access works on the level of individual apps , offering a simplified or slimmed - down experience to lower its cognitive requirement . Apple refers to this process as “ us[ing ] innovations in intention to distill apps and experiences to their essential features . ”
The Phone and FaceTime apps , for example , have been boil down to a unmarried Calls app designed to be easier to use , while Messages offers a video message feature film and the option of an emoji - only keyboard . Similarly , there are “ distill ” rendering of the Camera , Photos , and Music apps . Apple does n’t indicate if third - political party developer will be able to produce Assistive Access versions of their apps , but it seems probable they will be encouraged to do so .
Finally , Assistive Access offer the power to customize your gadget ’s user interface at the grade of the atomic number 76 , with the choice of a traditional control grid - base layout or one establish on row . This sounds similar to the pick of the home blind view on the Apple Watch , which can show apps either as a honeycomb grid or as an alphabetical list , which many of us find oneself prosperous to use .
Live Speech
Live Speech is a text edition - to - language function for those without the power to speak , or difficulties in doing so . It can be used during in - person conversations if you ’ve arrest the machine to turn over , but it can also enable iPhone , iPad , and Mac users to type responses during phone and FaceTime calls and have them spoken out loud .
This might fathom like it could slow down conversation for those who are n’t rapid typists , but Apple tell the user will be able-bodied to economise unremarkably used phrase for rapid response .
Personal Voice
Related to Live Speech , Personal Voice is design for those who do n’t currently face prohibitive difficulties with speech , but are at peril of doing so in the futurity . The idea is that you drop 15 hour record text prompts aloud to your iPhone or iPad , which will then apply this audio data and machine learning to make a digital vox that meet your own . Then , if oral communication becomes impossible in the future for whatever reason , you will be able to use the Live Speech function to make call and send messages in a phonation similar to your own . Apple assures us that the information will be kept secret and secure to prevent the possibility of audio personation .
Other new features and related announcements
Those strike us as the three biggest annunciation in today ’s press release , but there are lots of pocket-sized announcements worth refer .
Detection Mode in Magnifier , for instance , catch a new Point and Speak feature . This means that a user with low sight could move their finger across the buttons on a domesticated appliance and the iPhone will read their label out aloud .
Text Size will be easier to adjust across Mac apps . Those who are sensible to speedy aliveness will be able to mechanically pause GIFs in Messages and Safari . And it will be possible for deaf or intemperately - of - hearing people to directly twin hearing machine certify as Made for iPhone with their Macs .
Some of the announcements , however , accrue outside the realm of software features . Apple is expanding its SignTime service , which pop the question sign language interpreters for Apple Store customers and those meet Apple support , to more countries . There will be sessions in Apple Stores to stick in customers to handiness feature of speech , while curated collections of display , movies , and series related to issues of handiness or create by people from the handicapped community will be showcased on Podcasts and the Apple TV app .
