by Joe Lonergan
Recently Apple released an update to their iOS software for iPhone and iPad to version 16.4.
Apple has made some accessibility bug fixes to the following items.
When using a Braille display and invoking the Control Centre, the display will no longer be disconnected.
In apps including the iTunes Store and TV, navigating by Heading is now more consistent and reliable for VoiceOver users.
Sticky notes and text boxes in Freeform can now be reliably edited using VoiceOver. VoiceOver now speaks the names of items on a canvas in Freeform. We have yet to see Freeform take off and we have not seen it used in our circle, but now that it is becoming more accessible watch this space.
In apps including the iTunes Store and TV, navigating by Heading is now more consistent and reliable for VoiceOver users. This was a big one for TV fans and makes TV navigation more fluid.
Apple has introduced VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app. Now if you press a finger on the Map area and move around without removing your finger from the screen, VoiceOver will announce the location, its relative position to your selected city in the app, and its general weather forecast. You’ll also hear beeps to assist you with the task.
Other general options in this update includes a list of 21 new emojis, which have gone through a Unicode Consortium’s approval before they were introduced to the update.
This update also includes voice isolation for mobile conversations, which prioritises user voices while muting background noise. The functionality had previously been available for use with FaceTime and other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications, but not with mobile calls. While on the call, open the Control Centre, press on Mic Mode, then choose Voice Isolation from the selection of options. This feature will be especially useful for those users who like to dial into meetings.
Apple has added the ability for programmers to introduce web-based push notifications to their web-based apps. This will be useful if you have some websites pinned to your home screen and you would like to be notified of important updates from those websites.
For users that are affected by flashing light affects there has been a setting introduced into Accessibility that automatically dims a video when flashing light or strobe affects are detected.
So, they’re the main highlights as far as blind and vision impaired users are concerned. Until next time, keep those iPhones up to date by going to Settings navigate to General and then Software Update.