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Apple's commitment to accessibility has made life easier for large numbers of visually impaired and other disabled people. Gone are the days of buying a Nokia phone and having to send it away and wait weeks for Talks to be installed. We have devices that we can use immediately after buying, without installing an expensive screen reader. Our devices include accessibility settings to accommodate several different disabilities. Many app developers have admirably taken on the challenge of making…

Welcome to the February 2018 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Accessible flash cards…

Be My Eyes, the popular iOS and Android app that connects blind and low vision users with sighted volunteers for assistance via live video chat, has today launched an exciting new feature for users needing specialized or technical help.

Following today's update to the Be My Eyes app, users will find a new menu option on the app's main screen titled “Specialized Help”.

In its announcement of this new…

Apple has today released software updates for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

According to Apple's release notes via Mac Rumors, iOS 11.2.6 includes the following bug fixes:

iOS 11.2.6 includes bug fixes for your iPhone or iPad. This update:

Fixes an issue where using certain character sequences could cause apps to crash

Fixes an issue where some third-party…

On February 9, 2018, Apple finally released the highly anticipated HomePod to the general public. I was lucky enough to receive one as a gift from Cupid for Valentine’s Day and I thought that I would share my first impressions of Apple’s latest gadget.

Product Description

The HomePod is Apple’s smart speaker which, according to Apple, takes the listening experience to a whole new level. It comes equipped with Apple’s virtual…

Without a doubt, one of the biggest areas of growth in technology currently is in home automation, or smart home technology. Over the recent Christmas holiday I decided to take my own first tentative steps into this world.

Up to this point, to some extent, I have been skeptical about smart home technology, asking myself for example "Isn't it actually easier to flip a light-switch on the wall as I enter the room than to invoke a smart assistant such as Siri, or to take my…

"VoiceOver is On." Accessing Life with Adaptive Technology.

A Picky Old-School Techie.

Many options available on Mac and iOS can be processor intensive causing not only battery drain, but slowing down VoiceOver's response time over all. Choosing the ones that are best suited for my needs and turning off the ones that are not, can help. It can save battery life and give my device less to do, allowing it to pay quicker attention to me. :-)

Okay I admit it, I am a…

Welcome to the January 2018 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Geekbench 4 (iOS, US$0.…

Introduction

Apple's iOS operating system doesn't suffer from a paucity of ebook readers. In fact, the situation is so exemplary that one might ask for advice when it comes to selecting between the $14.99 Voice Dream Reader and the free but feature-rich Dolphin EasyReader. And I haven't yet mentioned Apple's very own…

Along with the release of iOS 11.2.5, today has also seen the releases of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, watchOS 4.2.2 and tvOS 11.2.5.

According to MacRumors, today's macOS release focuses on security and under the hood improvements:

No major…

Apple has today released iOS 11.2.5 to the public.

According to Apple's release notes, via MacRumors, this update includes the following changes.

HomePod support

• Setup and automatically transfer your Apple ID, Apple Music, Siri and Wi-Fi settings to HomePod.

Siri News

• Siri can now read the news, just ask, "Hey Siri, play the news". You can also ask for…

Apple has today announced that its HomePod speaker will Launch in the United States, UK and Australia on February 9, with orders beginning Friday, January 26 via Apple's online store or the Apple Store app.

HomePod will also be available from select resellers in each country, such as Best Buy in the United States, John Lewis and Argos in the UK, and Harvey Norman and…

Apple has today released iOS 11.2.2 and macOS 10.13.2 Supplemental Update, bringing a software fix for the 'Spectre' vulnerability reported last week.

According to Mac Rumors, both iOS 11.2.2 and macOS 10.13.2 Supplemental Update contain software fixes for the 'Spectre' vulnerability.

As iOS 11.2.2 and macOS 10.13.2 Supplemental Update appear…

What does it mean to make a truly accessible app? How can you go beyond meeting minimum accessibility standards and make something that VoiceOver users will find intuitive and enjoy using? In this post, I want to try to answer those questions from a user's perspective. I will not be covering the code you should use; instead, I am trying to describe what makes an app easy to use for me, as a VoiceOver user, and I encourage members of the community to add their own views in the comments.…

This post is a follow up to my post from December, Braille Display Users Deserve Better From Blindfold Games. In this post, I acknowledged the efforts of Marty for speech users, but pointed out the lack of accessibility for braille display users. While the use of a display is a luxury for some, for the deaf-blind this is not the case, as a display must be relied…

Previously.

In my previous post, "Mac Scripting, Hello World", we looked at 'tell blocks' where indented commands could be sent to specific applications. The commands were indented one tab spot, while the blocks were finished off with an 'end tell' command. There are several types of blocks, tell blocks, if blocks and repeat blocks to name a few…

Intro

For years, I've used bone conduction headphones from [Aftershokz](http://www.aftershokz.com]. A few weeks ago, I got myself an early Christmas present: a set of Apple's AirPods, the wireless earbuds Apple released in late 2016. I'd heard a lot about AirPods, and had held a set some days prior to my purchase, which physical handling finally pushed me over the edge and sent me to the nearest store that had my new toy in stock.

Having used Aftershokz for years, and…

Welcome to the December 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Cyberduck (macOS, Free…

We are pleased to announce the winners of the sixth annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.

Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded blind and low vision users of Apple products the opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making and maintaining great and accessible iOS and macOS applications over the given year.

The AppleVis Golden Apple Winners of 2017

Below are the winners…

When you think of audio games, the Blindfold series of iOS games from Kid Friendly Software probably come to mind. Certainly, the Blindfold Series of games have been a huge hit within the blindness community. With over 80 titles now available, it makes sense that blind and low vision users around the world would flock to these games.

As a speech user, the Blindfold Games are completely accessible and easy to learn. The consistent menu…