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Welcome to the August 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - 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…

Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5.2, which appears to be a minor update.

At the time of posting, there isn’t much known about the update itself, with Apple simply saying that it includes “bug fixes for your Mac.” We will update this post if anything noteworthy is discovered.

With this being a minor update coming so soon after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.5.1,…

Welcome to the July 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - 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

Adventure to…

Apple has today released watchOS 7.6.1, bringing a fix for a security issue that, according to Apple's security support document may have been actively exploited.

Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved…

Apple has today released iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1, bringing a fix for a bug introduced in last week's iOS 14.7 update that prevented the Apple Watch from being automatically unlocked when connected to Touch ID iPhones.

As the release notes only mention this one specific fix, our expectation is that they do not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of these releases, please…

Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 with an important security update.

The specific security issue fixed in this update is for an IOMobileFrameBuffer flaw that could have been actively exploited to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

As macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 appears to have been released to address a specific issue, our expectation is that it does not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low…

Apple has today released iPadOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, focusing on a small number of changes and fixes.

According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.

As we always stress, we can…

Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, bringing only one change and a couple of fixes according to the release notes.

Our testing suggests that the following issue has been addressed in macOS Big Sur 11.5:

• Using VoiceOver's, "Say all," command now reads webpages reliably.

As we…

Apple has today released watchOS 7.6 and tvOS 14.7. These appear to be relatively minor updates for single dot releases, focusing primarily on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users in these releases.

As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible…

Apple has today released iOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, primarily focusing on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.

According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.

Welcome to the June 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - 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

Element…

It was a Thursday morning, and I was teaching a seminar to first year undergraduate students. I divided the students into three groups, then sent each group into a separate room to spend fifteen minutes discussing the material. Ten minutes later, I was still in the main room. My usual practice was to visit each room in turn, to listen to the students' discussion, answer any questions, and prompt them if everyone was a little too quiet. On this occasion, however, I couldn't find the entrance…

I was sitting in my office. The lease had expired, the air conditioner was broken, and a fly crawled across my arm. I slapped him with the open palm of my hand and sent him out of the game.

Someone knocked at the door.

“It’s open,” I said.

I heard a dog’s claws on my linoleum floor, then a lady in high heels. She smelled pretty as a rose, and her dress swayed like tall grass in a cool summer breeze. The dog led her to a chair. She sat.

“I’m lookin’ for…

Apple has today released iOS 12.5.4 for older devices not compatible with iOS 14, bringing fixes for several security vulnerabilities that could lead to arbitrary code execution if exploited.

As this update appears to have been released to address a small number of specific issues, our expectation is that it does not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of this release, please…

Apple has announced the winners of this year's prestigious Apple Design Awards; and it's thrilling that two of these will be familiar to most in our community - Be My Eyes and Voice Dream Reader.

The awards honor excellence in innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement in app and game design. This year, Apple divided the finalists into six different categories:…

Apple today kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with the traditional keynote presentation.

As was the case last year, WWDC 2021 is an all-virtual event, with the keynote consisting of prerecorded video presentations that focused primarily on the next major revisions of Apple's operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. What we didn't get today, was any hardware news, so those waiting to place an…

Ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starting next week, Apple has today announced the 36 finalists for this year's Apple Design Awards; and it's great to see that in the running are three apps which will be familiar to most in our community - Be My Eyes, Blind Drive, and Voice Dream Reader.

The awards honor excellence in innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement in app and game design. This year, Apple is…

Welcome to the May 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - 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

AudioRoom -…

We are pleased to announce that our Community has chosen Cash Reader: Bill Identifier and Overcast to be this year's inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame.

First opened in 2011, the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame showcases and acknowledges the passion and hard work that app developers put into creating great iOS apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users. These apps place powerful tools into the palms of our hands, and give access to services, information, media or…

Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.4, watchOS 7.5, and tvOS 14.6. These appear to be relatively minor updates for single dot releases, focusing on the groundwork for the upcoming addition of Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio to Apple Music, adding paid podcast subscription support for channels and individual shows, and some other mostly under-the-hood…