Hi community members.
iOS 26 has been available to the public for close to one month now and what I couldn't get is what do voiceover like you and me actually get by updating?
Most changes are visual only with Liquid Glass.
Not many things that VoiceOver users can benefit from as compared to last year such as control centre changes and customising lock screen shortcut.
In fact this software is more clunky to use overall such as
Battery graph is too difficult to understand
Share sheet has hidden all the controls that we require such as sharing with Be My Eyes and saving to files into a separate more menu requiring more taps overall
I do understand that this looks more clean for cited users but this is very annoying for voiceover users in my opinion.
watchOS workout app has become a pain to start a workout now there's just so many buttons over there.
Not to mention that the Games app is not even accessible with VoiceOver so I find myself asking what benefit does voiceover users get by upgrading to this software in the first place.
Not to mention that there are tons of bugs and battery drain on my iPhone 13 is ridiculous with only 3 hours of screen on and 4 hours of screen off ever since updating.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this matter
By Apple-killer01, 7 October, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
first there a number of benifits
First, there are a number of benefits. I encourage you to check out the podcast AppleVis did on the new features. One nice feature is the copied speech
feature.
Second and perhaps more important. Your message comes across as if Apple did nothing for accessibility. This is wrong.
not many features
No matter how you look at it iOS 26 do not offer much beneficial features for voiceover users.
I do agree that there are some new voiceover features such as copied speech but the overall changes to a better iOS experience is minimum.
iOS 18 I can list a few features which I think is impressive on top of my head
First preview at Apple Intelligence
Redesign Photos app
Lock screen shortcut customisation
Rearranging control centre tiles more efficiently
What's new section in every accessibility setting
A more streamlined settings app
Just to name a few
iOS 26 however, I cannot name anything which I find impressive Can you?
Dennis Long
I don't think a user asking a legit question needs to be treated this way. afterall, we're not all apple fanboys here and we'll keep raising constructive criticism no matter what. And while we're at it, what exactly did apple do for blind accessibility in IOS26 except for your speech suddenly disappearing when updating?
My honest opinion
If you don't feel like updating yet, don't do it, you won't lose anything crutial either, I think we can agree on this, except if braille access is very important for you.
I am very neutral about ios 26, as far as VO is concerned. No positives or negatives. The more systemwide features are more useful IMO, hold assist and the phone app across the main ecosystem for example.
Read the ios 26 threads to have a better idea of a bug that could be a showstopper for you before deciding.
PS: it was never implied that apple didn't do anything for accessibility, it was rather a very legitimate question about is liquid glass worth it some troubles and accessibility bugs for fully blind individuals? Very valid question and framing of said question.
Three things come to mind
I'm sure my list will miss a few key points, but three things come to mind that I think are beneficial to VoiceOver users, although one of them is truly beneficial to everyone.
1. First and foremost, the ability to reset VO settings. This has been in macOS since like, forever, so it's nice to see it finally make its way to iOS.
2. The copied speech rotor item, that Dennis mentioned above. It streamlines copy/pace jobs, making word processing just a tad bit more convenient.
3. Last, but definitely not least, the ability to finally, finally, download and install ringtones, without any other third-party hardware or software. And it's free, so no more having to buy ringtones off of the iTunes Store.
HTH.
There’s no need to be negative here
This user was just asking what the benefits of her Voice uses for iOS 26. There’s no need to be some negative and the very first, and this post say that somebody’s asking it is though Apple did nothing for Accessibility. Nobody saying that. If you care about this at all large, maybe a benefit possibly is that we did get two more new Indian English places. We got Amon and Tara. They’re just standard forms. There’s no enhanced their premium for those voices, but they’re pretty nice. But if you don’t feel ready to update yet, you don’t need to. That’s a purely personal choice.