Apple on Tuesday shared a handful of accessibility updates coming to its range of products, which are designed to help with everything from reading text to following real-time captions to reducing motion sickness. The announcement comes ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 15, with the features slated for release later this year.
The tech giant is gearing up for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9, during which it’s expected to share software updates across its platforms, including what it has in store for iOS 19. It’s also likely to share Apple Intelligence updates, especially as other companies such as Samsung and Google continue to load their phones with AI features. Many of those AI-powered features have also been supercharging accessibility capabilities across devices such as the iPhone and Pixel phone.
“At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”
Apple’s accessibility updates will arrive on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. Here’s what’ll soon become available across those devices.
Accessibility Nutrition Labels
Accessibility Nutrition Labels will show which App Store games and apps have the supported features you need.
In the App Store, a new section in the product pages of apps and games will highlight accessibility features, so you’ll can know right away whether the capabilities you need are included before downloading. Those features include VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion and captions, as well as others.
Accessibility Nutrition Labels will be available worldwide on the App Store. Developers will have access to guidance on what criteria apps need to meet before showing accessibility information on their product pages.
Magnifier on Mac
Magnifier is a tool that allows people who are blind or low vision to zoom in, read text and detect objects around them on the iPhone or iPad. Now, the feature is coming to the Mac, too.
Magnifier on Mac connects to a camera, like the one on your iPhone, so you can zoom in on what’s around you, like a screen or whiteboard. You can use Continuity Camera on the iPhone to link it to your Mac, or opt for a USB connection to a camera. The feature supports reading documents with Desk View. You can adjust what’s on your screen including brightness, contrast and color filters, to make it easier to see text and images.
Accessibility Reader
This new reading mode on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro is geared toward making text easier to read for people with a range of disabilities, including those with dyslexia or low vision. Accessibility Reader lets you customize text and hone in on what you’re reading by adapting font, color and spacing. It also supports Spoken Content, so your device can read aloud what’s on the screen.
Accessibility Reader can be used within any app, and is built into Magnifier on iOS, iPadOS and MacOS. You can launch the feature to interact with real-world text like in menus and books.
Braille Access
Braille Access lets you essentially turn the iPhone, iPad, Mac or Vision Pro into a braille notetaker. They can launch any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a linked braille device, then jot down notes in braille format and do calculations using Nemeth Braille.
You can also open Braille Ready Format files within Braille Access, allowing them to access books and files that were created on a braille note taking device.
Live Captions on Apple Watch
Live Listen and Live Captions will show real-time text on your Apple Watch, and allow you to remotely control a Live Listen session on your iPhone.
Live Listen is a feature that can take audio capture by an iPhone and beam it to your AirPods, Beats or compatible hearing aids, essentially turning your phone into a remote microphone. Now, that feature is coming to Apple Watch, with the addition of Live Captions, which displays real-time text of what’s being heard via their iPhone. That way, you can both listen to the audio while seeing those Live Captions on your Apple Watch.
You can also use your Apple Watch as a remote control to begin or end Live Listen, as well as to jump back if you missed anything. That means you won’t have to get up in the middle of class or a meeting to grab or control your iPhone — you can do that across the room from your Watch. Live Listen can also be used with the Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2.
Vision accessibility on the Apple Vision Pro
The Apple Vision Pro is adding a handful of features for people who are blind or have low vision. An update to Zoom will allow you to punch in on anything in your surroundings using the Vision Pro’s main camera. Live Recognition will describe what’s around you, pinpoint objects and read documents using VoiceOver.
A new API for developers will also allow approved apps to access the headset’s main camera, so you can get live visual interpretation assistance in apps like Be My Eyes.
Other accessibility updates
Apple shared a handful of other updates coming to its accessibility features, including the addition of Vehicle Motion Cues, which can help reduce motion sickness when looking at a screen, to Mac. You can also customize the animated dots that appear onscreen on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Personal Voice lets people who are at risk of speech loss create a voice that sounds like them using AI and on-device machine learning. It’s now faster and easier to use. Instead of reading 150 phrases to set up the feature and waiting overnight for it to process, Personal Voice can now create a more natural-sounding voice replica with just 10 recorded phrases in less than a minute. Apple is also adding support for Spanish in Mexico.
Name Recognition will alert you if your name is being called.
Similar to Eye Tracking, which lets you control your iPhone and iPad using just your eyes, Head Tracking will also let you navigate and control your device with head movements.
You can now customize Music Haptics on iPhone, which plays a series of taps, textures and vibrations along to audio in Apple Music. You can choose to experience those haptics for the whole song or just for the vocals, and you can also adjust the overall intensity.
Sound Recognition, which alerts people who are deaf or hard of hearing to sounds like sirens, doorbells or car horns, is adding Name Recognition so they can also know when their name is being called.
Live Captions is also adding support for languages in more parts of the world including English (India, Australia, UK, Singapore), Mandarin Chinese (Mainland China), Cantonese (Mainland China, Hong Kong), Spanish (Latin America, Spain), French (France, Canada), Japanese, German (Germany) and Korean.
