Apple Yosemite and iOS8 accessibility roundup

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Wednesday, 4 June 2014 16:23pm

Apple this week announced the launch of its new Mac operating system, Yosemite, and its new mobile operating system, iOS 8, at its annual developer conference.

The new operating systems have a range of accessibility features, such as Spotlight which makes web searches and launching applications and documents easier for people with motor-related disabilities, and a ‘dark mode’ which switches black text on a white background to white text on a black background, aiding people with vision-related disabilities.

If you missed the keynote presentation (not captioned) covering some of the features, here’s a roundup of posts that have detailed the accessibility of the two new operating systems.

AppleVis has a great rundown of all the features of Yosemite and iOS8, while the Assistive Technology Blog argues that Apple’s mobile operating system is more accessible than ever. That’s thanks to new keyboard options, improved text-to-speech voices, improved Guided Access features, and improved Siri functionality among other accessibility related features.

Mac World says that there are a host of new accessibility features in iOS 8 including clearer screen reader voice in VoiceOver, multi-device support for Made for iPhone hearing aids; improved zoom; a “speak screen” action; and support for a Braille keyboard with direct 6-dot Braille input.

The iDownload blog writes that a brand new Accessibility option in iOS 8 can replace colours with a range of grey shades from white to black, as used in a monochrome display or printout, helping people with vision-related disabilities. There are also additional screen zoom options among other accessibility features.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2014 is held from June 2-6 in San Fransisco, California, USA.


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