Apple announces new accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence
Apple has announced a new round of accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence as part of its annual tradition of previewing accessibility updates ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The updates cover VoiceOver, Magnifier, Voice Control, Accessibility Reader, generated subtitles, and Apple Vision Pro. VoiceOver Image Explorer will be able to provide richer descriptions for photos, scanned documents, and records, while Magnifier will add AI driven visual descriptions that can be accessed through spoken commands or the iPhone Action button, which could let an iPhone read and answer contextual questions about something like a medical form for a user with low vision. Personally, this strongly reminds me of what third party communities like Be My Eyes have been doing for years.
Voice Control is getting natural language support, allowing users to say commands like “tap the purple folder” or interact with interface elements that lack proper accessibility labels. Accessibility Reader will support more complex documents with columns, images, and tables, along with on demand summaries, translation, and preserved formatting preferences. Generated Subtitles will use on device speech recognition to transcribe videos across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, starting in English in the U.S. and Canada.
Apple Vision Pro will add Power Wheelchair Control through eye tracking, while Sony’s Access controller will work as a customizable game controller on Apple platforms. Other updates include Name Recognition in more than 50 languages, improved hearing aid support, Larger Text on tvOS, and global availability of the adaptive Hikawa Grip & Stand. The features are expected to arrive later this year with Apple’s upcoming major operating system releases.
