Nowadays, Apple devices offer a range of accessibility features and settings to help support individuals who are blind or have low vision.
Today marks World Sight Day (12th October), so we’ve compiled a list of some of the top features that iPhone offers to best suit your vision needs and make your lives just that tiny bit easier.
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader which allows you to use your device even if you can’t see the screen. This feature gives you an audible description of what’s on your screen whilst also allowing for adjustments in the speaking rate and the pitch.
To turn this feature on:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver
- Turn the setting on
Note: When VoiceOver is switched on, normal touchscreen gestures will have a different effect. Therefore, it’s important to practice the special VoiceOver gestures to get the most out of this feature.
Magnifier
With the Magnifier app you can use your phone as a digital magnifying glass. Using the camera, you can zoom in and increase the size of any physical object you point it at. You can also use the app to increase the contrast, focus and freeze frames.
You can open the app from your Home Screen, with Siri or by adding it to your Control Center for easy access.
Display Features
Apple offers a variety of display features to suit your needs. Not only can you customise colour by using filters or inverting the colours on your screen but you can also adjust transparency levels, contrast and reduce the white point making bright colours less intense.
Text can also be altered by increasing the size or by making the text bold alongside the ability to also adjust button shapes.
Here’s how you can find these features:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size
- Toggle on/off your preferred settings
Spoken Content
This feature enables your device to read text out loud. You can have your iPhone speak a selected piece of text or the entire screen. You have full control over the pace, voice and pronunciation of the reading whilst also being able to highlight words, sentences or both in a customised colour.
Your device can also provide corrections or suggestions as you’re typing a message to make sure you’re saying exactly what you need to.
To turn on Spoken Content:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content
- Turn on:
- Speak Selection
- Speak Screen
- Speech Controller
- Highlight Content
- Typing Feedback
