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We're thrilled to announce that the voting for the 2023 inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame is now open, marking the twelfth year of this esteemed event. Our Hall of Fame is a way for our community to honor developers who are committed to making their apps fully accessible to blind and low vision users. The inductees transform lives, empower individuals, provide invaluable information, and bring joy and entertainment to users. They represent the very best in accessible iOS…

Welcome to the April 2023 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, your monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This edition features a curated selection of community-submitted updates, including new app entries, updates, news, and podcasts.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Aiko (iOS/iPadOS, Free)

High-quality on-device transcription. Easily convert speech to text from meetings, lectures, and more.

The…

Apple's HomePod and HomePod mini smart speakers can now recognize the sound of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and send a notification alert to your iPhone or iPad.

The feature, known as Sound Recognition, was first announced in January 2023, alongside the launch of the second-generation HomePod. However, it required the revamped HomeKit architecture, which was released in November 2022 but then pulled in December. Following the release of macOS Ventura 13.3 and iOS 16.4, the…

Apple has today released iOS 16.4.1, iPadOS 16.4.1, and MacOS Ventura 13.3.1 to the public.

According to Apple's release notes, iOS 16.4.1 and iPadOS 16.4.1 bring fixes for the following bugs related to emoji and Siri:

• Pushing hands emoji does not show skin tone variations
• Siri does not respond in some cases

In addition to the emoji bug fix mentioned above, MacOS Ventura 13.3.1 also includes the following bug fix:

• Auto Unlock your Mac…

Welcome to the March 2023 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, your monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This edition features a curated selection of community-submitted updates, including new app entries, updates, news, and podcasts.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Blind Quest 2 (iOS/iPadOS, US$5.99)

In this stand-alone adventure, “THE FROST DEMON”, you will guide Nathan the mercenary in a NEW ADVENTURE in the…

Apple has today released macOS Ventura 13.3, watchOS 9.4, and tvOS 16.4 to the public.

Based on our experience, it appears that the following accessibility-related bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in macOS Ventura 13.3:

• VoiceOver now speaks the contents of headings on Youtube.com in Safari.
• …

Apple has today released iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 to the public.

Based on our experience, it appears that the following accessibility-related bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4:

• When using a Braille display and invoking the Control Center, the display will no longer be disconnected.
• …

The Be My Eyes app is set to gain a new feature called the Virtual Volunteer, powered by OpenAI's recently announced GPT-4 model. This new tool has the potential to be a game changer for people with visual impairments, providing a virtual sighted assistant that can generate context and understanding for images in the same way as a human volunteer can.

Be My Eyes has been providing technology for the blind and low-vision…

Whether on my iPhone or my Mac, I encounter accessibility issues pretty much daily.

Yes, much of it is the usual---mouse-centric controls, unlabeled buttons, and images without ALT text---commonplace issues that have been highlighted for years. I don’t want to minimize these issues, but I view them as minor. They are well-known. They have names. We can talk about them in discussions with developers. Free utilities are readily available…

Welcome to the February 2023 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, your monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This edition features a curated selection of community-submitted updates, including new app entries, updates, news, and podcasts.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Clusiv (iOS/iPadOS, Free)

Clusiv is an online learning platform for the blind and visually impaired that teaches occupational training, technology…

We are thrilled to unveil our inaugural Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card, which provides valuable insights into the experiences and opinions of visually impaired community members who rely on VoiceOver, Braille support, or the low vision features on Apple devices.

To gather the ratings and comments contained in the report card, we conducted a…

We are excited to announce the launch of our Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card and invite you to participate in the survey that will determine the report card ratings.

The aim of this survey is to gather valuable feedback from those who depend on VoiceOver, braille support, or the low vision features available on Apple devices. The survey asks you to rate these accessibility features across Apple's various platforms and your experience of using Apple software on a scale of 1 to…

I really like to pretend that I have much more control over my personal circumstances than I actually do. I'm probably not alone.

Late in 2019, my wife and I had decided to replace our decade-old minivan with a newest rendition of the same thing. Sure, we wanted a dependable vehicle with a new warranty, but I also coveted a shiny new toy. She drives, I don't, but I still have needs, even if I cannot steer. What do I want in my new car? Apple Car Play? Gotta have it. More USB…

Apple has released updates for its software platforms today, including iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1, which aim to provide important bug fixes and security updates. These updates address issues such as unresponsive or incorrect iCloud settings display, Siri requests for Find My not working, and crash detection optimizations for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.

Another update released today is macOS Ventura 13.2.1, which includes important bug fixes, although the exact changes are…

Update 10 February: We have now received clarification from Candywriter regarding their recent takedown notice for our App Directory entries for the BitLife games. We have been informed that the issue was caused by a wrongful flagging of AppleVis as an "APK website."

For those unfamiliar with the term, an APK website refers to a website that stores Android app files.

We are grateful to Candywriter for rectifying this mistake and for their prompt resolution of…

Welcome to the January 2023 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This edition features a curated selection of community-submitted updates, including new app entries, updates, news, and podcasts.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Bookshare Reader (iOS/iPadOS, Free)

Get the official Bookshare Reader app. Access millions of ebooks from Bookshare, the world's largest library of…

Apple has today released tvOS 16.3 and HomePod software version 16.3.

tvOS updates tend to be smaller in scope compared to the annual major release and often focus on resolving bugs and improving performance. As Apple does not provide release notes for tvOS updates, it's uncertain whether tvOS 16.3 includes any user-facing changes. We will have to wait and see what this update brings. We will keep you informed by updating this post if any noteworthy changes are discovered.

…

Apple has today released updates to its operating systems for various devices. The new releases include macOS Ventura 13.2 and watchOS 9.3. These updates bring a limited number of enhancements and likely some under-the-hood improvements.

The macOS Ventura 13.2 release notes say that it introduces Security Keys for Apple ID, and includes other enhancements and bug fixes for your Mac.

• Security Keys for Apple ID allow users to strengthen the security of their…

Apple has today released iOS 16.3 and iPadOS 16.3 to the public.

Compared to iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2, today's releases have few new features and bug fixes, with Apple seemingly focusing on a limited number of enhancements and likely some under-the-hood improvements.

Based on our experience, it appears that the following accessibility-related bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 16.3 and iPadOS 16.3:

• …

As of today, AppleVis and some of our team members are officially on Mastodon with our own AppleVis instance.

The AppleVis Mastodon instance is just for team members and AppleVis itself. However, anyone from any Mastodon instance can follow us thanks to Mastodon’s decentralized structure. To follow us from the Mastodon instance you’re on, simply open one of our profile pages and use the Follow button to be redirected to your instance; or, copy the link to one of our profiles, search…