It's the week of the 5th Birthday of AppleVis, and to start off our celebrations we have a tremendous giveaway brought to us jointly by the great people at BlindSquare and AfterShokz.
If ever there was a pairing of hardware and software that made sense for the vision-impaired, it would be the combination of the BlindSquare navigation app and an Aftershokz bone-conduction headset. BlindSquare "makes the world…
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Apple has today launched a special App Store collection of accessibility apps beneficial to users with a variety of disabilities.
For blind and low vision users, Apple has included the following apps in the new Accessibility collection:
We have now sent emails to everybody who won one of our giveaway prizes. Congratulations to you all!
If you haven’t received an email, please accept our commiserations. However, you should probably first check your ‘Junk’ folder, just in case any email has been wrongly filed.
For one final time, we would like to publicly thank all of the wonderful people who helped to make this such a great event by donating prizes. We really couldn’t have hoped…
Today, for the first time since 2012, Apple released updated versions of the iPod line of products. This includes updates to the Touch, Shuffle, and Nano, all of which now come in more colors than before. The …
Nine months after its launch in the United States, Apple Pay has today finally arrived in the UK. So, geek and early-adopter that I am, I found an excuse first thing this morning to visit my local convenience store to find out if they are among the reported 250,000 UK locations which will support Apple Pay from launch.
The good news is that they are. Even better news is that setting up and using Apple Pay on my Apple Watch really couldn’t have been any easier.
The first step…
As first reported by Blind Bargains, a member of Apple's Accessibility Team will be presenting a session at this year's American Council of the Blind (ACB) Conference and Convention.
The session, entitled "Accessibility and Apple," will take place on July 7, 2015, from 4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. According to a statement provided to AppleVis, the session will focus on how the accessibility…
Welcome to the June 2015 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what’s new and noteworthy in the accessible app landscape. Below, you’ll find a recap of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to podcasts and blogs. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
Following the release of Apple Music and iOS 8.4, Apple has today released OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 to the public.
According to Apple's release notes via Mac Rumors, OS X 10.10.4 includes the following bug fixes:
The OS X Yosemite v10.10.4 update improves the stability, compatibility…
Apple has today released iOS 8.4, bringing with it Apple’s new music streaming service and the usual "under the hood" fixes and enhancements.
The focus for this release has clearly been on making sure that everything is in place for the introduction of Apple Music and Beats 1. Consequently, we were not surprised to hear from Apple that it includes no accessibility-related changes or fixes.
What you will find in this update…
We are pleased to announce the launch of the AppleVis Apple Watch App Directory.
Posts to the site and on social media suggest that the number of people in our community who own an Apple Watch increases daily, so we are excited to now offer everyone the opportunity to share information about the accessibility of Apple Watch apps.
Submitting and browsing app entries is almost identical to our existing iOS and Mac App Directories. The easiest way to access the Apple Watch App…
The Milanese loop is one of two stainless steel band options for the Apple Watch. Lightweight, comfortable, and easily adjustable, it's a worthy option to consider if you're wanting something dressy, breathable, and easy to take on and off. It's also gender-neutral, and a majority of the people I've spoken with really like it. While getting just the right fit may be a challenge at first, the Milanese loop is a pleasure to wear and is definitely worthy of consideration when choosing an…
Recently, Clara Van Gerven published an article on the National Federation of the Blind website entitled, “The Sighted Guide to VoiceOver”. In the article, the author, a sighted assistive technology specialist, undertook an experiment to use only VoiceOver on her iPhone for forty days. That any sighted person, even an assistive technology professional, would undertake using only VoiceOver for forty days is to be commended,…
I told myself that I didn’t want an Apple Watch.
I told my family and friends that I didn’t want an Apple Watch.
I wrote and tweeted about how I didn’t want an Apple Watch.
And yet, after learning that Apple Watch would include a comprehensive…
During the past week there has been a series of small reminders of how accessibility sits at the very heart of Apple’s ethos and practice.
The first of these came in one of the videos shown as part of the keynote presentation at last week’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC). Featured prominently was a piano app for the iPad being developed by the Ludwig Project, which will seek to bring music to the hearing impaired by enabling them to…
Every year at its Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC), Apple celebrates and acknowledges through its Apple Design Awards the mobile and desktop apps which raise the bar in design, technology and innovation.
Presented in a ceremony that traditionally follows the WWDC keynote presentation, it was tremendous to see the Workflow iOS app winning one of these prestigious awards this…
Today was Apples annual World Wide Developer's Conference keynote. This time each year, the world gets to preview the hardware and software coming out of Cupertino. We traditionally see the next iterations of iOS and OS X, and maybe a new service or cloud-based offering. This year was no exception: iOS9, OS X 10.11, watchOS 2.0, an updated Apple Pay, and the all-new Apple Music were all shown off with Apples usual flare. If…
Just released in the App Store is Viskey, an alternate iOS keyboard for low vision users from the developers of the highly regarded MBraille.
Viskey brings you an easy to use and accessible keyboard without sacrificing modern features. You can enjoy spelling support, auto-correction and capitalization. Existing text…
Below is the AppleVis live blog for the June 8, 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote presentation. Information has been taken directly from the @AppleVis Twitter timeline, as well as from the Twitter timelines of MacRumorsLive / MacRumors, Macworld, and…
When I first saw mention of the Apple Watch having a ‘Speak On Wrist Raise’ option for VoiceOver users, my immediate reaction was that this would be one of those ‘set it and forget it’ settings. However, this is not turning out to be the case.
For those of you who don’t have an Apple Watch and are unfamiliar with this option and what it does, it simply has VoiceOver automatically speak the Watch screen when you lift your wrist (which most commonly results in the time being announced…
If you have read any of my previous posts on the Apple Watch, you might be excused for wondering at this point what else I have left to say on the topic … or, at least anything left to say that’s based upon personal experience. Before its release, I gave my reasons for not buying one. However, I was back within a few weeks to report that my inner-geek and it’s curiosity had ultimately won out, and that…