Another Autumn means another release of iOS. Just like releases of iOS dating back to 2009, this release brings a lot of new features and functions for blind and DeafBlind users. Major changes in iOS 15 include a new Focus Mode, several enhancements with FaceTime, the ability to use Siri for certain tasks while offline, and much more. Many blogs will be highlighting these enhancements to iOS, so I will not discuss them in great detail here. This article covers…
iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 have been released to the public. This post contains details of the VoiceOver, low vision, and braille bugs which we believe have been introduced in these releases; as well as details of the pre-existing bugs which we believe to be resolved.
As is our routine practice, each new bug has been given a severity rating; these ratings are based upon what we believe to be the implications for accessing and using features and functionality and the level of impact on the…
Today, as you likely know if you're reading this, was Apple's big September event, entitled California Streaming. For years now, Apple has used this time to announce the latest iPhones, often adding other launches to the agenda. This year was no exception. We have iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, and new iPads, plus some new stuff for Apple Fitness Plus subscribers.
You can watch today's event…
Ahead of tomorrow's “California streaming” event, Apple has released iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, macOS 11.6, and watchOS 7.6.2. The main changes in these releases are two security updates. Apple has also released a security update for macOS Catalina, however, this has just the one security fix.
According to …
Welcome to the August 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5.2, which appears to be a minor update.
At the time of posting, there isn’t much known about the update itself, with Apple simply saying that it includes “bug fixes for your Mac.” We will update this post if anything noteworthy is discovered.
With this being a minor update coming so soon after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.5.1,…
Welcome to the July 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
Apple has today released watchOS 7.6.1, bringing a fix for a security issue that, according to Apple's security support document may have been actively exploited.
Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved…
Apple has today released iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1, bringing a fix for a bug introduced in last week's iOS 14.7 update that prevented the Apple Watch from being automatically unlocked when connected to Touch ID iPhones.
As the release notes only mention this one specific fix, our expectation is that they do not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of these releases, please…
Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 with an important security update.
The specific security issue fixed in this update is for an IOMobileFrameBuffer flaw that could have been actively exploited to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.
As macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 appears to have been released to address a specific issue, our expectation is that it does not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low…
Apple has today released iPadOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, focusing on a small number of changes and fixes.
According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.
At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.
As we always stress, we can…
Apple has today released macOS Big Sur 11.5. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, bringing only one change and a couple of fixes according to the release notes.
Our testing suggests that the following issue has been addressed in macOS Big Sur 11.5:
As we…
Apple has today released watchOS 7.6 and tvOS 14.7. These appear to be relatively minor updates for single dot releases, focusing primarily on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.
At the time of posting, we are unaware of any fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users in these releases.
As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible…
Apple has today released iOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, primarily focusing on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.
According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.
At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.
…Welcome to the June 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
It was a Thursday morning, and I was teaching a seminar to first year undergraduate students. I divided the students into three groups, then sent each group into a separate room to spend fifteen minutes discussing the material. Ten minutes later, I was still in the main room. My usual practice was to visit each room in turn, to listen to the students' discussion, answer any questions, and prompt them if everyone was a little too quiet. On this occasion, however, I couldn't find the entrance…
I was sitting in my office. The lease had expired, the air conditioner was broken, and a fly crawled across my arm. I slapped him with the open palm of my hand and sent him out of the game.
Someone knocked at the door.
“It’s open,” I said.
I heard a dog’s claws on my linoleum floor, then a lady in high heels. She smelled pretty as a rose, and her dress swayed like tall grass in a cool summer breeze. The dog led her to a chair. She sat.
“I’m lookin’ for…
Apple has today released iOS 12.5.4 for older devices not compatible with iOS 14, bringing fixes for several security vulnerabilities that could lead to arbitrary code execution if exploited.
As this update appears to have been released to address a small number of specific issues, our expectation is that it does not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of this release, please…
Apple has announced the winners of this year's prestigious Apple Design Awards; and it's thrilling that two of these will be familiar to most in our community - Be My Eyes and Voice Dream Reader.
The awards honor excellence in innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement in app and game design. This year, Apple divided the finalists into six different categories:…
Apple today kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with the traditional keynote presentation.
As was the case last year, WWDC 2021 is an all-virtual event, with the keynote consisting of prerecorded video presentations that focused primarily on the next major revisions of Apple's operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. What we didn't get today, was any hardware news, so those waiting to place an…