Hi all,
This year, with all the moving parts, we did not cover accessibility changes in watchOS 11 with our editorial content. (This need is something we are definitely aware of for next year.) People have been asking, though, so I wanted to start a thread specific to VoiceOver and braille changes in watchOS 11. To help keep things organized, if you want to discuss VoiceOver/braille bugs in watchOS 11, please use this existing topic.
Below are the changes to VoiceOver that I am personally aware of in watchOS 11. There are some things that I think are new in watchOS 11, but for now I am only including what I know for a fact is new. Please definitely let us know in the comments if there is anything that I have missed (I am almost sure that there is).
- Voices Rotor: This replaces the Language Rotor in previous versions of watchOS and allows one to add and quickly switch between voices on the fly. Start by going to Settings> Accessibility> VoiceOver> Speech. Here, you will find options to customize the Primary Voice and add additional voices to the Rotor. Each voice will offer its own customizations for speech rate. For example, I have U.S. English Tom as my primary voice set at 60% and U.S. English Eloquence Reed as another voice set at 70%.
- Audio Ducking: Similar to iOS 18, there are new options to control Audio Ducking in watchOS 11: 'Off', 'When Speaking', and 'Always'.
- Improve Speech Clarity: This feature uses the microphone to measure environmental sound levels and adjust the volume of VoiceOver speech accordingly. Apple states that the Watch does not make or save any recordings to measure these levels.
- Additional settings for braille, including Match Input and Output
What other changes are people noticing?