Apple announced new features that focus on disabled users before the WWDC 2022 event that will be held from June 6 to 10. The company stated that its new features that combine hardware, software and machine learning will be available this year.
Apple announced its new features
Apple is preparing to present its new features to users with the upcoming updates this year. The first is Live Captions for the hearing impaired. Thanks to the feature currently used by Android, users with hearing difficulties will be able to easily follow any audio content in FaceTime, social media or video conferencing applications on iPhone, iPad and Mac devices.
Beta testing of Live Captions for the deaf will begin later this year in English in the US and Canada for iPhone 11 or later, A12 Bionic or later, and Mac devices with Apple CPUs.
One of the innovations that Apple is preparing to introduce is smart watches. The company makes it even easier for users with physical and motor disabilities to access smart watches with Apple Watch Mirroring, which allows the Apple Watch to be controlled from the iPhone.
Apart from that, it will be easier to use Apple Watch with hand gestures. The company will allow users to perform many actions such as answering calls, ending, closing notifications, taking photos, playing and pausing media, with a double finger pinch gesture. It should be noted that this innovation is based on AssistiveTouch, which allows the smartwatch to be controlled with various gestures without touching the screen.
Door Detection feature was also announced for visually impaired users. The technology, which will work on iPhone and iPad models with lidar scanners, enables the door to be found, how far it is, and whether it is open or closed. On the other hand, it offers many details to the users, such as whether the door is opened by pushing or pulling, and the structure of the arm. Finally, it can recognize symbols.
Other innovations announced by Apple are as follows;
- Voice Over – Apple’s screen reader for blind or low vision users gets support for over 20 additional languages (including Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese).
- Buddy Controller – Allows two game controllers to be combined together to be used as a single game controller.
- Siri Pause Time – For speech-impaired users, lets you set how long Siri waits before responding to a request.
- Voice Recognition – Alert users by recognizing sounds specific to a person’s environment, such as alarms, doorbells or household appliances.
- Apple Books – New themes are coming to the app. It also offers customizations such as making text bold, adjusting line, character and word spacing.
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