With Apple's recent announcement of accessibility enhancements, people with physical limitations can now manage their iPad or iPhone with their eyes thanks to eye-tracking technology. Additionally, the Music Haptics feature will use the iPhone's Taptic Engine to provide a new method for people who are hard of hearing or deaf to experience music. Eye motions are now the only way customers can navigate and control their iPad or iPhone, thanks to the integration of eye-tracking technology. For those with movement disabilities, this cutting-edge innovation opens up a world of possibilities, giving them unprecedented independence and freedom while interacting with their gadgets.
The transformative power of innovation to enrich lives.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, stated, "We firmly believe in the transformative power of innovation to enrich lives." Because of this, Apple has supported inclusive design for almost 40 years, putting accessibility at the centre of our hardware and software.
Vocal Shortcuts
Vocal Shortcuts is another tool that lets users do activities by creating a personalised sound. Motion Cues for Vehicles can help those who experience motion sickness lessen it when using an iPhone or iPad in a moving car.
Eye Tracking
With on-device machine learning, Eye Tracking—a feature designed for people with physical disabilities—can be quickly set up and calibrated using the front-facing camera. All the data needed to set up and use this function is safely stored on the device and isn't shared with Apple. According to Apple, Eye Tracking is compatible with iPadOS and iOS apps and requires no extra hardware or accessories.
Vehicle Motion Cues
Vehicle Motion Cues help lessen sensory conflict without interfering with the primary information by using animated dots on the screen's edges to depict changes in vehicle motion. Vehicle Motion Cues uses the sensors in the iPhone and iPad to detect when a user is in a moving vehicle and reacts appropriately. The feature can be toggled on and off in the Control Centre or configured to display automatically on the iPhone.
CarPlay
CarPlay will soon have accessibility features like Sound Recognition, Colour Filters, and Voice Control. Users may use their voice to operate apps and navigate CarPlay with Voice operation. Drivers and passengers who are hard of hearing or deaf can activate alerts to receive notifications about sirens and car horns using Sound Recognition. Bold and large text are two more visual accessibility options that help colorblind users navigate the CarPlay interface more easily. Colour filters also improve the visual accessibility of the interface.
Conclusion
Later this year, all of these features will be released. With the release of these features, countless people's lives will be significantly improved, enabling them to confidently and efficiently engage entirely in the digital world.