Apple’s online-only Worldwide Developers Conference 2020 kicked off in great style on June 22nd with the company unveiling features of iOS 14 in its keynote. The beta of iOS 14 is available for developers now and is slated to be available for the public in July. From introducing widgets to enhanced Siri experience, there’s a lot that iOS 14 brings. But nothing excites us more than the new accessibility features in iOS 14. Here are the top 5 accessibility features we love in iOS 14:
1. Sound Recognition
1. Sound RecognitionYour iPhone or iPad can now detect a sound you’ve configured it to listen for. The device’s intelligence shows on-screen notification when it comes across 14 different sounds, namely, Fire Alarm, Siren, Smoke Alarm, Cat, Dog, Appliances, Car Horn, Door Bell, Door Knock, Water Running, Baby Crying, and Shouting.
Whom Does it Help:
People who are deaf or hard of hearing
How to enable Sound Recognition
- Launch Settings from your Home screen.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Tap Sound Recognition.
- Tap the Sound Recognition On/Off Switch.
2. Back Tap
This is a cool feature which allows users to perform several quick actions by tapping on the back of the iPhone. It can be used for 23 actions and users can assign separate tap gestures for the different actions. By double tapping or triple tapping, you can take screenshots, turn the volume up and down, mute, scroll, open the control center, and launch apps.
Whom it Helps: People with limitations in fine motor capabilities
How to Enable Back Tap:
- Launch Settings
- Tap Accessibility
- Tap Touch
- Tap Back Tap
3. VoiceOver
Apple’s VoiceOver that translates on-screen text into speech gets new functionalities in iOS14. Apples’s on-device machine learning recognizes key elements displayed on the screen and provides VoiceOver support for pages and apps without built-in accessibility features. It speaks the text recognized within images and reads full-sentence descriptions.
Whom it Helps: People with vision impairments
How to Set Up Voice Over:
- Launch Settings from your Home screen.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Tap VoiceOver under the Vision Category
- Tap Voiceover Switch to turn it ON
4. Headphones Accommodations
This awesome new feature amplifies soft sounds and adjusts certain frequencies to suit an individual’s hearing. There are 3 amplification settings with which you can customize settings for movies, music, phone calls, etc. Headphone Accommodations also works with Airpod Pro’s Transparency mode making quiet voices in your surroundings more audible.
Whom it Helps:
People who are deaf or hard of hearing
How to enable Headphone Accommodations:
- Launch Settings from your Home screen.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Tap Audio/Visual.
- Tap the Headphone Accommodations On/Off Switch
Apart from the above mentioned features, iOS 14 also offers exciting features such as Sign Language Prominence with which FaceTime can detect when an user is using sign language and make the person prominent in a Group FaceTime call. With these updates, Apple has reiterated its commitment to make technology more accessible.
