In a very interesting development for the blind and low vision community, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has announced that Sarah Herrlinger, Apple's Director Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, has been elected to the AFB's National Board.
In the AFB's press release, Kirk Adams, AFB President and CEO, is quoted as saying that “"Sarah Herrlinger is an outstanding addition to AFB's board”:
It's comforting to know that a mainstream application we're purchasing is accessible; however, it's more outstanding to know that the developer of such an application is just an email away, ready to listen to our concerns and make the necessary modifications. The other day I was using ooTunes Radio and noticed that the Back button in various windows cannot be pressed using the two-finger Scrub gesture. Not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.
It seems so surreal. I am in an airport. I need to go to the public restroom. I find the serpentine tiled entrance to the enclave and I work my guide dog inside. It is vacuous and sounds reflect from every direction off the hard tile walls and floor. I have no idea where the porcelain fixtures are located. I am not even sure if I am in the right bathroom. I move slowly, reaching out, hoping that I do not touch something wet or, worse, the back of someone's neck. Even if I accomplish my original goal, the nightmare is not over. In dreams of entrapment, there never seems to be an exit.
Anybody calling Amtrak's Customer Service in recent months is likely to have encountered a recorded message in which they were encouraged to use the company's iOS app.
In our latest campaign we turn our attention to three apps from Nuance; Dragon Go!, Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search.
Earlier versions of these apps were usable with VoiceOver, but recent updates have rendered all three inaccessible.
When you launch the latest versions of these apps VoiceOver effectively 'freezes' and will not respond to gestures. Nuance have also added a number of non-standard controls to the Settings pages, and these are not recognized by VoiceOver as buttons and do not indicate their current selection status.
In the time that it took for an update to download and install, NAVIGON went from being the first GPS app that VoiceOver users were likely to recommend, to being unusable.
Running NAVIGON 2.0 with VoiceOver seems to need more resources than older iDevices can muster, resulting in erratic and unresponsive behavior from the app. If you have anything other than an iPhone 4S, the chances are that simply trying to get NAVIGON to respond to a double-tap will have you throwing your iDevice at the nearest wall.
This month we are encouraging you all to support our campaign to make the SiriusXM Internet Radio app accessible to VoiceOver users.
For those of you who aren't familiar with SiriusXM, it is a subscription-based service that offers more than 140 commercial-free radio channels to listeners in the United States. There are several ways to access the service, which has dedicated channels for a wide range of interests, including music, sport, talk, entertainment, news, comedy, traffic and weather.
If you’re looking for an iOS app to keep up-to-date with soccer scores from most of the world's professional leagues, Soccer Scores Pro - FotMob is one of the best available. It is also already very accessible with VoiceOver!
***Update 17 November 2014: More of these bugs have been fixed in iOS 8.1.1. See our post for more details: Apple Releases iOS 8.1.1 with Fixes for Blind and Low Vision Users***
Detailed in this post are possible accessibility-related bugs which members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their testing of iOS 9. If you have not already updated your device to iOS 9, we strongly recommend that you read through this post and any comments before doing so, as we believe that there are some new bugs in this release which might have a negative impact on the user experience for some blind and low vision users.
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.
We are pleased to announce that our Community has chosen Cash Reader: Bill Identifier and Overcast to be this year's inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame.
First opened in 2011, the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame showcases and acknowledges the passion and hard work that app developers put into creating great iOS apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users. These apps place powerful tools into the palms of our hands, and give access to services, information, media or entertainment that the sighted world typically takes for granted.
We are pleased to announce that the 2018 inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame, as chosen by the AppleVis community, are Seeing AI and Weather Gods.
First opened in 2011, the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame is one of the ways in which the AppleVis community seeks to recognize developers of accessible iOS applications. Apps in the Hall of Fame can be liberating; empowering; life-changing; provide access to information that sighted users take for granted; or, in some cases, they can just be good fun!
We are pleased to announce that the 2017 inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame, as chosen by the AppleVis community, are Timecrest: The Door and Nearby Explorer.
We are pleased to announce that the 2019 inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame, as chosen by the AppleVis community, are Voice Dream Scanner and Microsoft Soundscape.
We are pleased to announce the results of the fourth annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.
Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded blind and low vision users an opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making great and accessible iOS and OS X applications during the given year.
To be shortlisted for this year's Golden Apple Awards, apps must:
We are pleased to announce the winners of the fifth annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.
Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded blind and low vision users an opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making great and accessible iOS and Mac applications during the given year.
To be shortlisted for this year's Golden Apple Awards, apps must:
We are pleased to announce the winners of the sixth annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.
Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded blind and low vision users of Apple products the opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making and maintaining great and accessible iOS and macOS applications over the given year.
We're excited to announce that inductions into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame are set to re-open.
These were suspended for the past two months so that we could focus on the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards. Now that those have all been handed out, it's time once again to find another app worthy of a place in our Hall of Fame.