Apple today kicked off its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) with the traditional keynote presentation.
WWDC is when the world gets a preview of the software coming out of Cupertino in the Fall. We traditionally see the next iterations of Apple's operating systems for all of its main platforms and maybe a new service or cloud-based offering. This year was no exception: iOS 13, macOS Catalina, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 were all showcased on stage.
As was the case last year, WWDC 2021 is an all-virtual event, with the keynote consisting of prerecorded video presentations that focused primarily on the next major revisions of Apple's operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. What we didn't get today, was any hardware news, so those waiting to place an order for the much-anticipated redesigned MacBook Pro will have to wait a little longer.
With Apple, most of us are in for some big excitements when it comes to the company's gorgeous events. Of course over the past couple of years, the smorgasbord of leaks prior to the events have spoiled the anticipation phase a bit. However, regardless of what you might or might not have heard about Apple's event which was held this morning, let's focus on what the company debuted. Maybe what was put at our fingertips can form the basis of our next iDevice or Watch purchase.
Today (October 16, 2014) was Apple's third major announcement of the year, after WWDC in June and the iPhone/Apple Watch event last month. This time, the focus was on the Mac and the iPad, with some exciting new products announced, not to mention the release for the long-awaited OS X 10.10 Yosemite, iWork updates for the Mac, and the scheduled release of iOS8.1 on Monday, October 20.
It doesn't feel like a whole year since I covered a WWDC keynote, but it really has been that long. Now we're back here again, reviewing what Apple announced at this year's keynote event. Did Apple reveal a Siri-based smart speaker? A new set of Macs? New iPads? What's in the upcoming macOS, iOS, and other software? Well, I'm here to give you all the highlights so you don't have to watch the full video (though you can if you want to.
Welcome back to Applevis' yearly summary of Apple's yearly developer conference announcements. There's a lot this year, much of it exciting, some of it very much expected, and a few things long overdue. Instead of a long introduction, let's just start moving!
Fleksy is getting better on an almost daily basis as its betas reach testers. It's pushed my bluetooth keyboard to the sidelines and while it would be better if we could bring it up in each and every application instantly instead of typing in a separate application (if Apple had allowed it), that might not be quite far-off. Syntellia has made Fleksy's SDK available to developers, meaning they can integrate it into their products. Also, the first few developers that apply for the SDK will get it free of charge.
One of the things I have always admired about Apple technologies, because of the Continuity and Syncing features, they become usable in combinations when you have more then one device. Having a Mac and an iPhone and an iPad all signed into the same Apple ID account creates an "environment" of sorts, with many features able to work together in ways that provide more functionality. Features like making or answering phone calls from any device. Using AirDrop for moving entire files or folders around. Texting or calling someone's cell phone from my Mac.
This post was partially inspired by This article and others like it which give general advice about seemingly less known features of an iDevice. You will also find blog entries on other tech topics scattered throughout the internet which have similar tips for pretty much any mainstream type of technology. TO add to this body of literature, I have compiled 10 useful tips for braille users of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad below.
For quite some time, deaf-blind users of iDevices have been able to use face to face communication with the public through the notes app. This consists typically of an iDevice (iPod, iPad, or iPhone) paired with a braille display and bluetooth keyboard. The deaf-blind person can then type using the braille input keys on their display, while the sighted and hearing person types on the bluetooth keyboard. All text shows up on both the braille display and the screen of the iDevice.
Detailed in this post are possible accessibility-related bugs that members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their testing of iOS 10.
As is now our routine practice, the bugs have been grouped based upon what we believe to be there likely level of impact to the user experience to those affected by each bug. At the time of writing, we have only identified one bug which we believe to be seriousβan issue which relates to using iOS 10βs Mail app with a braille display.
Today brings the release of iOS 11. And, as is generally the case with major updates of iOS, it comes with some new bugs for blind and low vision users. So, to help you with making an informed decision as to whether to update your device, we bring you here, details of the bugs that members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their own testing of iOS 11.
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 12 is now available to the public; this post contains details of the accessibility bugs for blind and low vision users which we believe to have been introduced in iOS 12, as well as details of the bugs from earlier versions of iOS which have been resolved in this release.
iOS 13 was released to the public on 19 September, 2019. This post contains details of the VoiceOver and braille bugs which we believe to have been introduced in iOS 13; as well as details of the pre-existing bugs which we believe have been resolved.
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 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.
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.
Apple has released iOS 16 to the public. This post contains details of the VoiceOver, low vision, and Braille bugs which we believe have been introduced in this release; as well as details of the pre-existing bugs which we believe to be resolved.
As members of the AppleVis Editorial team, we are often asked, βWhat apps would you recommend?β Or, βWhat are your favorite apps?β With this in mind, here is an alphabetical listing (navigable by headings at level 3) of the top 10 iOS apps from several of our editorial team members, along with links to the rellavent AppleVis App Directory entries, if available: