News

Apple has today released iOS 13.7, bringing a new COVID-19 “Exposure Notifications Express” system, which removes the need to install a separate third-party app.

In a quote provided to The Verge, Apple described this new notification system as:

Just a week after the release of iOS 14.0 to the public, Apple has today released iOS 14.0.1. This appears to be a bug fix release to address a small number of issues introduced in 14.0; including one where changing your default email client or web browser would be reset when you restarted your device.

Apple has today released iOS 14.1 and iPadOS 14.1 to the public.

For blind and low vision users, our preliminary testing suggests that Apple has resolved the most critical issues present in the initial releases of iOS and iPadOS 14. However, there are also a couple new bugs in today's releases.

Apple has today released iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 to the public.

Apple has today released iOS 14.2.1 to resolve a small number of notable issues specific to the iPhone 12.

Here are the release notes for iOS 14.2.1;

Apple has today released iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3; bringing support for Apple Fitness+ and AirPods Max, new features, security enhancements, and bug fixes.

Bug Fixes

Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved in iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3:

Apple has today released iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5; bringing support for AirTag, new features, security and privacy enhancements, and bug fixes.

Bug Fixes for Blind and Low Vision Users

Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved in iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5:

Apple has today released iOS 14.5.1, iPadOS 14.5.1, macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, and watchOS 7.4.1.

Apple's release notes for iOS 14.5.1 state that the update fixes an issue with App Tracking Transparency (ATT) where some users who previously disabled Allow Apps to Request to Track in Settings may not receive prompts from apps after re-enabling.

Apple has today released iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6. These appear to be relatively minor updates for single dot releases, focusing on the groundwork for the upcoming addition of Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio to Apple Music, adding paid podcast subscription support for channels and individual shows, and some other mostly under-the-hood enhancements.

Apple has today released iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1, bringing a fix for a bug introduced in last week's iOS 14.7 update that prevented the Apple Watch from being automatically unlocked when connected to Touch ID iPhones.

As the release notes only mention this one specific fix, our expectation is that they do not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of these releases, please post a comment with your findings.

Apple has today released iOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, primarily focusing on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.

According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.

Apple has today released iOS 14.8.1, iPadOS 14.8.1, and macOS Big Sur 11.6.1, bringing several security fixes for devices not running iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or macOS Monterey.

As these updates appear to have been released to address a small number of specific issues, our expectation is that they do not contain any accessibility changes for blind and low vision users; however, if you notice any changes, improvements or regressions in your own use of these releases, please post a comment with your findings.

Apple has today released iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

iOS 15 brings a redesign of Notifications and a new Notifications Summary, a new Live Text feature that recognizes text in photos and across the operating system, a highly-customizable Focus Mode that helps reduce distractions by filtering notifications based on what you are currently doing, spacial audio and other improvements in FaceTime, privacy enhancements, and more.

Update: Our testing suggests that none of the bugs we previously reported as being introduced in iOS 15.0 and iPadOS 15.0 are resolved in these releases. However, there were some new bugs introduced in those releases which were not encountered by members of our team or had a way for us to test for them, so we cannot comment on the status of these.

Apple has today released iOS 15.0.2 and iPadOS 15.0.2, bringing fixes for Find My, Photos, CarPlay, and device restore.

Here is what Apple says is fixed in today’s release of iOS 15.0.1:

Apple has today released iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 to the public. Our testing suggests that these releases resolve a number of the issues introduced for blind and low vision users with the initial releases of iOS and iPadOS 15.

Our experience is that the following accessibility bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1:

Apple has today released iOS 15.1.1. This appears to be an extremely minor update to fix an issue with dropped calls on some iPhone models.

Apple's release notes for iOS 15.1.1 simply say:

iOS 15.1.1 improves call drop performance on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models.

Apple has today released iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 to the public.

Our experience is that the following accessibility bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2:

Apple has today released iOS 15.2.1 and iPadOS 15.2.1.

According to Apple's release notes, these updates resolve the following two issues:

Apple has today released iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 to the public.

These releases are relatively minor in regard to user facing changes and enhancements, instead focusing on under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes.

Apple's release notes simply state that iOS 15.3 includes ”bug fixes and security updates for your iPhone.”