Is macOS fully accessible for visually impaired?

Hello. I'll be brief here as I'm about to take my laundry downstairs and start it so that a neighbor can start his later. I got an iPhone in 2018 and a MacBook Air in 2013. I couldn't be happier with these 2 products. I am a VoiceOver user and have seen Mac bugs squashed here and there. I never thought I could use a smartphone due to the flat-screen nature of these devices, but have been more or less blown away with all that mine has done for me. VoiceOver on the iPhone is just a wonderful experience for me. Having said all that, personal preference is what this boils down to. If you're comfortable with how Apple operates and how they do things, that's great. Otherwise, you've got the freedom to look elsewhere.

I would suggest trying an M1 MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, preferably before you buy it. Also be aware that every operating system and screen reader combination has accessibility bugs. "Fully accessible" with a screen reader doesn't really exist, unfortunately, except perhaps for Linux and UNIX console-based applications that do not use a graphical interface. Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android - all have accessibility-related bugs.

Hi, I have been an iOS user since 2009 and using VoiceOver, first with an iPod touch, then with 3 iPhones , and then with 2 iPads, was awesome and smooth.
Even when I read here a lot of posts telling why not to change a pc for a Mac, I misread the signs and bought a MacBook Air on 2019.
It is beautiful, light and in fact I'm writing this comment from it; but accessibility and functionality is very different from iOS to macOS.
I'm also a windows and JAWS user from more than 22 years ago and I badly thought that my efficiency would be the same with a double-price devise. Mistake...
Microsoft is very very different to use in a Mac, and even when you could write some text here and there, my productivity at work is less than half of my productivity in windows.
Again, as Pepper Fox said, I also would think twice again if I ever cross with the idea of buying a Mac again. For example surfing in the web is very nice with safari, I have to say, but far from that, and maybe playing a little wit garageband, and that, I have no reasons to buy it again.

Best regards.

As others have mentioned all computers and combinations of screen readers are going to have draw backs or bugs. OS with VoiceOver is only accessible as much as developers want to make it for application specifics. The same applies to website accessibility. One website may be very good with VoiceOver and Safari and the next completely inaccessible and unresponsive. I have noticed a lot of sites read as busy with VoiceOver on Safari. AS for Apple making the OS itself accessible, I would say yes, but once you get into third party apps and websites the chance of being completely accessible is much less.

The Mac is a fully accessable computer. One can even do computer maintenance completely without ssited assistence. I have been a Mac user for ten years now, and find that it satisfies all my computer needs.

Hi all,
I am a beginner developer and I will tell that I won't ever buy mac again.
First,
You have to use nuance voices only and nothing else. It is awful for coding purposes. It is impossible to use nuance voices for reading code, at least it is really difficult and slow. You cannot use other preinstalled voices such as Alex too. In my opinion you need to have a choice, I would be so glad to use Espeak as I can in linux and windows, but no, I cannot.
Also VoiceOver is not that configurable on Mac as it is on IOS.
You cannot even speed it up normally as you can on IOS.
Using visual studio code on mac is awful. Yes, it is accessible but it is more convinient to use it on windows/linux.
It is the case when the accessible trackpad makes it worse. Also I don't know if you can find indentations quickly in the code using VO like you can do in nvda for windows and orca for linux.
So, I won't recommend you to buy.
Also apple doesn't fix really important bugs in VO really quickly and they don't update vocalizer voices. So it is possible that you won't have the language you need. Also, there is no automatic language switching which is based on symbols. There is a switching that is based on a document language but no more. So it slows down the working process so much. But there is one plus: using MacOS really helped me to start learning linux systems and terminal, so if you want to start working with the unix system maybe it is a good start before a complete switch to linux.

The you need tones of paciency to use Mac. Better stick with windows 10

Hi I'm a software developer that completely switched to Mac OS. I think all the people that say No switch to Windows just haven't put enough effort into getting productive with voiceover/mac as I'm way more productive on Mac OS (However this took some effort).... I wrote a post detailing how I go about things so maybe you'll find something useful there...

Take a look at

https://www.applevis.com/forum/macos-mac-apps/tips-power-usersanyone-does-more-read-emailslight-web-browsing-be-more

try an ipad? its a bigger device and you can get one with a keyboard. although the keyboard one is a bit expensive. the ipad pro has a better keyboard imho then just using a regular bluetooth one. the pro has a special keyboard connector that snaps onto the ipad like a MS Surface and is far superior than bluetooth. if you are set on a mac an air would be a good choice. no needing vo myself but i know many blind people who love it. apple is definitely the best when it comes to that.

Not sure how jaws would work on a mac if your able to test that out. Microsoft has narrator but voiceover is in my opinion the best.

I just got a macbook Air 2020 M1 13 inch about 3 days ago. Realize that before this, I'd been a mac user on and off, and had a late 2012 mac mini, but my God that thing was slower than molasses!

That said, I could not be happier with this new mac system. I'm not sure why certain people say the mac doesn't feel natural. OK, if you're coming from Windows, then yes. It's going to feel different. Duh! That's obvious. I mean, it would be like telling a drummer, pick up a fiddle, and try playing the thing. It's not gonna happen... Two totally different animals.

Saying that the mac only supports the Nuance voices is completely inaccurate information, and this comes from me being someone who trains people on using the mac. All that put aside though, I'd even still tell you that is incorrect information, am I'm willing to call out that poster on that publicly. This isn't a matter of opinion. this is fact. Voiceover as well as the mac in general with its text to speech system voice set in system preferences accessibility can be set to things like Alex, or even the Siri designed voices, which neither of those are Nuance. By the way, the voices like Daniel, Samantha, etc. are no longer Nuance. They used to be until Vocalizer took them over. I don't know much about that, but they definitely! are no longer Nuance, and god forbid, they're not Realspeak either, so don't even go there!

What accessibly can I do with a mac. Well, I think more it should be asked, what can't I do, but, I successfully can check e-mail, browse the web, listen to podcasts, watch TV/movies, use social media like Twitter/Facebook, YOutube, Twitch, etc. For business, I am able to successfully use Zoom, and am even starting to learn Microsoft Teams on the mac, which is proving to be a nightmare, but that's for another post entirely. I can do IMessaging, Facetime, etc.

Cloud storage with things like Dropbox or google Drive is a breeze, so is iCloud Drive.

If like me, you're heavily into audio production, both ProTools and also Reaper are great, especially Reaper Listening to music, playing DVD's, burning CD's with an external USB CD superdrive is totally doable. So is ripping CD's.

File management like done on windows with Windows Explorer is extremely nice with the Finder on the mac, and feels very fluid.

I've done some very basic development work with XCode, and though it takes a little getting used to, once you understand about the storyboard, and how that works, and learn the basics of swift, it doesn't seem all that hard.

Peple were talking about using Pages for word processing. Pages is absolutely fantastic! I'm not gonna say it's the easiest app to learn when you first get started, not because it's not accessible, but more, it's just so powerful, that you can really get lost with all of its functionality if you try learning it too quickly. there is a great EBook you can get for about 35 US bucks through www.mosen.org, which is an extremely comprehensive guide on using Pages with Voiceover on the mac.

Also, managing contacts, calendars, and notes/reminders is incredibly awesomeness.

Another person mentioned about using Audible being, forget it! Again, wrong! Maybe the Audible app itself is unusable, I don't know, to your defense, but using the natively preinstalled Books at that comes with the OS is totally usable, and it absolutely does support Audible... I do it all the time!

If you're old school, and like using Skype, that's even totally doable!

Need access to a calclulator? Totally natively straight out of the box doable.

I have an app I got from the app store called Checkbook pro, which is 100 percent accessible, and lets me manage my budget. If you're more someone who prefers using spreadsheets, Numbers works wonders on the mac. I've not tried Keynote yet, the Powerpoint equivalent, but I'm told even that is extremely doable.

I even from within Safari's web browser have watched both Hulu and Netflix on demand, and both are beautiful!

If you're more an open source person, then heck! Even VLC media player is totally accessible.

I still have a Windows pc to be fair, using both jfw as well as NVDA, but frankly, now having an up to date portable mac system, I will never look back! It probably sounds like I'm just an old fanboy who'd tell you this regardless the truth, but that's not true. Go back on Applevis and look at some of my other forum responses. You'll see easily that if something is broken, trust me, others up here'll tell ya, I'm one of the first that'll call the wrongness out and complain. So believe me, if this stuff I'm saying here wasn't true, I'd tell you. It's not just me being a fanboy. I really do feel like the mac is an excellent sollution. If it weren't for maybe 1 or 2 very very very specific apps I use for work which only work accessibly with Windows, and even then, I have to have jaws scripts... if it weren't for those couple of apps that I can't do without, I'd be a mac user entirely NHB.

Chris.

once parallels has its virtualization m1 compatible try running windows on the mac. on the intel macs it runs fine totally useable. and we may be able to get you to switch away from windows. when Steven Sinofsky retired from MS he bought a mac!

i used parallels all the time when i had my macbook pro. i never really tried vmware my brother works for the company who used to own them before they all got purchased by dell.

I think if you are good using IOS.
then Mac OS is not a quite difficult to use and learn.
that is my opinion

Hi all. I have read all the comments. Some people prefer mack others prefer pc. I have been using iphone since 2014 and ı love it so much.
Because, it is very accessible and better than android phones of course. On the other hand, apple watch is a great watch too. It allows me to follow my exercises and do not provide any problems at all.
But when it comes to pc, it is a different field. I have been using windows since 2005. I prefer jaws. But, if i have any problems with it, ı can swich to Nvda. I have too many options with windows. Because, it is a open system.
However, Even though macs are great computers but does it not have a limit? I can play too many great games in windows. Such as, Mortal Kombat 11, Mortal Kombat x, last of part 1, swamp, alterion and quentinC etc. Some of these games were designed for sighted people and these days they are accessible for us too.
So, what ı mean is, imagine you pay more than a thousand dollar for a mac pc and it does not allow you to play a game that you want to play and enjoy.
Well, you might say that you do not like games. Or, you do not want to buy macs for gaming purposes. But, still, imagine that GTA is accessible. Wouldnt you want to try it out?
Also, I watched too many vidios about macs in youtube. Especially accessible part.
All of the vidios that ı watched were about basic stuff. I couldnt find any vidios about advanced level. İf you guys are really sincere about macs, why do you not guys make a vidio about advanced level?
Example, Show me how to use Excel, play some games that ı mentioned before, how to design a website, how to coad a program without going in details or how to video editing etc.
I also wanted to buy mac. Because, it is very fast even faster than other systems, it has a great battery, integration with apple devices is perfect and it is very light. But, are these enough to buy it?
I am ready to find someone who can change my mind. What i mean is, we have to be realistic here. Mac system is excellent. But, Apple is new in this field and they need to work harder. There is a big gap between windows and macOS. Give it may be 10 years, may be they can katch windows.
Lastly, we should not try to convince anyone to buy macs. People spend money after reading these comments. Btw, I am completely blind. Thank you all.

Let me tell you did advantages and disadvantages of each operating system.
Advantages of windows.
Microsoft office suite is more accessible.
You have lots of choices when it comes to screen readers.
You have more choices of games,
But, you need to understand the disadvantages of windows.
There is a harder recovery mode.
Let’s be real hair, when does Love never even needed to be released?
The system requirements on windows are really harsh.
Even though you have games like Mortal Kombat 11 swamp and Quinton‘s playroom, you complete, you see on the Internet
Nothing that, but when does this more susceptible to viruses, malware, and/hardware flaws in the processor, graphics, card, and random access, memory, ram, which may impact your computer to the point where my never be able to be used again.
Here are the advantages of macOS.
Very secure.
Machines are very compact.
The laptops are excellent with battery life.
The keyboards are absolutely excellent.
If you know iOS you know VoiceOver.
The continuity from iOS to macOS is absolutely insanely good.
Lots of voice options for macOS.
You don’t pay more for a license for another screen reader, but you can get the max it self because every built-in.
But here are the disadvantages of macOS.
macOS isn’t that great when it comes ring really usage on the Safari web browser.
Doesn’t really go well for Braille uses,
The MacBook models like some ports
And you only have one choice of screenreader.
But here are some more vantages of windows.
NVDA OCR is better.
Some laptops have touch strings.
But here are some more disadvantages.
By magical vindication would be weird on the computer.
When does battery life is absolutely crap.
It doesn’t sync at all with iOS.
Not only that, but it uses Microsoft edge which is in my opinion, a really bad browser.
But here are some more advantages of the macOS.
as I said it is more of a security minded operating system, I have heard rumours that some people have money get into the security ship on some windows, computers, the TPM 2.0 chip, that is required to install Windows 11.
Once the security chippers, access by mail were, your device is very high risk of not working again, unlock Unlock macOS when no harm will be done to the security ship.
It’s harder to reset.
Jaws is more expensive than a computer.
Narrator is dog water.
Here are some disadvantages of Mac.
The MacBook Pro isn’t really the largest machines.
But MacBooks can get more updates than Windows computers, and the system requirements to install updates are less harsh.
so in reality, macOS is better for some, but not for all, Windows is better for some, but not for all.
Are use both Mac and Windows, but I like Mark better, because it has better music production software, I don’t need any other parts of the USB see other headphone, jack, and Sarah processes, really fast, and you can update and reset it with a side of assistance.

Thanks for answering.
Actually I am aware of advantages and disadvantages of both systems.
Well, we may say that, who have macs also keep a windows behind his or her desk. :D
I have a question. Can we use both system on mac? İf so, does it slow mac? is it compatible?

Bootcamp utility won’t work on Apple Silicon processes,, and ask for performance depends on how much storage you put on the drive, get an InCell, 256 GB MacBook possibly I have 128 gigs for the Mac and the rest for windows, or an alternative is on Apple Silicon hardware, you can get a virtual machine application

John Panerees is n Apple Sertifyed Support Professional who has a website called macfortheblind. it has content for older opperating systems, but he frequently teaches courses on the new stuff with Macs. also, since you want advanced, there is a podcast on the blind geek zone, which is on software developement with a Java IDE.