VoiceOver, iOS 18, and AI

I'm more hoping for improved screen recognition with updated AI. The already implemented AIbased features can hold a lot for the future.
So I am hoping for lots of improvements in the coming iOS.

There's a Mac Rumors article that claims they have info on a few of the accessibility features Apple is working on for iOS 18 and macos 15. I doubt this is all they've got, and if the last few years are anything to go by, Apple will announce new accessibility features around GAAD in May.

Just hoping apple fixes the bugs with siri and Braille and safari that most people are having issues. Apple will show some nice wonderful accessibility that the media will go nuts but is just a bone thrown to the media. Bugs continue, and so on. As the saying goes, will see.

I hope they continue to integrate AI or machine learning or whatever you call it into accessibility. It certainly has the potential to help blind people be less directly dependent on other people. That being said, I wouldn't have a clue what to do if I needed to program the AI, much less process a pile of rocks and chemicals into a smartphone or glasses.

I totally agree with you about the devices and whether or not many individuals are going to be able to have access to these new features. The thing is, not everyone can afford the latest model of iPhone, and I know that there are some features that can only work on specific devices due to the processor limitations. We also have to keep in mind that not everyone is in a position financially to purchase a new device. Not everyone is living in a country or territory where they have a payment plans to upgrade their device with a specific carrier, and some persons might want a device with no sim restrictions. Not everyone is able to trade their device in for a new model

Image descriptions have been around a while now. They're still buggy. I take three different photos of my washing machine and get three different descriptions of how the controls are set. If Apple can put out an AI that doesn't have this issue, I'd love to see it. But I think it's an inherent aspect of the LLM algorithm.

What I really need is something that can interpret icons on websites that have no ALT text. https://typeahead.ai has proven itself useful for this. Move VoiceOver focus to something that VoiceOver announces only as button, and Typeahead will tell you, for example, "it's a silhouette of a head and is the type of icon normally associated with user settings." Technology like that is actually useful.

I think better image descriptions will definitely be added into iOS with the new AI features. It wouldn't surprise me if they make most of the AI features iPhone 16 and newer. It will be interesting though. Be My AI has been so great at recognizing images for me, I'd imagine Apple would want something like that built into their devices. Rest assured, it will be buggy as hell.

it could be happened anytime soon...
hopefully

I'm not quite sure why someone would prefer to use their own voice as the main voice in a screen reader. Is it because they genuinely enjoy the sound of their own voice? While I understand using someone else's voice (with permission, of course), opting for your own voice seems a bit self-centered, don't you think?

Eww, no thanks.

Self-centred or not, is it really such a bad thing? I mean, one can never go wrong with options. One immediate reason I can think of for using this particular option, is not because a person likes the sound of their own voice, but simply because they understand their own voice better than they do others.

To the best of my knowledge, the iPhone lacks in its provision of accessibility features tailored specifically for individuals with visual impairments and other disabilities. Furthermore, it regrettably does not incorporate FM radio functionality, a feature that I personally cherish and find indispensable in my daily routine of making and receiving phone calls. While I am not wholly relinquishing my loyalty to the venerable Apple brand, I am prompted to ponder the necessity for a modicum of change in my technological repertoire. There exists within me a certain inclination towards embracing a more nostalgic and "old-school" approach to technology, occasionally yearning to retreat to the simplicity of days gone by.

You can download radio apps like ootunes, or I think there's one called fm radio.

As for lacking features for the blind/vi, i think the thousands of blind/vi users would disagree including myself.

So I’m wondering if they would have new voices for US for example, for Siri, we can have a male 6 and female voice seven but also, it will be cool if they have three or maybe seven more voices called, David, Layla, Delia, Wendy, Cindy, Richard, Melanie, Tiffany, and Sarah but I rather prefer to have them on a storage number size having a non-storage number size like Kathy and Junior, because they do not have storage size at all and plus I want them to be on a storage size between 100 and 200 MB for the new voices but for Siri, I want to have those two new voices between ad 420 and 450 MB.
And I also want Apple to put Layla‘s name with the Y because I am aware there is already had another one, but was in Arabic and has the letter I.
I also hoping they will fix this performance laggy and slow performance on voiceover swiping because I like to swipe very fast but lately ever since I updated to iPadOS 17.0 on my iPad seventh generation it’s been laggy and slow and every time when I do trying to swipe fast, it will stay at the same position. If I slow down my speed, just a slight a bit, it will move, not as much I had to swipe slow and normal, which is I don’t like.

One might just want to have a friend or relative record his or her voice to create a personal voice on one's iPhone, and use VoiceOver with that voice. Also, why can't we import or export voices and even recordings? I know you could just import a celebrity's or anyone else's voice in that case but a safer approach is still possible if everyone is given the option to allow or restrict access to the voices. We already do have the option to keep the voices on the device and not upload them to iCloud at all. I would love to be able to import and export recordings because it would be great to edit them and apply noise reduction on my computer. As for using celebrity voices, this is already possible by using some AI voice conversion model and making the cloned voice read out whatever is displayed on the device screen.

I have the feeling that with all that new features in iOS 18, bugs are coming. More bugs than a NY city hotel. Make sure get Ray to exterminate them because Apple will not.