Matthew Cooper 
May 16, 2024
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a time to recognise the importance of inclusivity in technology. Apple has long been a champion of accessibility, and this year, they’re taking it to the next level with several innovative features coming in their OSes.
Eye Tracking on iPhone
Apple's new eye-tracking feature uses the front-facing camera and machine learning to track your gaze, allowing you to navigate UI elements without touching the screen. This feature works with Apple apps and third-party apps on iPhones and iPads with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
iPhone CarPlay Accessibility
CarPlay is getting a major accessibility makeover with voice recognition, voice control, colour filters, and more. Additionally, vehicle motion cues will help passengers who experience motion sickness cope with the conflict between what they see and feel by providing visual cues.
Vocal Shortcuts on iPhone
Vocal Shortcut enables users to define custom voice commands to trigger shortcuts and tasks. This feature uses on-device processing for maximum privacy and is like a personal voice.
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Music Haptic
Deaf and hard-of-hearing iPhone users can now experience music through haptic feedback with Music Haptics. Developers can add this feature to their apps. Apple has also created an API for third-party developers to add music haptics to their streaming services or music apps.
Vision Pro Live Caption
Vision Pro is getting live captions in visionOS, allowing users to see captions on screen in different contexts. Vision Pro will also support additional made-for-iPhone hearing devices and cochlear hearing processors.
Apple is also introducing updates for VoiceOver, Magnifier, Braille, Hover Typing, Personal Voice, Live Speech, Virtual Trackpad, Switch Control, and Voice Control.
