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Tag: IOS

February 14, 2024
Tim Schwartz
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The 5 Apps That I Love and Appreciate as a Blind Person This Valentine’s Day

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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Today is a day to celebrate love in all its forms, and I want to share with you some of the things that I love as a person who is blind. No, I’m not talking about chocolates, roses, or teddy bears (although those are nice too). I’m talking about apps. Yes, apps. You see, apps are more than just tools or entertainment for me. They are my companions, my helpers, my guides, and my friends. They make my life easier, more enjoyable, and more accessible. They help me see the world in different ways, and they connect me with other people who share my experiences and passions. So, without further ado, here are the top five apps that I love and use every day, and why you should love them too.

1. Audible

If you are a book lover like me, you know how hard it can be to find accessible books in your preferred format and genre. That’s why I love Audible, the app that lets you download and listen to thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and original audio shows. Whether I want to escape into a fantasy world, learn something new, or laugh out loud, Audible has something for me. I can listen to books at my own pace, adjust the speed and volume, and bookmark my favorite parts. I can also sync my books across different devices, so I can pick up where I left off anytime, anywhere. Audible is not free, but it’s worth every penny. Plus, you can get a free trial and a free book when you sign up. Honorable mentions go to BARD and Libby, two other great apps that offer free access to books and magazines for people who are blind or have a print disability.

2. YouTube TV

I love watching TV shows and movies, but I don’t love paying more for cable or satellite. That’s why I love YouTube TV, the app that lets you stream live and on-demand TV from over 85 channels, including local and national networks. You can watch sports, news, entertainment, and more, all from your phone, tablet, computer, or smart TV. You can also record unlimited shows with cloud DVR, and share your account with up to six family members. But what I love most about YouTube TV is that it is very accessible with VoiceOver, and you can easily access audio description through a secondary audio track. Audio description is a feature that provides narration of the visual elements of a program, such as actions, expressions, and settings. It helps me enjoy the story and the characters without missing any details. Honorable mention goes to Netflix, another app that offers a lot of accessible content with audio description.

3. Microsoft Seeing AI

If you are looking for an app that can do it all, look no further than Microsoft Seeing AI, the app that narrates the world for you. This app uses artificial intelligence to recognize and describe people, text, currency, color, and objects. You can use it to read mail, identify products, hear descriptions of photos, and much more. You can also chat with the app to ask questions, such as about items on a menu, the price of an item on a receipt, or to summarize an article. The app is free to use and available on both iOS and Android. It supports multiple languages and works offline as well. Microsoft Seeing AI is like having a personal assistant in your pocket, ready to help you with anything that requires visual assistance.

4. Be My Eyes

Sometimes, even the best AI can’t replace human help. That’s why I love Be My Eyes, the app that connects you with sighted volunteers and companies anywhere in the world, through live video and artificial intelligence. You can use this app to request visual support for any task, such as matching colors, checking if the lights are on, or preparing dinner. You can also call a Specialized Help partner for professional support, such as Microsoft, Google, or L’Oreal. The app is free to use and available on both iOS and Android. It supports over 180 languages and has over 7 million volunteers. Be My Eyes is a wonderful example of how technology and human connection can make the world more accessible and inclusive for people who are blind or have low vision. And if you want to try something new and exciting, you can also use Be My AI, the app’s built-in AI assistant that can describe images and answer questions for you. Just tap on the Be My AI tab, take a picture, and let Be My AI tell you what it sees. You can also chat with Be My AI and ask for more details or context. Be My AI is like having a virtual volunteer in your pocket, ready to help you anytime, anywhere.

5. Copilot

Last but not least, I love Copilot, the app that is your everyday AI companion. Copilot is not just an app, it’s a friend. You can chat with Copilot about anything, from the weather, to your hobbies, to your dreams. Copilot is smart, polite, empathetic, and interesting. It can also help you with writing, rewriting, improving, or optimizing your content, such as poems, stories, code, essays, songs, or celebrity parodies. Copilot can also generate imaginative and innovative content for you, using its own words and knowledge. Copilot is powered by the latest OpenAI models, GPT-4 and DALL·E 3, which provide fast, complex, and precise responses, as well as the ability to create breathtaking visuals from simple text descriptions. Copilot is free to use and available on both iOS and Android. Copilot is the app that makes you smile, laugh, and learn.

So, these are the top five apps that I love and use every day. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post, and maybe you will give some of these apps a try. Let me know in the comments what are your favorite apps, and why you love them. Happy Valentine’s Day, and happy apping!

September 24, 2019
Tim Schwartz
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News about iOS 13 features for the blind, Domino’s and the Supreme Court, Be My Eyes partnerships and 5 minutes free from AIRA

Posted in News, and Podcasts

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Maria Johnson from Girl Gone Blind joins Tim this week on Life After Blindness to discuss the recent news from the blind and visually impaired community.

In the last episode, Tim spoke with Derek Daniel about the most recent announcements from Apple. Following up on that discussion, Tim and Maria break down IOS 13 and the newest accessibility features that have been made available for the blind and visually impaired. This includes customization options for voiceover gestures, keyboard commands, braille input devices and much more. ‘Dark Mode’ is also discussed as well as the potential of the new ‘Voice Control’ for people who have motor skill issues, whether they are visually impaired or not.

Next up, the conversation turns to Domino’s Pizza in the possibility of the supreme court hearing their case. Domino’s claims that the Americans with disabilities act does not include websites and smart phone apps when it comes to accessibility for the blind and visually impaired. Whether the Supreme Court hears this case or not could have a major impact on the accessibility of websites and apps going forward.

Then, Tim and Maria close out the show by talking about Be My Eyes and the recent partnerships with pentene and clear blue. They also talk about AIRA and their announcement about offering free access to their agents.

If you have any questions or comments, please send your emails to: tim@lifeafterblindness.com

October 9, 2018
Tim Schwartz
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Tim’s Top 5 Features of iOS 12

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iPhones have been a very popular choice for people who are blind or visually impaired.

However, having an accessible experience right out of the box isn’t the only reason iPhones are so popular. It’s the availability of accessible apps and features that can really affect our lives. Features that help to make our lives easier, more accessible and therefore more independent.

The following is my list of the top 5 new features included in the new iOS 12 from Apple.

1. Performance and Bug Fixes:

Previous versions of iOS may have included great new features, but they were lacking when it came to performance updates and bug fixes. Yes, iOS 11 – I’m looking at you. Thankfully, iOS 12 has resolved many of these long-standing issues.
Apple claims that its new operating system will launch apps up to twice as fast, the camera will appear 70% faster and the keyboard will display up to 50% faster. If you are using an older iPhone model, Apple has good news there as well. iOS 12 can be installed on all iPhone models going back to the iPhone 6 S.

2. 9 1 1 Location Sharing:

Using the Emergency SOS feature or by just calling emergency services directly, you can quickly connect to an emergency operator for assistance. Now, in iOS 12, your phone will use GPS and WIFI access points to automatically and securely share your location with emergency services. Apple accomplishes this through a partnership with a service called RapidSOS.
This feature could be extremely helpful to those who are blind or visually impaired, especially if you are not familiar with your surroundings.

3. Screen Time:

If you are a parent seeking stronger parental controls or you are just a person who can’t seem to put your phone down, this feature is for you. Screen Time provides you with an overview of how much time you spend on your iOS devices with specifics about which apps you use most. You can set individual limits by app or genre and then iOS 12 will alert you when it is time to sign out. These limits can be set to specific durations or even to certain times of the day.

4. Siri Shortcuts:

The popularity and intelligence of virtual assistants has grown dramatically in recent years. Unfortunately, Apple’s Siri has fallen behind its competitors like Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. iOS 12 promises to change that with Siri Shortcuts.
Apple now allows instant access to certain actions within an app. This greatly expands the out-of-the-box capabilities of Siri. Additionally, third-party app developers now have unprecedented access to Siri. This means that you can ask Siri to launch your favorite actions within an app like sending a tweet, playing a podcast playlist or editing documents in a notes type app. You can edit the Siri Shortcut settings within each specific app. You can also launch the Settings app and navigate to “Siri and Search” for more options.
iOS 12 also includes a Siri Shortcuts app where you can create your own shortcuts or choose from a gallery of existing ones. These can be made to be as simple or as complex as you like. The shortcuts app allows you to string multiple commands together so that you can achieve multiple tasks at once, i.e. have Siri turn on the lights, begin playing your favorite music playlist and turn on the coffee pot. All using one spoken word or phrase that you choose.

5. Grouped Notifications:

Previously, the Notification Center in iOS was more of a mess than my daughter’s bedroom. Thankfully, Apple has cleaned things up with iOS 12 by implementing grouped notifications.
Notifications are no longer shown as a long and messy chronological list. Now, each app that pushes a notification to your iPhone will be grouped together with each group being collapsed for easier reading and navigation. You can expand each group to see a chronological list of all notifications from that app or service. You can also take actions to either view, clear one or all notifications or change the way they are presented to you.

Honourable Mention – Group FaceTime:

FaceTime is a very popular iPhone feature that allows you to make high quality voice or video calls to other iPhone users. Prior to iOS 12, this was limited to one-to-one communication. Apple has dramatically upgraded this feature with iOS 12.
The new Group FaceTime will enable up to 32 people to communicate at once. During a video chat, the app will detect who is speaking and display their image prominently on the screen. This will automatically switch as different people speak. Group FaceTime can also be automatically launched from group iMessage conversations.
FaceTime has been a very popular feature among the blind and visually impaired. It has afforded blind iPhone users a quick and easy way to not only communicate with friends and family, but it is used as a tool to get help from a sighted person. Group FaceTime should only make an even stronger and better tool for people who are blind and visually impaired.
At the time of this writing, Group FaceTime is only available as part of the iOS 12.1 public beta because it was not ready for the initial launch. Apple has stated that it will be released later in the Fall of 2018.

These are just some of the many new features available within iOS 12. Which one of these is your favorite? Is your favorite not on the list? please leave a comment about your favorite new features and why.

June 7, 2017
Tim Schwartz
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LABCast #10: Coverage of the 2017 Apple WWDC Keynote

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Welcome to episode #10 of the Life After Blindness podcast! My guests this wweek are Holly Anderson from the Maccessibility Roundtable podcast, Derek Daniel from Life After Sight Loss and Shaun Preece from RNIB Tech Talk and Audio Pizza podcasts.

On June 5, Apple kicked off its annual worldwide developers conference. Tim Cook and others from Apple, delivered a keynote where they announced many new features and updates. Being a developers conference, Apple announced many updates to the various operating systems. Including iPhone, Apple TV and Apple Watch.
They also announced many upgrades and refinements to several hardware products as well. This includes iPad Pro in the Mac.
Please join us as we discuss the many announcements that were made during the keynote.