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Link to original content: http://www.apple.com/uk/accessibility/mac/
Accessibility - Apple (UK)

Apple Accessibility

Make yours.

The best technology works for everyone. That’s why our products and services are inclusive by design, with built-in accessibility features to help you connect, create and do what you love — in the ways that work best for you.

Speech Innovations that speak volumes.

Personal Voice

Recreate your own voice, so it’s never lost.

If you are at risk of losing your voice or have a condition that can progressively impact your voice, Personal Voice can help. It’s a simple and secure way to create a voice that sounds like you.1 Read through a series of randomly chosen text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio that can be used to generate a voice that sounds similar to your own.2 If you have difficulty pronouncing or reading full sentences, you can even create your Personal Voice using short, three-word phrases. This feature uses on-device machine learning to keep your information private and secure. And Personal Voice seamlessly integrates with Live Speech, so you can type what you want to say and have your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch speak it aloud in your Personal Voice.

Recreate your own voice, so it’s never lost.

Set up Personal Voice on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to set up and use Personal Voice and Live Speech on iPhone and iPad

Watch The Lost Voice film

Live Speech

Turn typing into talking.

With Live Speech on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, just type what you want to say, and your device will speak it out loud. If you are unable to speak, have a speech disability or prefer to communicate through text, you can use Live Speech to stay connected during Phone and FaceTime calls as well as in‑person conversations. You can also save commonly used phrases to help you easily respond during daily interactions and conversations. For example, you can create a Coffee Shop category to group phrases you frequently use, like “I’d like to order a tea” or “Could I have milk and sugar with that?”

Turn typing into talking.

Set up Live Speech on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to set up and use Personal Voice and Live Speech on iPhone and iPad

Vocal Shortcuts

Connect
with Siri,
your way.

If you have atypical speech, you can train Siri with unique pronunciations and utterances to activate shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Use a custom phrase to run automations at home like turning off the lights and locking your doors all at once. Up to 50 commands can be saved on your device. Vocal Shortcuts uses on-device machine learning to recognise your speech patterns. This occurs entirely and securely on your device and isn’t shared with Apple.

Connect
with Siri,
your way.

Set up Vocal Shortcuts on:

All speech features

Vision Bigger, bolder and clearer for you.

Magnifier + Point and Speak

Point to hear what’s near.

Reheat

Magnifier works like a digital magnifying glass, using the camera on your iPhone or iPad to increase the size of anything you point it at — from a prescription bottle to a candlelit menu. For those who are blind or have low vision and want more information about their physical surroundings, Detection Mode in Magnifier combines input from the camera, LiDAR scanner and on-device machine learning to offer intelligent tools like People Detection, Door Detection, Furniture Detection, Scenes, Text Detection, and Point and Speak.3

If you’re standing in a queue, you can use People Detection to determine a person’s proximity to you. Door Detection can help you navigate by identifying doors, text and the presence of symbols — such as a toilet symbol or an accessible-entrance symbol — within a few feet of you. Furniture Detection can tell you when chairs and sofas are present, how far away they are and if they are occupied. Scenes provides a live description of the people, objects and landscapes in your camera’s field of view. Text Detection recognises live text around you and Point and Speak makes it easier to interact with nearby physical objects that have text, like household appliances, keypads or labels on files.4 As you point and move your finger over or under different buttons or elements, your iPhone or iPad reads the text out loud. And on iPhone, you can use Detection Mode with the Action button to have your surroundings described to you.5

Point to hear what’s near.

Set up Magnifier on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to use Detection Mode in Magnifier on iPhone or iPad with LiDAR

Display Settings & Text Size

A collection of settings supported across product platforms helps you customise your onscreen display according to your personal preferences. Make text easier to read with Bold Text or Larger Text. You can also invert colours, increase contrast or apply colour filters to adapt your screen in ways that best support your vision preferences — and on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV you can reduce transparency. These settings can be applied on an app-by-app basis in iOS and iPadOS. In macOS, you can customise the fill and outline colour of your pointer to make it easier to spot onscreen. And now colour filters and Bold Text work with CarPlay.

Make quite
the display.

Set up Display Settings & Text Size on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

VoiceOver

Put moments into words.

VoiceOver describing a photo and showing speech output. “A child blowing bubbles in front of a tree.”

VoiceOver is an industry-leading screen reader that describes exactly what’s happening on your device. Auditory descriptions of elements help you easily navigate your screen through simple gestures on a touchscreen or trackpad or a Bluetooth keyboard. On Apple Vision Pro, VoiceOver speaks the name of each item in your view — explore the screen by pinching and holding your right index finger and thumb. You can also use VoiceOver gestures to explore the screen in order, from top to bottom and left to right.

VoiceOver can describe your surroundings in greater detail than ever. With Live Recognition, you’ll get descriptions of objects in the real world, such as people, doors, text and furniture in indoor spaces. And on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch or Apple TV, you will receive braille output of onscreen content when using compatible braille devices.6 You can explore details about the people, text, table data and other objects within images.7 VoiceOver can also describe a person’s position in relation to objects in images, so you can relive memories in greater detail.

Customise settings such as pitch range for your preferred built-in voices. Siri voices work better with VoiceOver too. With the latest advancements in our speech synthesis technology, Siri speech is smooth and expressive, even at high speeds.

Put moments into words.

Set up VoiceOver on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

All vision features

Hearing Tuned to your needs.

Music Haptics

Music you can feel.

Music Haptics syncs the iPhone Taptic Engine — which creates your device’s vibrations — with the rhythm of songs so you can enjoy music with taps, textures and refined haptics.8 Music Haptics works with millions of songs across the Apple Music catalogue.

Music you can feel.

Set up Music Haptics on:

iPhone

Sound Recognition

Look down for a heads‑up.

Sound Recognition alert for a Fire Alarm on iPhone.

This feature uses on‑device intelligence to notify you when it detects one of 15 different types of sound, including alarms, appliance buzzers, door knocks, or even the sound of a crying baby. On HomePod, Sound Recognition can also detect the sound of a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm. And for electronic sounds, you can train your iPhone or iPad to listen for and notify you of sounds that are unique to your environment, such as your doorbell. When your device detects these sounds, you’ll receive a visible and vibrating notification. Sound Recognition supports CarPlay too. It can detect sirens and horns. You’ll receive a notification — onscreen in your car if you’re using CarPlay — when a particular sound is detected.9

Look down for a heads‑up.

Set up Sound Recognition on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

All hearing features

Mobility Works with every move you make.

AssistiveTouch + Apple Watch

Pinch.
Pinch.
Chat.

AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch enables people with upper‑body limb differences to use their Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls. Using built-in motion sensors and on‑device learning, Apple Watch detects subtle differences in muscle movements and tendon activity, so you can control the display through hand gestures like a pinch or a clench. Answer incoming calls, control an onscreen motion pointer, and access Notification Centre, Control Centre and more.10 You can also use AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch to run shortcuts with Siri to complete tasks or modify VoiceOver and Switch Control settings on your iPhone.

AssistiveTouch for iOS and iPadOS helps you adapt standard gestures — like pinch, rotate or swipe — to make them more comfortable for you. You can make other actions, like changing volume, accessible from the AssistiveTouch menu. And with Virtual Trackpad on iPad, you can control your device using a small region of the screen as a resizable trackpad. On Apple Vision Pro, you can assign gestures, such as single tap, double tap or long press, to run custom actions when you interact with the AssistiveTouch menu button. If certain gestures don’t work for you, swap them for a gesture that does or create a touch that’s all your own. You can also customise the layout of the AssistiveTouch menu and connect assistive pointer devices via Bluetooth, Lightning or USB.

Pinch.
Pinch.
Chat.

Set up AssistiveTouch on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

Eye Tracking

Tap.
Scroll
.
Swipe.

With just your eyes.

Now you can navigate iPhone and iPad with just your eyes. Use the front‑facing camera to set up and calibrate Eye Tracking in seconds. And thanks to on-device machine learning, all data used to set up and control this feature is kept securely on your device, and isn’t shared with Apple. Eye Tracking works with iOS and iPadOS apps and doesn’t require additional hardware or accessories.11 To help you navigate through different apps, you can use Dwell Control, which enables you to interact with controls by keeping your eyes on them for a selected amount of time. And you can access additional functions such as physical buttons, swipes and other gestures solely with your eyes. iPad also supports third‑party eye trackers.

Set up Eye Tracking on:

Voice Control

Let your voice call the shots.

Voice Control command sequence for taking a photo, Open Camera, Tap take picture.

Simple vocal commands enable you to quickly open and interact with apps using iOS, iPadOS and macOS. You can also navigate through numbered labels alongside clickable items or by superimposing a grid to precisely select, zoom and drag. Use Voice Control spelling mode to easily dictate names, addresses and custom spellings letter by letter.12 Voice Control also supports custom vocabularies for longer and more complex words. If you are new to Voice Control on iPhone, iPad and Mac, the feature includes an onboarding experience with education support to help you learn the ins and outs with ease.13 Voice Control is now compatible with CarPlay, so you can control the built-in car display with voice commands too.

Let your voice call the shots.

Set up Voice Control on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to take a selfie with Voice Control on iPhone and iPad

All mobility features

Cognitive Go through your day in a more focused way.

Background Sounds

Make your own calm.

Background Sounds can minimise everyday sounds that might be distracting, discomforting or overwhelming. Balanced, bright or dark noise, and ocean, rain or stream sounds continuously play in the background to help you focus, relax or rest. These sounds can also mix into or duck under other audio and system sounds as you use your device.

Make your own calm.

Set up Background Sounds on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to use Background Sounds on your Mac

Spoken Content

Speak bubble

This feature speaks for itself.

Spoken Content

If you prefer to hear what you’re reading or writing, features like Speak Screen, Speak Selection and Typing Feedback can help by adding an auditory component to text.6 As text is read out loud, Highlight Content highlights words, sentences or both in the style and colour you select, making it easier for you to follow along. You can even customise the sound of your Spoken Content to your liking by adjusting settings such as pitch range for your preferred built-in voices.

This feature speaks for itself.

Set up Spoken Content on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to have your iPhone or iPad read text to you

Assistive Access

Customise your apps. To work for you.

Simplified iPhone Home Screen showing Music, Calls, Messages, Photos and Camera apps.

Assistive Access makes it easy for people with cognitive disabilities to tailor iPhone and iPad to reduce cognitive load and suit their specific needs. Designed with feedback from individuals with cognitive disabilities and their trusted supporters, this feature helps people focus on the activities they enjoy most and that are foundational to iPhone and iPad — connecting with friends and family, taking and sharing photos, and listening to music.

Assistive Access offers a distinctive interface with high-contrast buttons and large text labels, as well as tools to help individuals and trusted supporters focus the experience in specific apps — Phone and FaceTime (which have been combined into a single Calls app), Messages, Camera, Photos and Music. You can also choose a more visual, grid‑based layout for your Home Screen and apps, or a row‑based layout if you prefer text.

Customise your apps. To work for you.

Set up Assistive Access on:

Watch Apple Support videos on YouTube:

How to set up Assistive Access on your iPhone or iPad

All cognitive features

Go deeper with additional resources.

Support Videos

Learn tips, tricks and how-tos from Apple on YouTube

Accessibility Support

Get even more out
of your features

Developer Guides

Discover tools to design for accessibility

Features
that make
a difference.

The Relay

Apple products are designed
for every athlete. And every body.

Watch the film
Two athletes racing each other on a track, one is running and the other is in a racing wheelchair.

The Lost Voice

Personal Voice recreates your own voice on iPhone, so it’s never lost.

Watch the film
A young girl holding a compass, standing in a forrest with a large, friendly, fictional creature behind her.

More from Apple on accessibility.

Our values lead the way.