All eyes are on next year’s Apple WWDC event. That’s when the company will no doubt unveil its latest operating system updates, including its latest artificial intelligence plans for iOS and macOS.
But artificial intelligence is not just about meaning generative artificial intelligence Apple has more conventional features in the pipeline that users can try out, some simply driven by artificial intelligence. As it happens, we just took a look at a ton of upcoming iPhone and Mac features that fit this mold, especially related to accessibility.
Apple unexpectedly announced a series of recent accessibility features on Wednesday. The company says these features will be coming “later this year,” which almost certainly means they’ll be available with iOS 18. Apple switches between using the language “AI” and “machine learning” to describe how these work features, but you can rest assured that the underlying technology is part of Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts this year.
Eye Tracking lets you control your iPhone with just your eyes
Out of nowhere, Apple announced that iPhone and iPad users will soon be able to control their devices with just their eyes. Apple says the phone or tablet’s front camera will apply artificial intelligence to calibrate and configure the feature, as well as power it. The most impressive thing is that you don’t need any additional hardware to apply it.
Once you set up eye tracking, you can navigate and apply your apps Occupancy control to interact with elements and recreate physical buttons, swipes and gestures using eye movements.
Music Haptics lets you feel the rhythm on your iPhone
Apple has added a recent music feature for users who are deaf or challenging of hearing: Music Haptics uses the Taptic Engine to play taps and sophisticated vibrations to the beat of a song. While this sounds like a great accessibility feature, it also seems like a great way to improve the Apple Music experience for everyone. The feature works for “millions” of songs in Apple Music, but Apple has also made it available as an API so developers can add songs to their apps.
Vocal shortcuts and listening to unusual speech
Voice Shortcuts is a recent feature that lets you assign actions to words or phrases. For example, you can set the word “Rings” to open Apple Watch activity rings in Fitness mode. Additionally, Listen for Unusual Speech uses your device’s artificial intelligence to learn speech patterns, so your device recognizes the way you speak.
These features are intended for users with conditions such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and stroke, as these conditions affect speech.
Vehicle Motion Cues tries to prevent motion sickness
Apple wants to cure motion sickness. Vehicle Motion Cues places dots on the screen when your iPhone or iPad recognizes you’re in a moving car. These dots will then move in the direction of the vehicle: These moving dots can counteract the effects of motion sickness, as Apple’s research shows that motion sickness occurs when there is a conflict between what you see and what you feel.
You can choose to show these traffic directions automatically or turn them on manually in Control Center.
CarPlay is getting several recent accessibility features
Speaking of cars, CarPlay is getting a number of recent accessibility features: Voice Control, which lets you control CarPlay with your voice; Color filters that allow you to adjust the color space of the CarPlay UI; and audio recognition, CarPlay will notify you when it detects sounds such as car horns and sirens.
Accessibility features in VisionOS
Do you remember Apple Vision Pro? This is still true, although it hasn’t received much attention lately. Still, Apple is working on some accessibility features in VisionOS, including live captions. These captions will work for in-person and FaceTime calls, as well as for audio in your apps. Apple is also adding recent vision features such as Reduce Transparency, Astute Flip and Dim Flashing Lights, as well as support for Made for iPhone hearing aids and cochlear hearing processors.
Modern VoiceOver features
VoiceOver gets recent voices. Apple hasn’t said how many there will be or what they sound like, but they’re coming. Additionally, the feature gets a “malleable voice rotor” that lets you control VoiceOver, custom volume controls, customizable VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts on macOS, and support for custom dictionaries and sophisticated words.
magnifier
Apple Magnifier doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, but it’s getting some recent features. You’ll soon get a recent Reader Mode, as well as quick ways to launch Discovery Mode using the action button on iPhone 15 Pro.
Braille
There are also some recent braille features: you’ll have a recent way to start and stay in input mode on the braille screen, Japanese will be available, Dot Pad users will be able to apply multi-line braille, and you’ll have the ability to select input and output arrays.
Entering the cursor
Cursor typing is a recent feature that increases the text size every time you type in a text field. Moreover, you can control the font and color.
Personal Voice is now available in Mandarin
Last year, Apple introduced Personal Voice, an AI-powered feature that can replicate your voice during live speech. This feature is now available in Mandarin Chinese. Plus, you can now create a personal voice even if you have difficulty reading entire sentences aloud.
Speaking of live speech, this feature now has categories and is compatible with live captions.
Virtual trackpad
Apple is adding a virtual trackpad feature within AssistiveTouch, so you can apply one area of your iPhone or iPad to move the cursor around the screen. I find this useful for anyone who wants to apply a trackpad, especially on larger iPads, but doesn’t have a physical trackpad.
Control switch
With Switch Control coming later this year, you’ll be able to apply your iPhone or iPad’s camera to recognize finger tap gestures as switches. Switch Control lets you apply the hardware to control your iPhone or iPad with switches, which means you can gesture with your fingers towards the camera to control items on the screen.
