by Shelly Brisbin
AppleVis releases Apple accessibility report card
AppleVis, an organization devoted to empowering blind and low vision users of Apple products, has published its second annual Apple Vision Accessibility report card. The survey collects opinions of readers who use VoiceOver and the other vision-related accessibility features of Apple platforms.
Overall ratings were slightly down over the previous year, with the exception of tvOS, which improved from an average 3.5 out of 5, to 4.0. VoiceOver ratings were also down, with tvOS ticking up slightly. Braille users gave iOS, iPadOS and macOS noticeably higher ratings for 2023, with tvOS and watchOS taking hits. Low vision users rated all platforms higher for 2023 than in 2022.
In a year of OS releases that did not focus on new vision accessibility features, survey respondents were mostly concerned about ongoing bugs, though many acknowledged that a major long-standing macOS VoiceOver bug—known as the “Safari not responding” bug—had finally been fixed.
iOS and watchOS earned praise for new features, including new Braille options, and fine-grained control of licensed VoiceOver voices. The Point and Speak feature of iOS (only available on Pro and Pro Max phones) came in for criticism for being “not ready for prime time.”
A user named Sebby reflected the feelings of many respondents who want Apple to focus on fixing existing bugs before adding new features, especially on macOS. “We desperately need a Snow Leopard-like release for VoiceOver,” Sebby wrote.