Apple confirmed a suite of new accessibility features will arrive on your iPhone with iOS 19. The company announced these updates ahead of its June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), highlighting its 40-year focus on accessibility.
Apple CEO Tim Cook stated, “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us.” These new tools aim to improve how you access information and interact with your device.
Improving App Discovery and Content Reading
You will soon find “Accessibility Nutrition Labels” on the App Store. These labels will clearly show you which accessibility features an app supports before you download it. This includes details on VoiceOver, Larger Text, and caption support.
Eliel Johnson, Vice President of User Experience and Design at CVS Health, praised this addition in a statement to 9to5Mac, noting it provides “more transparency.” Apple will share more details for developers at WWDC.
Another key update is “Accessibility Reader.” This system-wide feature for your iPhone and iPad makes text easier to read. Apple explains it offers new ways to customize text and focus on content, with extensive options for font, color, spacing, and support for Spoken Content. You can launch Accessibility Reader from any app.
Broader Interaction and Sensory Enhancements
Apple significantly updated “Personal Voice” for iOS 19. You can now create a more natural-sounding voice by recording just 10 phrases in under a minute. Apple also adds Spanish (Mexico) support for this feature.
“Braille Access” transforms your iPhone into a full braille note taker. It supports app launching, taking notes in braille, performing calculations with Nemeth Braille, opening Braille Ready Format (BRF) files, and using Live Captions with braille displays.
Device interaction improves with enhanced “Eye Tracking” and new “Head Tracking” for controlling your iPhone with head movements. iOS will also add a new protocol to support “Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs).” “Voice Control” will sync your vocabulary across devices and expand its language support.
For sensory awareness, “Sound Recognition” now includes “Name Recognition” to alert you if someone calls your name. “Live Captions” also expands its language support on iOS. You can further customize “Music Haptics” and “Background Sounds” on your iPhone for a more personalized experience. “Vehicle Motion Cues” will offer new ways to customize its animated onscreen dots on your iPhone.
Your CarPlay experience receives support for Large Text and expanded Sound Recognition for alerts like a crying baby or car horns. Finally, “Share Accessibility Settings” simplifies sharing your preferences with another iPhone, and developers receive a new API for creating tailored “Assistive Access” app experiences.
Apple plans to reveal more about these iOS 19 accessibility features at its WWDC event next month.
