The new watchOS 8.3 release candidate, rolled out by Apple on Wednesday, brings AssistiveTouch gesture controls to older Apple Watch models.
The feature made its debut back in May, but could be used only on newer devices, like Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 7. The release candidate expands support to Series 4 and Series 6 devices for the first time.
Apple plans to release software updates this year that will make its devices far easier to use for people with mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive disabilities.
The features include AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch, which offers astonishing new ways for people with limited mobility to control the smartwatch without tapping its screen. The new feature uses Apple Watch’s array of sensors to interpret the wearer’s movement into interactions.
Cupertino showcased AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch — which lets users maneuver a cursor on the wearable’s screen simply by clenching their fist and pinching their fingers together, among other things — in a remarkable video. (We embedded the video below — definitely watch it.)
But AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch is just the beginning of Apple’s latest big push into accessibility.
After spending time playing with the iPadOS 13 developer beta and iOS 13 beta , it’s clear there are tons of nice changes coming to Apple’s mobile platforms this fall.
Cupertino highlighted the biggest ones at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. However, there’s a bunch of smaller stuff they didn’t tell us about. While there are hundreds of “under the hood” changes, these are the best iOS 13 features Apple didn’t announce.
A series of videos from Apple Support walks users through setting up and using some of the features created for users with limited dexterity or vision. These explain AssistiveTouch, VoiceOver, Magnifier and inverted colors.
Watch them now:
The Apple website has today been updated to highlight the accessibility features of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. The change is in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a yearly event that promotes digital access and inclusion for those with different disabilities.
Do you miss the home button on your from-the-future iPhone X? Then we have good news! You can either sell it on eBay for a ridiculous sum, or you can add a home button back using a long-time feature built into iOS’s accessibility settings. Let’s take a look.
iOS 5 includes a handy new feature that allows you to create your own custom multi-touch gestures. Although dubbed as an accessibility feature, it serves a larger function that that. In this video, I’ll show you how to create custom gestures, and use them to your benefit.
iOS 5 beta 3 brings some new and interesting features, including the new Assistive Touch menu. This menu allows you to perform many commonly used gestures as well as simulate hardware buttons. In this video, I’ll show you how to activate and use this menu in iOS 5.
