Apple offers a lot of built-in accessibility features that I love, like VoiceOver. Whether or not you are visually impaired if you use an Apple device, you know that iOS 7 released.
Every time an upgrade rolls out I wait to download it until I visit some accessibility blogs like AppleVis or How to Be Blind and hear from other people who are using the version to figure out what’s new (thanks, April!). Later this week on a day when I have some time to play around with the new features, I will be upgrading to iOS 7.
For anyone, visually impaired or not, what are your thoughts on the updates? What do you like about iOS 7? What don’t you like about it?
Adventures in Low Vision 
I’m slightly visually impaired and so far my thoughts are mainly positive. I really like that it is now quicker to change the brightness of the screen as I do this many times a day depending on what light I’m in. I also like the text enlarging. I’ve made it a fair bit bigger but it still looks good.
My only problem so far are the overwhelmingly white backgrounds which don’t suit my eyes. I suppose I can invert the colours but I don’t think I’ll bother yet as it’s not too bad.
Caoimheob: Great feedback. I don’t like the white background when I used my husband’s phone, but I will just invert colors as needed.
My sister has an Iphone and it’s the only phone she owns. My son has a tablet phone. My daughter is a rep for a cell phone company. They start talking about the latest mobile electronics and my eyes glaze over, not from disinterest but from mental gridlock.
Besides a computer, big screen monitor and a cell phone from the mesozoic era, I’m techologically awkward. I use Cyberbuddy as a text reader but I’m told that Windows 7 has a much better text reader. My sister wants me to get Skype so that we can look at each other when we talk. To me, both would mean putting something on my computer that, more than likely, I’m going to screw up.
Any suggestions?
You would probably enjoy Skype. My family (not all tech savvy) used it before using FaceTime on apple products. Ask your kids to help you install skype, after one or two sister chats, you will know if it’s for you or not.
VoiceOver is my preferred reader now, but that’s only for Apple items. I use ZoomText with speech software at work, which was provided for me by my state’s Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) since my low vision qualified me for assistance and therapy. I don’t use windows 7 screen reader so I can’t comment on that.
That’s very helpful. Thanks.
Where I live, it’s called Vocational Rehabilitation. There’s a separate VR program for people who are blind or visually impaired. DVR and other VR services don’t have much funding right now. I checked out the price of Zoom Text. It’s $399. Wish I could afford that, but right now, my first priority is to get my teeth taken care of.
You got that right, funding is scarce. If I was not working, my software would not be covered.