Janet Ingber
After much anticipation, Apple released iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 on September 16, 2020. These new operating systems have many accessibility and mainstream improvements. iOS features are for the iPhone. iPadOS has all the iOS 14 changes plus additional features specifically for the iPad. When iOS 14 is mentioned, iPadOS 14 is included. You must have iOS 13 or iPad OS 13 in order to upgrade. The new operating systems have both improved accessibility and improved mainstream features. That being said, older iPhones and iPads may not support all the new features.
Accessibility
There are new accessibility features for VoiceOver users, low vision users, braille display users, and people with hearing loss.
VoiceOver Recognition
VoiceOver has new abilities to improve the accessibility of images, text, and apps. Go to Settings/Accessibility/VoiceOver/ VoiceOver Recognition where there are three buttons: Image Descriptions, Screen Recognition, and Text Recognition. Turn any of these three buttons on to enable it. There is an additional button for choosing a feedback method. Screen Recognition is the newest feature. When active, it can turn some inaccessible apps into accessible apps. Voiceover Recognition works with iPhone XS and above.
Voice Control
There are two new English voices that can be used for Voice Control. Go to Settings/Accessibility/Voice Control and make sure Voice Control is enabled. English (United States) is the default voice. A new screen will load with two additional options: English (United Kingdom) and English (India). The new voices need to be downloaded. Select a different voice if you wish.
Back Tap
You can now tap on the back of your iPhone to perform a gesture. There are two gestures: double tap and triple tap. For each of the gestures you can choose a corresponding action. Go to Settings/Accessibility/VoiceOver/Commands/Touch Gestures. Scroll down to Back Tap. Select double tap or triple tap. A new screen will load with a very extensive list of commands and select the one you want. You will be brought to the back tap screen. The assigned gesture will be next to the Back Tap command. You can repeat this process with the other (triple tap) gesture. I set double tap to go to the next heading and triple tap to go to the Home screen. I found that if I did a triple tap on an app in a folder, it closed the folder. Repeating the gesture brought me back to the Home screen.
Actions Available
There are now three options to choose from when actions are available. Go to Settings/Accessibility/VoiceOver/Verbosity. Scroll down to Actions. The options are: Speak, Play Sound, or Do Nothing.
Braille
Braille has two useful new features. Go to Settings/Accessibility/Vision/VoiceOver/Braille. iOS 14 supports braille auto panning. This means you can explore more braille text without having to activate the pan button on your refreshable braille display. Also, the Chord duration can now be adjusted.
Magnifier
If you use Magnifier, you now have more options and tools including customizing controls, choosing filters, and the ability to put Magnifier on your Home screen. Go to Settings/Accessibility/Magnifier to turn this feature on.
Hearing
If you have a hearing impairment, there are some new options for you including Sound Recognition and Headphone Accommodation. For Sound Recognition, Go to Settings/Accessibility/Hearing/Sound Recognition. This new feature lets your iPhone listen for specific sounds and will alert you when they are detected. Some of the sounds are: Siren, Baby, and Dog. This feature must be turned on for it to operate. You can select as many sounds as you want.
Headphone Accommodation is available only for users of supported Beats and AirPods headphones. It lets you customize the sound in your headphones. Go to Settings/Accessibility/Hearing/Audio/Visual/Headphone Accommodation. By default this feature is turned off. When it is activated you have options for adjusting sounds coming through your Beats or AirPods. Check out the hearing section for more improvements.
Mainstream Features
There are numerous changes to the mainstream features including addition of an App Library and the ability to put Widgets on the Home screen.
App Library
The App Library was one of the main features of Apple’s 2020 WWDC. It organizes all your apps into Apple’s predetermined categories. They are: Suggestions, Recently Added, Social, Entertainment, Games, Utilities, Productivity & Finance, Health & Fitness, Information & Reading, Shopping & Food, and Other. The Recently Added category is self-explanatory. Apps that you frequently use are in the Suggestions area. For the other categories, the three apps you use most will be displayed. Next is a folder with all the remaining apps for the category. The only way to move by category is by Containers. This is a feature that used to be only available on the iPad. You will need to put Containers into the rotor. Go to Settings/Accessibility/VoiceOver/Rotor and select Containers. Double tapping on the folder within the category will bring up the list of all the remaining apps in alphabetical order. At the top of the App Library is a search box. Type or say the name of the app you want. The result will be under the search box. If you want to get an alphabetical list of all of your apps on your device, double tap on the search box. Do not enter text or dictate text. All your apps are listed in alphabetical order. There is a section index on the right side of the page. In the process of cleaning up and organizing your home screens, you may want to delete or move an app. There are now two buttons: Delete App and Move to App Library. As before, choosing to delete the app will remove it and all of its data. Apps can be deleted from within the App Library, where the only option is delete. Do the reverse to bring the app back to your home screen as follows. Put the device in Edit mode. Drag the app to where you want it.
You can now hide any or all of your home screens. On my iPhone I have four screens of apps and folders. I moved everything to the first screen and decided to hide the rest. Nothing was deleted. Hide a screen by first putting your device in Edit mode. Next, go to the page number on the bottom of the screen and double tap it. A new screen will load and VoiceOver says, “Home screen page hiding.” Each screen number is listed and VoiceOver will say if it is visible or hidden. When you are finished, select the Done button in the upper left corner. This action is not permanent. Make a screen visible by first putting your device in Edit mode and the same screen with the screen numbers will return. Double tap on the ones you want to be visible again.
You now have two options for where newly downloaded apps can reside. Go to Settings/Home Screen and flick right to Newly Downloaded Apps. The Add to Home Screen option will put the app on your Home screen and in your app library. The other option is App Library Only.
There is one more choice under this section. You can add app notification badges into the App Library. By default this feature is turned off.
Choosing non-native Apps for Mail and Web Browsing
You now have the option to use a different mail app or browser than Apple Mail or Safari. For either one to work, the replacement app must be downloaded to your device. Go to the app store to make sure the app you want is available.
Microsoft’s Outlook and Google’s Gmail are alternatives to Apple Mail. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox are alternatives to Safari.
I downloaded Google’s Gmail iOS app from the App Store and then went to Settings and selected the Gmail App. A new screen loaded with several options including a button labeled Default Mail App. Selecting it gave me the choice to choose Gmail as the new default app. Since I did not want the change, I selected the Cancel button. Use the same steps to install a different web browser.
Adding Widgets to the Home Screen
Widgets are a quick way to get information without needing to go into an app. You may already have some in your Today View. In iOS 14, widgets can now be added to the home screen. However, you will need room on the screen to add them. A small widget takes the same amount of space as four apps. Medium and large widgets take up more space. When you add one, it will land in the upper left corner, shifting other apps down and to the right.
Add a widget by first putting your device in Edit mode. Go to the top left corner of the screen, where there is now an Add Widget button. Selecting it loads a screen with many widgets. There is a search form at the top of the page. While going through the widgets you will hear the widget’s size if there is more than one version available. The size represents how much information you can get from the widget. You might also hear Stack or Smart Stack. This means two or more widgets are on top of each other. Once you find a widget that you want, double tap on it and VoiceOver will speak the widget’s contents. What the widget says depends on what it does. For example, there’s an Apple Music Recently Played widget that tells you the last songs you played on your device. At the bottom of the screen is an Add button. I added the widget and as expected it moved the apps on my Home screen. Widgets can not be dragged to other locations on the screen.
If widgets are stacked, you will hear information only on the top widget. Find the next widget you want and start the editing process. Just as you would edit an app, drag the second widget to the first widget and under Actions, choose Stack. Whichever widget was last activated is the one which will be on top the next time the widget is activated. Flick up or down to the other widgets in the stack. You can also create a Smart Stack. Your device will guess which widget you want to use at a particular time. Widgets are deleted the same way as apps.
Apple Music
The biggest changes in Apple Music are the location of the Library tab and the addition of a new Listen Now tab. The tabs at the bottom of the screen are: Listen Now, Browse, Radio, Library, and Search. Personally, I preferred to have Library at the bottom left of the screen.
The For You tab is gone and has been replaced with the Listen Now tab. This tab brings together selections that Apple Music thinks you will like. It also shows what has been recently added and recently played. There are also radio stations that can be accessed from the Listen Now tab. A lot of content is presented but fortunately there is a vertical scroll bar on the right side of the screen. Using Headings or Containers will not get you through all the content in this section. You will need to change pages. The My Account information is at the top right of this tab. If you are looking for a particular mood or activity playlist, you can search for it with Apple Music’s Search feature. For example, I put “relaxation music” into the search box and got many results.
Apple’s new Auto Play feature will automatically choose similar music for you after your selection of song, album, or playlist has finished. Music chosen will be from your library and from Apple Music’s vast collection.
Back Button
If you double tap and hold on the Back button of an app, you can quickly move out of the app. This feature is particularly good for apps such as Apple Music, where there are many screens. For example, I went to Library/Artists and selected Billy Joel. Then I selected an album and chose a song from the album. I did a double tap and hold on the Back button and three options were available: Billy Joel, Artists, and Library. I chose Library.
Voice Memos
In iOS 14, you now have the ability to organize recordings into folders. At the bottom of the screen is the option to create a new folder. Once the recording is finished, flick up or down for options including Add to Folder and Favorite.
This new version of Voice Memos has the ability to decrease ambient noise in your recording. Open the recording and then select More Actions. Next, select Edit Recording. Then select Enhance.
Translate
This new app lets the user speak a phrase in one language and have the device quickly speak it in another. The first time you use the app, there is information about how it works. There are two buttons at the top of the screen. The first default button is labeled “From English” and the second default is “To Spanish.” Change the languages by double tapping on either button. The next screen will display a list of language options. At the bottom of the screen are two tabs: Translate and Favorites. The Translate tab is selected by default.
Below the language buttons is an edit box to enter text. Below that is a Listen button. After selecting the Listen button, say the phrase you want translated. Next do a two-finger double-tap. The phrase will be spoken. You can use rotor settings for words or characters to read the spelling of the translation. Activate the Favorites tab to add the phrase to Favorites.
Messages
There are some new features in Messages. You can now send audio messages without going into the Messages app. Tell Siri to send an audio message to whomever you want to send it to. Siri will say, “Recording.” Speak your message and when you are done, stop speaking. When dictating your message, do not pause too long between words or sentences because Siri will stop recording.
Messages can now be pinned to the top of the Messages list. If you frequently text with the same people, the person’s name can be pinned at the top of the conversation list. By doing it this way, you do not need to scroll down to find their texts. Select their name and flick down once to Pin. You can also flick up, but it requires more flicks. Once on Pin, double tap to select it. That person’s conversations will automatically appear at the top of the list.
Another new feature is In-Line reply. If you are in a group chat and want to send a message to one person in the group, find the person’s name and flick down to reply. Select it and write your message.
Searching for Emojis
It is now easier to find emojis. Bring up the emoji list. Under where text is inserted is a search box for emojis. Type in the name or dictate of the emoji that you want and if there is an match it will be listed. Double tap on the emoji and it will be added. This works well with Messages, Apple Mail, and Facebook.
Exposure Notifications
This new feature is in the Settings menu and by default is not activated. When activated, you can receive public health notifications about exposure to COVID-19. You can read detailed information about how this feature works by selecting the “How Exposure Notifications Work” option. If you choose to turn Exposure Notifications on, go further down the page to the Continue button. On the next screen select your country. If another screen loads after that, you’ll be asked to select your state or region. Not all states, regions, and countries have information available.
Password Security
Apple encourages their users to either use generated passwords or use passwords that are not easily guessed. Go to Settings/Passwords/Security Recommendations. Right below the Security Recommendations button is a list of passwords that are recommended for change. When the Security Recommendations option is activated, a new screen will load. The first control is Detect Compromised Passwords. This feature is on by default. When on, your iPhone can alert you if it detects compromised passwords. Next is a High Priority heading. This is a list of all your app and website passwords. As you go through the list, Apple will give you the reason your password should be changed. Examples of reasons to change include: using a common word, having the same password for multiple websites, and using a password that is easily guessed. Directly under each listing is the option to change the password.
Blocking Trackers
Apple has added a Privacy report in Safari. Get to it by first selecting the Format Options button at the top left of the screen. Next, flick right to Privacy Report and select it. Flick right to find out about websites you have visited and which trackers are tracking you. Further down the page are two buttons: Websites and Trackers. The Websites button is selected by default. There is a list of websites that have been contacted by trackers. Double tap on the tracker’s name to get more information about which trackers were prevented from following you. Select the Trackers button and a list of trackers will be on the page. Select the name to find out which trackers have been prevented from following you.
Conclusion
It is definitely worth upgrading your iPad or iPhone to iOS 14 or iPad OS 14. The new accessibility improvements are very helpful. The changes for mainstream apps bring many new features. Once you upgrade, go through Settings carefully to check for changes and additions.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
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