4. Making Your iPad More Accessible
In this chapter, you explore how to configure your iPad’s accessibility options—and make it easier to use.
Making the iPad Easier to Use for the Vision Impaired
Because even the largest iPad has a relatively small screen, some of us may have trouble seeing what’s onscreen, or tapping where we need to tap.
Fortunately, several settings on your iPad can make it easier to use. We’ll discuss them in this chapter.
Making the iPad Easier to Use for the Vision Impaired
Let’s start with those features that can make things displayed onscreen easier to see. Many of us have some degree of vision loss, even if it’s just the need for reading glasses to see fine print. Given the relatively small size of text on the iPad screen (especially on many web pages), you may want to avail yourself of these features that make onscreen text easier to read.
Read the Screen with VoiceOver
Probably the most useful accessibility feature for those with vision difficulties is Apple’s VoiceOver. VoiceOver describes out loud any screen element or text. Just touch an item or text selection and VoiceOver either reads it or tells you about it. In some instances, VoiceOver even tells you how to use a given item—“double-tap to open,” for example.
When VoiceOver is activated, all you have to do is touch the screen or drag your finger over an area to hear information about what’s onscreen. When you go to a new screen, VoiceOver plays a sound and then selects and reads the first item on the new screen.
Note that because VoiceOver requires you to tap the screen to “read” an item, most traditional touch gestures change when you’ve activated VoiceOver. Where you would normally use a single-tap, for example, you now use a double-tap.
Other Screen-Reading Options
Although VoiceOver is the best and most full-featured screen-reading option on your iPad, other options are available. Go to the Accessibility screen and tap Speech and you can enable the Speak Selection (for reading text), Speak Screen (for reading screen elements), and Typing Feedback (for reading words while you type) options. Give them a try; they’re less functional but also less intrusive than VoiceOver.
To activate VoiceOver, go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then tap VoiceOver.
From the VoiceOver screen, tap on the VoiceOver switch. (Alternatively, press and hold the Home button and tell Siri, “Turn VoiceOver on.”)
To “read” any onscreen item, touch it. (The item is now surrounded by a black border—the VoiceOver cursor.)
To activate any operation normally done by single-tapping, instead select the item and then double-tap the screen.
To activate any operation normally done by double-tapping, instead triple-tap that item.
Turn It Off
To deactivate VoiceOver, press and hold the Home button and tell Siri, “Turn VoiceOver off.”
>>>Go Further: VOICEOVER GESTURES
When you’re using VoiceOver, how you use your iPad changes in subtle ways. Because basic tapping or touching now “reads” that onscreen item, you need to use different touch gestures to do just about anything onscreen.
The following table shows you some of the more common operations and their new VoiceOver-enabled touch gestures.
Operation |
VoiceOver Gesture |
Select and read an item |
Single-tap |
Select the next or previous item |
Swipe right or left |
Read all elements from the top of the screen |
Two-finger swipe up |
Read all elements from the current position |
Two-finger swipe down |
Stop or resume speaking |
Two-finger tap |
Dismiss an alert or go back to a previous screen |
Move two fingers back and forth quickly in a Z pattern |
Scroll one page at a time |
Three-finger swipe up or down |
Go to the next or previous page (including on the Home page) |
Three-finger swipe right or left |
Speak additional information about the selected item |
Three-finger tap |
Select the first item on the page |
Four-finger tap at the top of the screen |
Select the last item on the page |
Four-finger tap at the bottom of the screen |
Activate the selected item |
Double-tap |
Double-tap an item |
Triple-tap |
Double-tap and hold one second, and then drag the item |
|
Initiate an action or pause an in-progress action |
Two-finger double-tap |
Change an item’s label |
Two-finger double-tap and then hold |
Open the Item Chooser |
Two-finger triple-tap |
Mute or unmute VoiceOver |
Three-finger double-tap |
There are also a number of settings you can configure to personalize the way VoiceOver works for you. Just go to the Settings page, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then tap VoiceOver.
Braille Displays
Your iPad is fully compatible with most third-party braille displays. Use the braille display to control your iPad when VoiceOver is activated. Connect a braille display to your iPad via Bluetooth, and then go the Settings page, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver, and then tap Braille.
Magnify the Screen with Zoom
Having VoiceOver take over your iPad’s screen may be too much for those of us with only mild vision difficulties. In this instance, you might need only to zoom into an area of the screen to make it larger and more legible.
Many apps let you zoom in by either double-tapping the screen or expanding your fingers apart. (You zoom out by pinching your fingers together.) Apple also offers a dedicated Zoom feature that lets you magnify any screen.
To activate Zoom, go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then tap Zoom.
Tap on the Zoom switch to display the zoom box onscreen.
Drag the bottom of the zoom box to move it around the screen. (Not shown.)
Hide the zoom box by double-tapping the screen with three fingers. Double-tap with three fingers again to re-display the zoom box. (Not shown.)
Invert Screen Colors
If you’re having trouble distinguishing elements onscreen, it may be an issue of contrast. I’ve found that increasing the contrast between light and dark elements can help me read even very small type onscreen.
With this in mind, Apple enables you to invert your colors onscreen. With inverted colors, black text on a white background becomes white text on a black background, and other color highlights appear against that same black background.
Go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then tap Display Accommodations.
Tap Invert Colors.
Tap “on” the Smart Invert switch to reverse-display colors except for images, video, and apps that use a dark color scheme. (This is the new and preferred option.)
Tap “on” the Classic Invert switch to reverse all colors in all apps.
Return to your iPad’s normal color scheme by returning to the Invert Colors screen and tapping “off” whichever option you’ve previously enabled.
Colorblind Users
If you’re fully or partially colorblind, you simply can’t see some color combinations. Fortunately, you can configure your iPad with color filters, to make those otherwise hard-to-see colors pop. Just go to the Display Accommodations screen, tap Color Filters, tap “on” the Color Filters switch, and then select the filter that works best for you.
Make Onscreen Text Larger and Bolder
Another way to make an iPad screen more readable is to increase the size of the onscreen text, or perhaps even bold that text.
Go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, and tap Accessibility.
Make onscreen text bold by tapping “on” the Bold Text switch. When reminded that applying this setting will restart your iPad, tap Continue; your iPad now restarts.
Increase the size of onscreen text by tapping Larger Text.
Tap “on” the Larger Accessibility Sizes switch.
Drag the slider to the right to make text larger. Drag the slider back to the left to make larger text smaller.
Making the iPad Easier to Use for the Hearing Impaired
Whether you’re a little hard of hearing or completely deaf, you’ll be pleased to know that your iPad can accommodate various types of hearing devices, as well as compensate for hearing damage in one ear or the other.
Use a Hearing Aid with Your iPad
Many companies make “Made for iPad” hearing aids that are officially compatible with most iPad models. When you pair these hearing aids via Bluetooth, you can use the iPad to adjust their settings, stream audio direct to the hearing aids, and more. All you have to do is configure your iPad for the type of hearing aid you have. Start by opening the battery doors on your hearing aids, and then follow these steps.
Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your iPad (tap Bluetooth from the Settings screen), then go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, and tap Accessibility.
Scroll to the Hearing section and tap MFi Hearing Aids.
Close the battery doors on your hearing aids and wait for them to appear in the Devices list. When the hearing aid appears, tap its name and respond to the pairing request. You can then adjust settings specific to your hearing aids from the Hearing Devices page.
Use Mono Audio
If your hearing is weaker in one ear than the other, you might have trouble hearing sounds coming from either your left or right hearing aid. To compensate, you can mix all stereo sound to mono and have your iPad play back only mono sounds. From the Accessibility screen, go to the Hearing section and tap “on” the Mono Audio switch. You can then drag the slider to the left or right until you can best hear all sounds coming from your iPad.
Turn On Closed Captioning When Watching Videos
Many streaming video services and video player apps, such as Apple’s own Videos app, offer closed captioning for the hearing impaired. You can typically enable closed captioning within the individual app, or universally via your iPad’s general settings.
Go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then scroll to the Media section and tap Subtitles & Captioning.
Tap “on” the Closed Captions + SDH switch.
Tap Style to select a closed-captioned style.
Making the iPad Easier to Operate
If you have trouble performing the necessary touch gestures to operate your iPad, there are some options available to you. You can fine-tune how various gestures work, enable an assistive technology called AssistiveTouch, or just use the Siri personal assistant to operate your iPad via voice commands.
Adjust the Touchscreen Display
Sometimes I find my iPad’s touchscreen display to be a little too touchy. If you find yourself tapping or swiping things without meaning to, you can adjust the sensitivity of the display itself.
Go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then scroll to the Interaction section and tap Touch Accommodations.
Tap “on” the Touch Accommodations switch.
Adjust how long you must touch the screen before that touch is recognized by tapping on the Hold Duration switch and then setting a new time. (The default is 0.10 seconds.)
If your single touches sometimes register as double touches, tap on the Ignore Repeat switch and increase the time limit.
If you have trouble precisely tapping onscreen elements, enable Tap Assistance by tapping either Use Initial Touch Location or Use Final Touch Location. Tap Off to disable this feature.
Enable AssistiveTouch
Your iPad includes an accessibility feature dubbed AssistiveTouch that overlays a group of large icons onscreen for common functions. With AssistiveTouch enabled, just tap the AssistiveTouch icon and then tap an icon for Notification Center, Device, Control Center, Home, Siri, or Custom (any operation of your choice).
Go to the Settings screen, select the General tab, tap Accessibility, and then go to the Interaction section and tap AssistiveTouch.
Tap “on” the AssistiveTouch switch.
The AssistiveTouch icon now appears at the bottom-right corner of the iPad screen. Tap this icon to display the AssistiveTouch menu, and then tap the action you want to initiate. (Tap anywhere outside the AssistiveTouch menu to close the panel.)
Use Siri
If you have trouble managing the gestures you need to operate your iPad, use voice commands instead. You can activate many accessibility features by talking to your iPad via the Siri personal digital assistant. Just say “Siri, turn on VoiceOver,” for example, and that feature will be turned on. (Learn more in Chapter 7.