15+ NEW iOS 18 Features Confirmed!

Summary

Apple has unveiled a suite of innovative accessibility features for iOS 18, aimed at enhancing user experience for those with disabilities. Highlights include Vehicle Motion Cues to alleviate motion sickness, eye tracking for hands-free navigation, and Music Haptics for the deaf or hard of hearing. Other features like Vocal Shortcuts, Atypical Speech for improved speech recognition, and enhanced CarPlay accessibility show Apple's commitment to inclusivity. These updates, set to debut at WWDC, promise to make a significant impact on users' daily lives.

Takeaways

• 🚗 **Vehicle Motion Cues**: A new feature to reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles using existing sensors like the gyroscope.
• 👀 **Eye Tracking**: Utilizes AI and the front-facing camera to allow navigation through iOS and iPadOS with just your eyes, designed for users with physical disabilities.
• 🎶 **Music Haptics**: Provides haptic feedback to the beat of music, aimed at those who are deaf or hard of hearing, but potentially useful for all users.
• 🗣️ **Vocal Shortcuts**: Allows users to assign custom phrases for Siri to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks, enhancing usability for non-accessibility users as well.
• 🧠 **Atypical Speech**: Enhances speech recognition using machine learning for users with speech-affecting conditions like cerebral palsy, ALS, or stroke.
• 🚗 **CarPlay Accessibility**: Introduces voice control, sound recognition alerts, and color filters for the visually impaired, benefiting a wider range of users.
• 🔊 **VoiceOver Improvements**: Includes new voices, a flexible voice rotor, custom volume control, and the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts on a Mac.
• 🔍 **Magnifier App**: Offers a new reader mode and an action button for easy launch of detection mode, particularly useful for users with low vision.
• 📱 **Hover Typing**: A feature for iOS 18 that displays larger text when typing in a text field, in the user's preferred font and color, aiding users with low vision.
• 🔉 **Live Speech**: To include categories and simultaneous compatibility with live captions, enhancing the experience for users with hearing impairments.
• 📲 **Virtual Trackpad**: Allows control of the device using a small region of the screen as a resizable trackpad, convenient for users with physical disabilities.
• 🔄 **Switch Control Enhancements**: Uses iPhone and iPad cameras to recognize finger tap gestures as switches, providing alternative control methods for users.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the new iOS 18 features announced by Apple?

The main focus of the new iOS 18 features announced by Apple is on accessibility, aiming to improve the user experience for individuals with disabilities.

How does the vehicle motion cues feature in iOS 18 work to reduce motion sickness?

The vehicle motion cues feature uses animated dots on the screen that represent changes in vehicle motion, helping to reduce sensory conflict for passengers in moving vehicles without interfering with the main content.

What is the eye tracking feature in iOS 18, and how does it work?

The eye tracking feature in iOS 18 uses AI and the front-facing camera to allow users to navigate through iOS and iPadOS with just their eyes, including activating elements and accessing additional functions such as physical buttons, swipes, and gestures.

For whom is the music haptics feature in iOS 18 primarily designed?

The music haptics feature is primarily designed for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, providing haptic feedback to the beat of music.

How does the vocal shortcuts feature in iOS 18 help users with speech disabilities?

The vocal shortcuts feature allows users to assign custom phrases that Siri will understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks, which can be particularly beneficial for users with speech disabilities.

What is atypical speech and how does it enhance speech recognition on the iPhone?

Atypical speech is a feature that uses machine learning to recognize speech patterns of users with conditions affecting their speech, such as cerebral palsy or ALS, helping the iPhone to better understand and respond to their unique speech.

What are some of the new CarPlay features for accessibility in iOS 18?

New CarPlay features for accessibility in iOS 18 include voice control for navigation and app control, sound recognition for alerts for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and color filters to make the interface easier to use for those who are colorblind.

What is the new feature called 'hover typing' in iOS 18, and who is it designed for?

Hover typing is a new feature in iOS 18 designed for users with low vision, which displays larger text when typing in a text field, in a user's preferred font and color.

What is the 'virtual trackpad for Assistive Touch' feature in iOS 18, and how does it help users with physical disabilities?

The virtual trackpad for Assistive Touch is a feature that allows users with physical disabilities to control their device using a small region of the screen as a resizable trackpad, providing a more convenient way to interact with the device.

How does the personal voice feature in iOS 18 enhance the user experience?

The personal voice feature in iOS 18 is enhanced to allow users to create a personalized voice using shortened phrases, and it will also be available in Mandarin Chinese, providing a more personalized and accessible experience.

What is Vision OS, and what are some of the accessibility features it will introduce later this year?

Vision OS is a part of the iOS ecosystem that focuses on visual accessibility. Upcoming features include system-wide live captions, reduced transparency, smart invert, and dim flashing lights to improve the user experience for those with visual impairments.

Will these new accessibility features be available on older devices, and if so, which ones might be exclusive to newer models like the iPhone 16?

Most of the new accessibility features will likely be available on any device that can run iOS 18. However, more sophisticated features like eye tracking might be exclusive to newer models like the iPhone 16 due to the requirement of a more advanced neural engine.

Outlines

00:00

🚗 Vehicle Motion Cues and Innovative Accessibility Features

Apple has unveiled several new iOS 18 features focused on accessibility, timed with Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The first feature discussed is 'vehicle motion cues,' designed to alleviate motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles. This feature uses the iPhone and iPad's built-in sensors, like the gyroscope, to detect motion and display animated dots on the screen's edges, reducing sensory conflict. Users will be able to toggle this feature on and off via the control center and possibly within the Motion settings. Another highlighted feature is eye tracking, which employs AI to navigate iOS and iPadOS using only the eyes. This can activate elements and gestures within apps, and while it's designed for users with physical disabilities, others may also find it useful. The setup involves the front-facing camera and keeps all data on-device.

05:01

🎶 Music Haptics and Advanced Speech Recognition

Among the new features is 'music haptics,' which provides tactile feedback synchronized to the beat of music, intended for those who are deaf or hard of hearing but potentially appealing to a broader audience. The iPhone's taptic engine will produce vibrations that correspond to the audio, with Apple indicating compatibility across millions of songs and the availability of an API for developers. Additionally, 'vocal shortcuts' allow users to assign custom phrases for Siri to trigger shortcuts and perform tasks, which could benefit both accessibility and non-accessibility users. 'Atypical speech' aims to improve speech recognition for individuals with speech-affecting conditions through machine learning. Furthermore, iOS 18 will introduce carplay features like voice control, sound recognition for the hard of hearing, and color filters to assist colorblind users, as well as visual enhancements like bold and large text options.

Keywords

💡iOS 18

iOS 18 is the latest version of Apple's operating system for its mobile devices. It is the focus of the video as it introduces new features, particularly those related to accessibility. The script discusses various enhancements and how they cater to different user needs, emphasizing Apple's commitment to inclusivity.

💡Accessibility Features

Accessibility features are modifications or functionalities that make digital devices and software more usable for people with disabilities. In the video, these features are highlighted as a significant part of the new iOS 18 update, showcasing Apple's dedication to making their technology more inclusive and user-friendly for all.

💡Vehicle Motion Cues

Vehicle motion cues is a new feature in iOS 18 designed to help reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles. It uses animated dots on the screen that represent changes in vehicle motion, leveraging the iPhone and iPad's built-in sensors like the gyroscope to recognize motion and reduce sensory conflict.

💡Eye Tracking

Eye tracking is an innovative accessibility feature that uses AI to allow users to navigate through iOS and iPadOS with just their eyes. It is particularly beneficial for users with physical disabilities, offering a hands-free way to interact with the device. The feature is set up using the front-facing camera and promises to calibrate quickly while keeping all data on the device.

💡Music Haptics

Music haptics is a feature that provides tactile feedback to the beat of music, designed to assist users who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, it is also expected to be used by those without hearing impairments, as it could enhance the sensory experience of listening to music. The iPhone's taptic engine generates vibrations that sync with the audio, offering a novel way to experience music.

💡Vocal Shortcuts

Vocal shortcuts is a feature that allows users to assign custom phrases for Siri to recognize and use to launch shortcuts and perform complex tasks. This feature is set up by recording a phrase that the user wants to use, which Siri then learns to associate with a specific action, providing a personalized and efficient way to interact with the device.

💡Atypical Speech

Atypical speech refers to speech patterns that deviate from the norm, often due to conditions like cerebral palsy, ALS, or stroke. The iOS 18 update aims to enhance speech recognition on the iPhone using machine learning to better understand and accommodate atypical speech, thus improving the user experience for individuals with speech disabilities.

💡CarPlay

CarPlay is Apple's smart dashboard system that integrates an iPhone with a car's infotainment system. The video discusses new CarPlay features in iOS 18 aimed at improving accessibility, such as voice control for navigation and app control, sound recognition alerts for the deaf or hard of hearing, and color filters to assist colorblind users.

💡VoiceOver

VoiceOver is an existing accessibility feature in iOS that provides a screen reader function for visually impaired users. The update in iOS 18 includes new voices, a flexible voice rotor for custom volume control, and the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts on a Mac, enhancing the functionality and personalization of the feature.

💡Magnifier

The Magnifier application is a tool used to放大 (zoom in) on items for better visibility, often utilized by users with low vision. In iOS 18, it will offer a new reader mode for easier text reading and an action button for quickly launching the detection mode, making it more convenient for users to interact with their devices.

💡Assistive Touch

Assistive Touch is a feature that allows users with physical disabilities to perform gestures and interact with their devices without physical contact. The update in iOS 18 introduces a virtual trackpad for Assistive Touch, enabling users to control their device using a small, resizable area of the screen, offering greater convenience and precision.

Highlights

Apple announced several new iOS 18 features focused on accessibility.

Vehicle motion cues feature to help reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles using animated dots and built-in sensors.

Eye tracking feature using AI allows navigation throughout iOS with just your eyes, including within apps.

Music haptics provide taptic engine vibrations to the beat of music, beneficial for the deaf or hard of hearing.

Vocal shortcuts allow assigning custom phrases for Siri to launch shortcuts and complete tasks.

Atypical speech enhancement uses machine learning to improve speech recognition for those with speech affecting conditions.

CarPlay features include voice control, sound recognition alerts, and color filters for the colorblind.

VoiceOver in iOS 18 will include new voices, a flexible voice rotor, and customizable keyboard shortcuts on a Mac.

Magnifier app will offer a new reader mode and an action button for easy launch detection mode.

Hover typing in iOS 18 will display larger text in a user's preferred font and color for low vision users.

Live speech feature will include categories and compatibility with live captions.

Virtual trackpad for Assistive Touch allows control of the device using a small, resizable screen region.

Switch control enhancements include recognizing finger tap gestures as switches using iPhone and iPad cameras.

Braille screen input will offer faster control and text editing, multi-line support with dotpad, and Japanese availability.

Personal voice feature from iOS 17 will be enhanced in iOS 18 with the ability to create a voice using shortened phrases and Mandarin Chinese support.

Vision OS will introduce systemwide live captions, reduced transparency, smart invert, and dim flashing lights features.

Most iOS 18 features are expected to be available on any device capable of running iOS 18, with some exceptions.

Transcripts

Apple just announced several new iOS 18

features and some of these are extremely

impressive so in this video we're going

to cover everything Apple just announced

ahead of WWDC next month and keep in

mind these are all accessibility

features so this is something that Apple

has done for the past few years where

they show off new accessibility features

for Global accessibility awareness day

all right so the first feature they

showed off is one that I think a lot of

people are going to benefit from even if

they are not necessarily disabled or

rely on accessibility on a day-to-day

basis and that is vehicle motion cues so

this is a feature that might help reduce

motion sickness and the way this works

is Apple calls it a new experience for

iPhone and iPad users that can help

reduce motion sickness for passengers in

moving Vehicles so basically animated

dots on the edges of the screen

represent changes in vehicle motion to

help reduce sensory conflict without

interfering with the main content and

this uses pre existing sensors that are

built into the iPhone and the iPad so

thank the gyroscope and all the other

sensors they work together to recognize

when you're in a moving vehicle and it

will respond accordingly and what's cool

is that Apple says this can be set to

show automatically but it's also going

to have a toggle in control center where

you can turn it on and off from the

control center and I would imagine that

if there's any settings for that feature

they're going to be under accessibility

and then in Motion in this tab we'll

probably see a toggle here as well as in

the control Center and again I think

that's going to be a big one for a lot

of people now this next one might be

even crazier and that is ey tracking so

this uses AI to allow you to navigate

throughout iOS and iPad OS with just

your eyes and it's not just the home

screen either it's not just like opening

up applications it also works in

applications so you can use dwell

control to activate each element and you

can access additional functions such as

physical buttons swipes and other

gestures just with your eyes nothing

else that is amazing and this uses the

front-facing camera to set up eye

tracking in the first place probably

similar to The Vision Pro and it's going

to calibrate within seconds and all that

data is going to stay on device and keep

in mind this feature and all the other

accessibility features are designed for

users with physical disabilities it's

not meant for people who have no

physical disabilities now you can use it

but it's not necessarily meant for you

so it's not going to be super robust and

like incredible like the Vision Pro this

is just meant for those with physical

disabilities now this next one is also

really cool and it's something that I

can see non-accessibility users using

and that is music haptics so this gives

you haptics to the beat of music and

this is meant for if you're deaf or hard

of hearing but like I would imagine a

lot of people are probably going to use

this even if they are not deaf or hard

of hearing so the taptic engine in the

iPhone is going to play Taps textures

and refined vibrations to the audio of

the music and Apple has has already said

that this works across millions of songs

in the Apple music library and is also

going to be available as an API for

developers and you can see from Apple's

visual that they shared there is a new

icon to represent when this feature is

turned on so it's to the right of the

song and you can see it's like this

little music icon with these little

circles to indicate you know vibrations

or haptics so I would imagine that you

can probably tap that to turn it on or

off and this looks like it will also

work on the lock screen not just inside

of the music app so this next one is

interesting and I feel like I've seen

this somewhere before but it's vocal

shortcuts this allows you to assign

custom phrases that Siri will understand

in order to launch shortcuts and

complete complex tasks so here is what

the setup looks like so it says you'll

choose an action and record a phrase in

order to teach your iPhone to recognize

your voice and then after that you will

have to say it two additional times and

then from the home screen or wherever

you can say that phrase and and in this

instance it will open up activity Rings

because you said the keyword rings that

you just registered so that's something

pretty cool that again I feel like

non-accessibility users are even going

to benefit from now this next one is

atypical speech and this is going to

enhance the overall speech recognition

on the iPhone and it's going to use

machine learning to recognize speech

patterns so if you have conditions that

affect your speech such as cerebal py

ALS or stroke this is going to help you

know better understand you now your

phone is going to better understand the

way that you talk and the patterns of

which you talk in so that combined with

vocal shortcuts is going to be great for

those who have you know a speech

disability where sometimes Siri may not

recognize what you're saying now also

coming in iOS 18 are some carplay

features in terms of accessibility so

we're going to have voice control where

you can navigate carplay and control

apps with just your voice sound

recognition where drivers or passengers

who are deaf or hard of hearing can turn

on alerts to be notified of car horns

and side and then for those who are

colorblind carplay is going to add color

filters that's going to make the carplay

interface visually easier to use and

additional visual accessibility features

including bold text and large text and

those last couple again are going to be

features that maybe non accessibility

users want to use as well if you want to

make the text larger or if you want to

make the text Bolder you can do that and

also voice control I can see a lot of

non accessibility users using that as

well and then Apple also mentions a few

other iOS 18 access accessbility

features so we have voiceover this is

going to include new voices now so

voiceover is not new but we're going to

have new voices in iOS 18 it's also

going to have a flexible voice rotor

custom volume control and the ability to

customize voice over keyboard shortcuts

on a Mac voice control is soon going to

offer support for custom vocabularies

and complex words the magnifier

application which I actually use quite

often I'd say a couple times a month

that is going to offer a new reader mode

and the option to easily launch launch

detection mode with the action button so

if you have an iPhone 15 series or

presumably the iPhone 16 you're going to

be able to use this button right here

this action button to launch the

detection mode within magnifier and for

users with low vision hover typing is

going to come in iOS 18 that's going to

show larger text when typing in a text

field and in a user's preferred font and

color the live speech feature is going

to include categories and simultaneous

compatibility with live captions in iOS

18 and for those with physical

disabilities the virtual trackpad for

Assistive Touch is going to allow you to

control your device using a small region

of the screen as a resizable trackpad so

that will be very convenient and if we

go into accessibility and go to switch

control this is also going to get some

enhancements with iOS 18 so it looks

like this is going to include the option

to use the cameras in the iPhone and

iPad to recognize finger tap gestures as

switches so if you go into switch here

there's going to be a new way to you

know have a source here I would imagine

as fingert gestures Braille users are

going to get a new way to stay in the

Braille screen input for faster control

and text editing there's also going to

be added support for multi-line Braille

with dotpad and also the option to

choose different input and output tables

along with the addition of Japanese

availability for Braille and one of the

big new accessibility features in iOS 17

which is personal voice is going to get

enhanced with iOS 18 so you'll soon be

able to create a personal Voice using

shortened phrases and it's also going to

be available in Mandarin Chinese and

then Apple also mentions Vision OS

accessibility features that are coming

later this year so they mention

systemwide live captions which is going

to be really nice for the Vision Pro

reduced transparency smart invert and

dim flashing lights now I've had a lot

of questions I posted this big thread

over on X and it got a lot of attention

but also a lot of questions a lot of

people have been asking you know will

these features be available on older

devices and I would say that most of

these most likely will I would say that

most of these are going to be available

on you know any device that can run iOS

18 now sure there are going to be some

features especially the more

sophisticated features they're going to

be you know exclusive for maybe the

iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 exclusively but I

would imagine that most of these that I

mentioned will be available for all

devices that can run iOS and iPad OS 18

and the specific feature that I'm

worried about being an iPhone 16

exclusive is the eye tracking feature

because Apple said that it uses AI they

specifically mention artificial

intelligence so that has me wondering if

it's going to rely on and and it's going

to require a new and improved neural

engine that's maybe only in the iPhone

16 Series so we'll see you know it might

be for iPhone 15 and 16 or it might be

available to everybody on iOS 18 it's

hard to tell at this point Apple did not

specify that but I would imagine again

most of these will be available for all

devices so what do you think about these

iOS 18 accessibility features are they

something that you're going to use do

you have maybe a family member or friend

who relies on accessibility what do you

think overall of these upcoming features

and again keep in mind the main non

accessibility features are going to be

shown off at WWDC in June where Apple

unveils iOS 18 so if you're not

subscribed already make sure you are

subscribed so you don't miss out on all

of my upcoming videos on iOS 18 and I'll

see you guys in the next one