These Are the New Apple Accessibility Features That You Need to Know About

We give you a quick rundown of all the must-know new accessibility features that Apple will be rolling out later this year.

Every third Thursday of May marks Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Celebrated on 15 May this year, the worldwide event aims to highlight the importance of digital accessibility and inclusion for the more than one billion people around the globe that live with a disability or impairment. As a leader in the tech world, Apple has long been a champion of ensuring accessibility for all with its products and features. Assistive Touch, Large Text, as well as Magnifier on iPhone and iPad are just a few of the pioneer accessibility tools that have changed the way its users with disabilities can utilise their devices. 

In conjunction with this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Apple announced a brand new lineup of groundbreaking accessibility features that will be gradually rolled out this year that leverage the power of Apple silicon to provide users living with a disability or impairments with a refreshed experience across the Apple ecosystem. Here are a few standout features and a peek at how Apple is taking part in Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025. 

1. ACCESSIBILITY NUTRITION LABELS

Say hello to Accessibility Nutrition Labels. This digestible (pun intended) and detailed feature allows users to get a glimpse at all the accessibility features within apps and games before downloading them. Not only that, it also gives developers insights into what an app needs to be accessible to its audiences. Supported features that users can see on the labels include VoiceOver, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, Captions, and more. 

2. MAGNIFIER FOR MAC

While users have been able to access this feature on their iPhones and iPads since 2016, the Magnifier is now arriving on Mac for even wider usage across the Apple ecosystem. The app connects to a camera (including Continuity Camera on iPhone), which will then act as a zoom lens for the user’s surroundings. Especially useful for students or those who view their work on a projector screen or whiteboard, the Magnifier works to make sure everything is visible to the user even when at a distance. 

To further customise a user’s experience, characteristics such as brightness, colour filters, perspective, and contrast can be adjusted. Furthermore, views can be captured and saved to be looked at later on. Finally, Magnifier for Mac also works in tandem with Accessibility Reader—another new feature—that converts text from the physical world into a custom legible font. 

3. ACCESSIBILITY READER

Available systemwide, Accessibility Reader makes text from the physical world much easier to read. For users that have dyslexia or a form of vision impairment, this feature gives users a simpler and more legible way to consume text. It allows for text customisations such as font, colour, and spacing—all of which help the user focus on what they want to read. 

4. BRAILLE ACCESS

Users who depend on braille can now use their iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro as a full-featured brailled note taker. The built-in app launcher allows users to open any app by entering the common with Braille Screen Input or any other connected braille device. From taking notes in braille format and performing calculations with Nemeth Braille to opening Braille Ready Format files and live transcriptions of conversations onto braille displays, Braille Access opens up a world of possibilities for users with vision impairments. 

5. LIVE CAPTIONS ON APPLE WATCH

Live Listen, the feature which transforms your iPhone into a remote microphone that streams content directly to AirPods or another listening devices, has arrived on Apple Watch. Its brings with it a new set of features, including Live Captions, which displays what iPhone hears on a paired Apple Watch in real time. Apple Watch can also act as a control to start or stop Live Listen sessions. This feature works perfectly alongside the new hearing health features on AirPods Pro 2, including its ability to function as a clinical-grade hearing aid.

6. HOLD THAT THOUGHT

Though it isn’t a full-fledged feature, this new addition is definitely an underdog within the lineup of new features announced yesterday. The Shortcuts app has introduced Hold That Thought, a shortcut made for neurodivergent individuals, who experience frequent interruptions or get distracted easily. There are two functions within the shortcut: Capture and Recall. 

When the former is selected, the shortcut snaps a screenshot of what you’re doing, any calendar events in the next hour, the tab you’re on in Safari, and Clipboard contents. Users then can add short notes to the capture about what they were in the middle of as well as what they are about to do—these are then saved with the title “Hold that thought” alongside the date and time. The latter function then helps to find the last created note, including all the captured information, for when you need to get back on track. This Shortcut can be added to the Control Center, assigned to the Action button, pinned to your Home Screen, or accessed via Siri. 

7. NAME RECOGNITION

Also made for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Name Recognition arrives as the latest tool on Sound Recognition. When turned on, users can be alerted when their names are called via a notification on their iPhone.

8. HEAD TRACKING

Head Tracking arrives as an extension to the already existing Eye Tracking feature. It allows users to control their iPhone or iPad with head movements. 

ADDITIONAL UPDATES

This announcement was jam-packed with accessibility features that will make the Apple ecosystem a more inclusive space. Other than those stated above, other standout features include: Personal Voice, Large Text on CarPlay, Share Accessibility Settings, enhanced viewing experiences on visionOS for Apple Vision Pro, Vehicle Motion Cues on Mac, and Music Haptics. 

CELEBRATING GLOBAL ACCESSIBILITY AWARENESS DAY WITH APPLE

Aside from the announcement of new accessibility features, Apple is also celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day with a number of initiatives on its various platforms. Apple Music highlights artist Kiddo K, an artist who lives with hearing loss, in a short film that shows how he harnesses the power of music haptics. It has also launched a new playlist featuring ASL interpretations of music videos as well as new updates to its Haptics playlists. 

Apple Fitness+ sees the addition of Chelsie Hill, an LA-based wheelchair dancer and founder of Rolettes, as a guest in Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen’s Dance workout. Meanwhile, Apple TV+ has released exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the new Apple Original Deaf President Now!, which will premiere on 16 May. The film is centered around four students at Gallaudet University—AKA the world’s only university for deaf and hard of hearing individuals—in 1988 as they find a way to change the course of their history. Directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, the film features both a cast and crew that includes deaf and hard of hearing individuals. 

Find out more about Apple’s commitment to accessibility here. 

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