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What Happens When a Blind Person Test Drives VoiceOver Recognition?

• An article by Rhea Althea Guntalilib, describing her experience of using the new “VoiceOver Recognition” features of iOS 14. It is a collection of tools including “Screen Recognition” (which I’ll talk about below), “Text Recognition” (which detects text found in images) and “Image Descriptions” (which describes image contents). These features are accessible via Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver and can then be quick-selected via the VoiceOver rotor.
• I covered Screen Recognition in dai11y 22/12/2020: “It uses AI to detect interactable elements on the screen, even when such elements aren’t properly labelled / exposed to assistive technology. It has the potential to allow blind users to use apps that are otherwise inaccessible.”
• Rhea found the Image Descriptions improved her experience of the Facebook and Instagram apps, and also Text Recognition was great at describing her screenshots of captured text messages. Screen Recognition came in handy for her banking apps, which otherwise have no accessible way of transferring funds or paying bills. But she did find she had to turn off Screen Recognition in places, e.g. to properly access the list of available banks, as it would interfere with how VoiceOver worked. Other apps, such as email, had attachments that could not be processed by VoiceOver Recognition.
• In summary, whilst it has some glitches and limitations, it has “delivered many improvements in the user experience of a blind iOS customer”.

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