Tag: VoiceOver

Weekend good reads is here with another pack of interesting articles to go over this weekend.

• Natalia Panferova covers SwiftUI hierarchical colors support for backgrounds in iOS 17 – Hierarchical background styles in SwiftUI;
  
  
• Structural type system in Swift is explored by Alex Ozun – Greater type safety with Structural Typing in Swift;
  
  
• Custom Traits and SwiftUI by Keith Harrison is about updates to traits system in iOS 17 and its use in SwiftUI and UIKit;
  
  
• David Smith shares nice approach to make smooth animations for analog clocks – Calculating a Smooth Clock Hands Animation;
  
  
• Visual effects in SwiftUI by Majid Jabrayilov is all about applying transformations to views in SwiftUI;
  
  
• Pasquale Vittorosi provides hints on how to better support VoiceOver in your app – Preparing your App for VoiceOver: customizing the Sort Priority;
  
  
• Domenico De Luca continues topic of accessibility focusing on visual elements – Ensure Visual Accessibility: Glyphs, Icons and Shapes;
  
  
• Adding custom gestures to an AR application with SwiftUI by Matteo Altobello covers augmented reality gestures in SwiftUI.

And that is it for this week. See you next time!

It's almost halloween here, but our regular list of great reads is not spooky at all!

• Quentin Zervaas goes through Focus Filters API to allow all to respond to user's current needs – Showing Relevant Data Using Focus Filters;
  
  
• Introduction to bash scripting for iOS developers by Natascha Fadeeva will make you better shell users;
  
  
• Natalia Panferova navigates through logging changes in Xcode 15 – Filtering logs in Xcode 15;
  
  
• Improving app settings management is covered in User Defaults reading and writing in Swift by Antoine van der Lee;
  
  
• Generating Random Numbers Elegantly in Swift by Jordan Morgan explores random generators in Swift;
  
  
• Pasquale Vittorosi goes through VoiceOver and other accessibility traits in Preparing your App for VoiceOver: use Accessibility Label;
  
  
• Domenico De Luca continues accessibility topic with Ensure Visual Accessibility: supporting the Large Content Viewer;
  
  
• Swift metatypes are not that hard to understand – Leonardo Maia Pugliese covers those in Swift Metatypes: What They Are and Why You Should Care;
  
  
• Holidays are coming soon, learn how to handle special pricing – How to run a holiday sale in App Store Connect for iOS subscription apps by Charlie Chapman;
  
  
• David Smith explains his design decisions in Design Evolution: Offline Map Downloader, and also great new series on visionOS – Introducing visionOS Fridays;
  
  
• Using the ARKit coaching view in a SwiftUI AR application by Matteo Altobello helps navigating users through AR apps.

Wrapping up for this weekend and see you next time in November!

Apple releases iOS/iPadOS 16.4, macOS Ventura 13.3, watchOS 9.4 and tvOS 16.4. HomePod software is also updated to 16.4. Apple also released Studio Display firmware update.

Xcode 14.3 receives RC 2.

Apple also releases iOS/iPadOS 15.7.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.4 and macOS Big Sur 11.7.5 with security fixes.

iOS

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
• Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
• Voice Isolation for cellular calls prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you
• Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
• VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
• Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
• Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
• Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home
• Crash Detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models

iPadOS

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
• Apple Pencil hover adds tilt and azimuth support so you can preview your mark at any angle before you make it in Notes and supported apps on iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation)
• Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
• Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
• VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
• Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
• Fixes an issue with Apple Pencil responsiveness that may occur while drawing or writing in the Notes app
• Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
• Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home

macOS

This update includes new emoji along with other enhancements, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.

• 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
• Remove background option in Freeform automatically isolates the subject in your image
• Photos duplicates album expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
• Transliteration support for Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu keyboards
• New keyboard layouts for Choctaw, Chickasaw, Akan, Hausa, and Yoruba
• Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
• VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
• Resolves an issue where Trackpad gestures may occasionally stop responding
• Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
• Addresses an issue where VoiceOver may be unresponsive after using Finder

watchOS

watchOS 9.4 includes improvements to Apple Watch and brings features to new regions. 

• Wake-up alarms are no longer silenced with cover to mute gesture to avoid accidental cancellations during sleep
• Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates and cycle deviation alerts now supported in Moldova and Ukraine
• AFib History now available in Colombia, Malaysia, Moldova, Thailand, and Ukraine

Beta download: Applications

References:

• Apple Releases iOS and iPadOS 16.4 with New Emoji, Notifications for Web Apps on the Home Screen, Voice Isolation for Cellular Calls, New Shortcuts Actions, and More
• WebKit Features in Safari 16.4
• Apple Releases Studio Display Firmware Update
• iOS 16.4 Expands iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite to Six More Countries
• Apple releases tvOS 16.4 with new ‘Dim Flashing Lights’ feature
• iOS 16.4 is now available, with a lot of user-facing updates
• iOS 16.4 Includes New Apple Podcasts App Features Across iPhone and CarPlay
• iOS 16.4 Adds Order Tracking Widget, Lets You Share Order Information
• Apple releases Studio Display firmware update with new ‘Pro Display’ feature
• PSA: Make Sure to Update Older Devices to iOS 15.7.4 to Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerability
• iOS 15.7.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5 all get security updates
• Apple releases security notes for iOS 16.4, watchOS 9.4, macOS Ventura 13.3
• iOS 16.4 Adds Support for PlayStation 5 DualSense Edge Wireless Controller
• iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4
• iOS 16.4 and macOS 13.3 Gain Multiple New Shortcut Action Options

AppleVis published their annual Apple Vision Accessibility report.

Overall, platforms perform well on the report, however, macOS noticeably gets lower scores for VoiceOver and other accessibility features.

AppleVis: Apple Vision Accessibility: the AppleVis Report Card

Reference: 2022 Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card

Some places will have longer weekend this time, so let's pack it with great reads!

• Leonardo Maia Pugliese publishes two articles – How to update or refresh Widget and Siri Intent programmatically in Swift for WatchOS? and comprehensive guide on architectural pattern – Memento Pattern with SwiftUI;
  
  
• Building widgets for iOS applications with WidgetKit and SwiftUI by Natascha Fadeeva covers widget development which would help your app make it to Lock Screen on iOS 16;
  
  
• Lock screen widgets in SwiftUI by Majid Jabrayilov continues Lock Screen widgets topic with more details;
  
  
• Great article by Antoine van der Lee on SwiftUI accessibility integrations – VoiceOver navigation improvement tips for SwiftUI apps;
  
  
• And if you're quite new to SwiftUI – SwiftUI View Modifiers Tutorial for iOS by Danijela Vrzan explores view modifiers;
  
  
• SwiftUI AnyLayout - smooth transitions between layout types by Sarun W. provides great overview of new addition to SwiftUI layout;
  
  
• Jordan Morgan touches important aspect of SwiftUI – testability – in Testing SwiftUI Bindings in Xcode Previews;
  
  
• And another great article by Leonardo Maia Pugliese – New MapKit Configurations with SwiftUI with MapKit integration improvements in upcoming releases.

That is all for this weekend! Enjoy the extra day, if applicable :)

One beta closer to release of iOS 16 and new weekend brings us new articles to read.

• Peter Tretyakov continues his series on Metal with Shaders Explained: Gradients – really great deep dive;
  
  
• Using UIPasteControl in a UIMenu in iOS 16 by Will Bishop reminds on improvements with pasteboard access in iOS 16;
  
  
• Great tip on debugging main thread stalls by Jesse Squires – Implementing a main thread watchdog on iOS;
  
  
• Sarun W. shares two great articles on SwiftUI layout details – What is the fixedSize modifier in SwiftUI and Responsive layout in SwiftUI with ViewThatFit;
  
  
• Majid Jabrayilov writes another great article on SwiftUI views, this time it is Grid – Mastering grid layout in SwiftUI;
  
  
• How To Create Custom UICollectionViewListCell Using SwiftUI by Lee Kah Seng navigates on use of both UIKit and SwiftUI efficiently;
  
  
• Great cheat sheet on accessibility – Cheat sheet on VoiceOver gestures for iOS by Natascha Fadeeva;
  
  
• Shared with You implementation and testing explained by Antoine van der Lee goes into details of new iOS 16 feature that helps to share app content between users;
  
  
• Point-Free Pointers share new article on adding structured concurrency to Composable Architecture – Async Composable Architecture;
  
  
• Recreating C++ atoi Function in Swift by Leonardo Maia Pugliese shows interesting exercise on using Swift.

Come back next weekend for more interesting topics!

It's Friday, it's time for new pack of articles to go over the weekend.

• Great guide Using SpriteKit in a SwiftUI Project by Tiago Gomes Pereira merges two frameworks together;
  
  
• Expand your APIs capabilities with Opaque Types in Swift by Leonardo Maia Pugliese covers Swift opaque types usage;
  
  
• Date parsing is hard and important, simplify it with article by Sarun W. – How to parse ISO 8601 date in Swift;
  
  
• John Sundell covers usage of protocols in Swift – Combining protocols in Swift;
  
  
• Debugging SwiftUI views: what caused that change? by Antoine van der Lee covers debugging practices for SwiftUI;
  
  
• VoiceOver For Frequently Updating Data by Keith Harrison dives into accessibility aspects of frequently updating data;
  
  
• SwiftUI Search: Getting Started by Mina H. Gerges covers search capabilities of SwiftUI views;
  
  
• Let's recap "old" concurrency approaches with two-parter by David Piper – Grand Central Dispatch Tutorial for Swift 5 and part 2;
  
  
• Danijela Vrzan covers popupar Clean architecture implementation in Getting Started with the VIP Clean Architecture Pattern.

And that is it for today. Have a nice weekend!

Security researcher Jose Rodriguez discloses steps to access contents of Notes on iOS 15 bypassing Lock Screen. Process requires use of Siri, VoiceOver and Control Center.

Being unsatisfied with Apple's Bug Bounty program he decided to publicly disclose the vulnerability instead of reporting it through the program.