iOS 26 - tips and new features for blind and low vision users

When will iOS 26 be released?

iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS and MacOS version 26 will all be released in September 2025, launching Apple's new unified version numbering system for all of its operating systems. The information below is based on test versions of iOS and iPadOS 26 and will be updated as necessary when the final versions and their documentation are released. The features and settings mentioned below are for iOS and iPadOS 26 and won't be available until you install the new version. You may prefer to avoid installing iOS and iPadOS 26.0 when it first appears because there are often bugs that haven't emerged during testing and also some apps, including perhaps banking apps, may not operate correcty. It's always safest to wait for the next major version, which will be 26.1 and should appear a month or so after 26.0. By all means install 26.0 if you're prepared to take the risk.

Tips for everyone

• the Phone app has a new optional interface which unifies items relating to calls on one screen. In the new unified view the tabs at the bottom of screen are calls, contacts, keypad and search. Missed calls and Voicemail are accessed through the new filter button at top right of the screen. If you find this helpful, that's great but if you don't it's easy to revert to the previous iOS 18 interface. Use the filter button at top right of the screen and select Classic. Oh, and there's also a Phone app for the iPad which can be used when your iPhone is nearby.

• TheMessages app has new filtering options to Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam. I think that Screen Unknown Senders will be turned on only if you had Filter Unknown Senders turned on in iOS 18. I think that the Spam Filter will be turned on by default. This hides all notifications for spam and directs it to a separate list. The new Screen Unknown Senders feature hides all notifications for messages received from unknown senders and filters the messages into a separate list. Unknown senders seems to mean senders not in your contacts and this includes messages from your doctor, pharmacy, hospital, parcel delivery service and One Time Passwords. There is a switch that lets you enable notifications for Screened messages which will deliver a notification and leave the messages in the message list for 1 hour. It's easy to view your screened messages and spam using the new filter button at top right of the screen but some may prefer to ensure that Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam are turned off to be sure not to miss important messages.

• Many Apple apps, including Mail, Messages and Settings have the search field moved to a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. There are other minor changes to the way Apple apps look.

• There's a very significant and welcome change in iPadOS. In iPadOS 18 it is possible to have two apps on screen simultaneously using the little three dot multi-tasking icon that appears at the top centre of the screen when an app is open. This offers limited multi-tasking and also confused folks who tapped the button unintentionally. iPadOS 26 offers three multi-tasking choices. Your iPad can be set to display one app full screen, just like an iPhone. Alternatively you can opt for Windowed Apps which lets you open multiple apps and move and resize their windows. The third option is Stage Manager which lets you arrange multi-tasking apps into groups you can switch between for an even more flexible and focused experience. 

Tips for low vision users

• the new Liquid Glass look for the iPhone and iPad screen introduces increased animation and transparency effects. If this makes it harder for you to use your phone oor tablet go to Settings / Accessibility / Display & Text Size and turn on Reduce Transparency. Also turn on Reduce Motion at Settings / Accessibility / Motion. My vision doesn't let me check this reliably but I think it will work.

• the new Accessibility Reader is available in addition to the previous Speak Screen feature. The Accessibility Reader offers a highly customisable way to view any text in a full screen view. There are also buttons to speak the text continuously and to move around the text. Accessibility Reader is turned on at Settings / Accessibility / Read & Speak. The accessibility Reader can be added to the Accessibility Shortcut or set as a Back Tap action to use whenever you want to read text in any app.

Tips for VoiceOver users

• It's easy when you aren't concentrating to perform a magic tap, a two finger double tap, in the wrong place and immediately for your iPhone to start playing your last music, video or podcast. If, like me, this happens a little too frequently for you then you can now turn off the feature that legs magic tap resume media when no other action is available. The switch is at Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver / Commands / Magic Tap.

• It is possible to reset VoiceOver settings which could be useful if strange things are happening and you can't spot an obvious culprit. It's in Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver.

• VoiceOver supports additional Indian voices. See Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver / What's New in VoiceOver?

• There's a new rotor position called Copied Speech. If you use the three finger quadruple tap gesture to copy the last VoiceOver speech to the clipboard, it's now possible to save multiple items to a special clipboard this way and then to access them individually using the Copied Speech rotor position. Swipe up or down to cycle between the various items of copied speech and to paste the current item, just double tap. The copied items remain on their special clipboard even after the phone or tablet has been locked but will disappear after power is turned off.

• There are many additions to VoiceOver's Braille support. A summary will be found at Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver / What's New in VoiceOver?

What won't be in iOS and iPadOS 26.0

The long awaited full modern AI version of Siri won't be released in September 2025 and it's likely we'll have to wait until at least spring 2026 before this appears. The current version of Siri is much the same as the version we've had for years but with the addition of a link to ChatGPT. If the upgrade lives up to its initial promise it will provide a much smarter Siri and should make it possible to do much more within apps on our phones and tablets with Siri commands. Remember though that this will only be available on devices which support Apple Intelligence, that is iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max or later and any iPad with an M1 processor or later.

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