HOW TO USE APPLE WATCH VISION ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES?

Alicia M. Pickett
4 min readMay 5, 2021

Apple Watch offers tons of features to its users like health and hygiene tracking and fitness tools. One such feature is Vision accessibility. It is specially made for low vision or visually impaired persons. You need to take the help of VoiceOver to get it activated on your smart gadget.

Here is how to use Vision Accessibility Feature on your Apple Watch:

Using VoiceOver with Apple Watch for Vision Accessibility Features

VoiceOver is a gesture-based mechanism provided by Apple. It helps the users to let the device read them the entire screen. You can activate the VoiceOver accessibility feature on your smartwatch using the in-built Apple Watch speaker. VoiceOver works in more than thirty-five languages.

If you want to enable VoiceOver on your Apple Watch, then you need to follow the under-mentioned instructions:

Enabling VoiceOver on Apple Watch

  • At the start, hit the Watch app from your iPhone home screen.
  • Then, press the Accessibility option there.
  • Go towards the right-hand side of your VoiceOver and hit the ON/Off button.
  • Now, toggle VoiceOver towards the ON mode.
  • Once you hit the screen of your wearable device, you will be able to hear the sound about what is happening on the device’s screen. Now, double-click the screen to act more. For instance: If you tap the Exercise app, Siri will say “Workout.” Once you apply the double-tap on the same, you will get several options regarding the same app.

Using Braille Display on Apple Watch

Once you have enabled the VoiceOver feature on your gadget, you can easily use Braille using Bluetooth enabled display to read and navigate the page. To use the Braille display on your Watch, you need watchOS 7.2 or later. Make sure that your device is running with the same using updated features.

In order to enable the VoiceOver, follow these steps:

  • Get started, tap the Watch app on your iOS smartphone.
  • Then, select the Accessibility option there.
  • After that, choose the VoiceOver option. This option will be situated at the upper edge of your page.
  • Press the More Info tab there.
  • Select the option Braille Commands there and then pursue the specific commands for your display.

How to Utilize Taptic Chimes on Apple Watch?

Taptic Chime will let you know the exact time from your device using the sound feature. It will give you the time alert every fifteen & thirty minutes or an hour. In order to set the same on your wearable device, follow these steps:

  • First of all, hit the Watch app on your iPhone.
  • Then, select the Accessibility option there.
  • After that, choose the Chimes tab.
  • Toggle Chimes option there on your device.
  • Hit the Schedule tab and then choose the time option from the available list. You can select among Hourly, 15, or 30 minutes.
  • Next, select the birds and bells for the sound you want to hear.

Using Font Adjustment on Apple Watch

You can easily activate Larger Dynamic Type to enlarge your text size on your Apple Watch over apps like Mail, Message, and Settings. You will also get the ability to bold your text across all your in-built apps.

If you want to change the font size on your device, then follow these steps:

  • Hit the Watch app right on your iPhone.
  • Then, press the My Watch tab there and then choose the Brightness and Display option.
  • You have to use the slide bar to customize or adjust your text size.
  • Toggle on the Bold Text there.
  • Once the Bold Text is turned ON, then select the Continue option from the pop-up.

Using Zoom on Apple Watch

Apple Watch offers a built-in magnifier using the Zoom feature. You can use it on any portion of your screen. If you want to move across the screen, then you can use the Digital Crown option. It will help you move across the screen by rows and use two different fingers to move around the screen.

If you want to turn the Zoom feature to ON, then follow these steps:

  • Hit the Watch app on your iPhone.
  • After that, select the Accessibility option there.
  • Toggle Zoom feature to ON.
  • Once you enter the Zoom page, you can easily adjust the maximum zoom level up to 5 times.

Turning ON Grayscale on Your Apple Watch

Once you activate Grayscale, the filter will be available on your device. You can easily manage using your Voice commands.

In order to enable Grayscale on your device, then follow these steps:

  • First, open the Watch app on your iPhone.
  • Then, select the option Accessibility.
  • After that, toggle Grayscale to the ON position.

Reducing Motion and Transparency on Your Apple Watch

You can reduce motion and transparency on your wearable device.

In order to toggle ON/OFF the motion and transparency feature, then follow these steps:

  • At the start, hit the Watch app on your iPhone to get it launched.
  • Then, select the Accessibility option there.
  • Toggle ON the Reduce Transparency option.
  • Choose the Reduce Motion option and toggle it ON.

Toggling Settings Labels on Apple Watch

In order to check whether the setting is enabled or not, you can use the additional label feature provided by Apple for this task. It appears like a vertical line.

In order to turn the setting to Off or On, then follow these steps:

  • Press the Watch app on your device.
  • Now, hit the Accessibility option there.
  • Toggle ON/Off Labels.

Apple has provided several features in its updates. There are many of them especially dedicated to blind and low-vision users. One of them is the Apple Watch vision accessibility feature. It provides a very easy user interface using voice commands. Users need to activate the feature using the VoiceOver accessibility tool. With this vision accessibility feature, you can easily use the Braille display on Apple Watch.

Source: https://bitdetendercentral.com/blog/how-to-use-apple-watch-vision-accessibility-features/

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