Technology must be put at the service of people, and for this reason, making technology accessible to those who need it is a maxim that Apple has always maintained throughout its history. With the arrival of iOS 17, that commitment has remained constant, and that’s how Assisted Access and Personal Voice came to us, two accessibility tools that will make your life easier.
Throughout this article, we’ll show you how to set up the use of Personal Voice and Assisted Access, so you can get the most out of your iPhone. Discover with us these new accessibility features.
It should be noted, as we have already said, that these two functions are reserved for users of iOS 17, so we invite you to install the beta if you want to take advantage of them.
Assisted access
What is Assisted Access?
This is the main novelty that comes with iOS17 in terms of accessibility, a new user interface that will allow elderly people and users with different abilities to access all the functions of their device without problems or complications.
Notably it will be up to developers to adapt their applications to iOS 17 assisted access, Since at the moment only the following are available:
- Music
- Telephone (FaceTime)
- Pictures
- Camera
- posts
None of the third-party developer apps we tested throughout the iOS 17 Beta process adapted their user interface.
In summary, Assisted Access simplifies the user interface and functionality of iOS by displaying much larger icons, and focus on what really matters to make essential use of the mobile device.
How do I configure Assisted Access?
To configure assisted access, simply go to: Settings > Accessibility > Assisted Access. Once inside, it will allow you to carry out the configuration, which is very simple. You’ll first need to link your Apple ID, you’ll create a security code to turn Assisted Access on and off, and you’ll complete setup in less than a minute.
Maybe the most relevant aspect is the selection of the user interface, since you will be able to choose whether you want the applications to be displayed as a list or as a button. Personally, I think the button format, somewhat similar to Apple’s Home, is the most successful.
Next, we’ll select the apps we want to include in our Assisted Access UI. Once you’ve done all the setup, it’ll ask you if you want to enable Assisted Access, or if you’d rather leave it for later.
If you want to exit Assisted Access setup, You just need to press the side button three times and enter the code you have established in the configuration, to then return to the usual user interface of iOS 17.
Is assisted access worth it?
Without a doubt, This seems to me an ideal feature for older users, who often have trouble seeing the small buttons, options and paths of iOS in any of its versions. In fact, if you’ve ever seen a cell phone for seniors, you’ll see that the UI design is very similar to what Apple is now offering with iOS 17, so honestly what surprises me is that the Cupertino company would not have decided to launch such a feature before.
However, Assisted Access is also a good option for people with acute presbyopia or some type of visual condition that prevents them from enjoying iOS normally.
personal voice
What is the personal voice?
This new feature introduced by Apple during WWDC17, is an accessibility integration available in iOS 17 that enables you via artificial intelligence (or Machine Learning as Apple prefers to call it), create a simulated voice with the same pitch as the person who previously configured it.
This will allow you to embed this accessibility setting into the function real-time voice, an iOS 17 tool that lets you read any text you type on your iPhone. This will inevitably remind us of the scientist Stephen Hawking, who, due to a terminal illness that limited his speech, used a tool that made him an artificial voice.
How to configure Personal Voice?
To configure Personal Voice you will have time and desire, and we are already anticipating it, It will take you about 20 minutes to make all the necessary settings. First, go to Settings > Accessibility > Personal Voice > Create Personal Voice. Here your journey will begin, and it is that you will have to record about 150 phrases, which will take you about 15 minutes. These 150 phrases will be dictated to you on the iPhone, and you have to press a record button and proceed with the phrase.
Once this task is completed, You will have to “upload to the cloud” the recording made, so that Apple’s servers interpret and adjust the necessary parameters. For this, the iPhone must be in charge and with the screen locked, so it is possible that until the night you will not be able to load your Personal Voice correctly.
If you have already completed all the configuration, you need to go to Settings > Accessibility > Real-Time Voice. This is where you will be able to choose the voice and intonation you want to reproduce when doing a real-time voice broadcast. To do this, you just have to choose the voice you have configured.
How to use Personal Voice via Real Time Voice?
Very simple, you just have to activate the Real-Time Voice as we have indicated in the previous lines. NOW, press the side button three times to call up the Real Time Voice menu. Immediately afterwards, when we enter the text that we want to reproduce, we will be able to see how it is done with our voice according to the previously adjusted parameters.
It should be noted that at present, Personal Voice only works in English. Therefore, while the new settings are released in Spanish, they can only be used if we change the iPhone language to English, for which you need to go to Settings > General > Language and Region, and select English as the first language.
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