Why the iPad is the Best Tablet for the Blind
The Apple iPad. There really has not been anything like it since its introduction in 2010. When it was first announced, I was genuinely excited about it. I was excited to the extent that I went to Best Buy and waited for the store to open to get one of the very first ones sold in my town. The idea of a highly portable device that could run apps and play all sorts of media while fitting comfortably in my hands while sitting on the couch was just irresistible to me. I loved that iPad. I still own that iPad. It sits in a drawer, unused for years but I just can’t bring myself to get rid of it because it was one of the rare times where the hype was matched by the product.
One of the reasons why I loved that iPad and many since is that as a visually impaired user, the iPad just worked for me. Very early on, Apple’s built-in accessibility features like Magnifier and VoiceOver, and was built in at the operating system level, not just tacked on top where it wouldn’t run as well. Apple has also continued to develop and better integrate these features into new versions of the software.
I currently own a 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro and an 8th generation of the basic 10.2 inch iPad. I use the smaller one for reading comics since I can zoom way in on that lovely screen, along with reading some magazines, articles from my Pocket saves, and Kindle eBooks. The larger iPad Pro is my daily device for entertainment, mostly watching videos on YouTube or Netflix, creating blog posts, and doing research. I use an Apple Pencil with both devices for taking notes at church, or at work to track what I am doing.
Accessibility has always seemed like a priority to Apple, and as a result, these devices do accessibility better than any other manufacturer in my experience. I have tried them all. Whether it was Android tablets and phones or even Microsoft Windows systems, running either native or 3rd party software for narration, dictation, and magnification, Apple devices just do it better.
Lest you think I am some kind of Apple fanboy that only uses Apple devices, know that my current phone is a OnePlus 7 Pro which runs Android and my PCs are mostly Windows machines with both a Chromebook and an iMac in regular use as well. I have only owned an iPhone once and that was for about a year before switching back to Android. I have explored accessibility features deeply with each. In the past, I have also owned numerous other tablets including Samsung Galaxy devices and Amazon Fire tablets. I have tried them all. I very much appreciate that these accessibility features exist across the board now, regardless of manufacturer or software, but in my opinion, Apple has implemented them the best.
How Do I Use Accessibility Features
With how my sight is, the magnification feature, or Zoom as it is referred to on Apple devices, is the feature that I use the most. It is a simple double-tap with three fingers and the full-screen zoom is engaged. It is very easy to scroll around or to increase/decrease the amount of zoom. My favorite part of the way Apple has done magnification from day one is how smoothly it zooms in and out based on your finger gestures. This is not how it has always worked on other devices. In fact, in the current iteration of Windows 10, the magnification function stutters in and stutters out. The smallest increment is to zoom in/out at 5% increments rather than just a smooth in and out. It is jarring and frankly, makes me not want to use it.
Occasionally, I want my iPad to audibly read an article or some other text to me. I only have to swipe down with two fingers and VoiceOver begins to read to me. The narration is not perfect and does still sound like a robot reading to you, but it is far superior sounding to the other options.
These two features are the main ones that I use regularly, and I use them so much that they have become second nature to me.
Conclusion
Google’s Android has been playing catch up from the beginning and its implementation has been getting better and better. The gestures are slightly different but largely work the same way now as Apple’s. However, I really dislike how , they place an orange box around the edges of the zoomed-in area when magnification is enabled. It is distracting and unnecessary. I am sure that it is there to show that the magnifier is enabled but that is pretty obvious already since the screen is magnified.
I don’t even touch on all the other accessibility features that the iPad offers. There are software adjustments that can be made to make these devices better suited to those with all sorts of disabilities. I sincerely appreciate all of the work being done behind the scenes to iterate and improve on these features.
Apple has shown its commitment to the visually-impaired community from day one with its iPad devices and they continue to lead the pack. Their devices are beautiful, well-built, and aesthetically pleasing all while delivering market-leading apps and features. Additionally, these devices last a very long time and get important updates for years after other manufacturers stop. If you can’t tell, I love them and will never be without at least one.
