Judy Dixon
iOS and iPadOS 26 were released on September 15, 2025. As with previous years, there are numerous updates in these new versions of Apple’s operating systems, and many of them are in the area of accessibility.
Magic Tap and Media
Now, you can prevent the Magic Tap gesture (the two-finger double-tap) from starting media playback. Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Commands > Magic Tap. The default for “Media Playback” is On. If you switch this to Off, Magic Tap will no longer start or stop media playback when no other action is available.
Copied Speech
This is a new rotor option that remembers the last ten speech items you copied to the clipboard with a three-finger quadruple-tap. To paste an item while in a text field, turn the rotor to Copied Speech, then swipe up or down to select the item you want to paste and double-tap it. At the bottom of the list is “Clear All Copied Speech.”
Siri
Now, when you invoke Siri, your device will sound a tone to let you know when Siri is listening.
Rotor Items Are Searchable
It is now possible to search the list of rotor items in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor > Rotor Items. The search field is at the bottom of the screen.
Reset VoiceOver Settings
Now, you can reset all VoiceOver settings without disturbing other settings. Go to the bottom of the list of VoiceOver settings, and you will find “Reset VoiceOver Settings.”
Share Accessibility Settings
You can now share your accessibility settings. At the bottom of the list of accessibility settings, you will find a “Share Accessibility Settings” button. Both devices need to be running iOS or iPadOS 26. This is handy when you want to temporarily use another device. You can instantly have all your accessibility settings on the other device just as you have them on your own.
You have the option to “Share Accessibility Settings,” which temporarily transfers your settings to another device such as a friend’s device or a public device (they are removed when you are done using it), or “Sync to iCloud” so they will be available to any other device signed into your Apple account. When connected, the Accessibility Shortcut will also include the option to “Drop Sharing Session.”
Accessibility Nutrition Labels
In the App Store, each app now has what Apple calls Accessibility Nutrition Labels. This is developer-provided information on which accessibility features the app supports. These features include VoiceOver, Voice Control, larger text, dark interface, differentiate without color alone, and sufficient contrast. It can be found in the app’s description under a heading labeled Accessibility.
This is optional for developers, and at the moment, very few apps contain this information. If you want to see an example of what this looks like, have a look at the Weather Gods app.
Custom Labels
You can now review a list of all the custom labels that have been created in the apps on your device and their locations. This list can be found in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Verbosity > Custom Labels.
More Background Sounds
Additional background sounds have been added in Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds. The new ones are: Rain, Night, Fire, and Airplane.
Name Recognition
In addition to specific sound recognition, there is now a feature that can recognize your name. This is in Settings > Accessibility > Sound and Name Recognition. You will be asked to set up name recognition. You can type your name or record how someone says it.
Accessibility Reader
Now you can read or listen to text in a full-screen view with customized fonts, layout, and background colors. This is similar to Reader Mode in Safari. You can turn it on in Settings > Accessibility > Read and Speak > Accessibility Reader. You can start it with the Accessibility Shortcut or from the Control Center.
Cursor Settings
There are several new options related to cursor behavior. Traditionally, if you are moving forward through text, VoiceOver announces the character to the left as you pass over it. If you are moving backward, VoiceOver announces the character to the right. Now, you can change this behavior so that it works more like Windows.
In Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Typing > Cursor Output, the options are “As Cursor Passes” (the traditional way) and “Right of Cursor” (the new way).
In the traditional cursor behavior, the cursor is shown in braille with two cells, dot 8 then dot 7. In Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille, there is now a setting to show the cursor as an underline (dots 7?8) in a single cell. The default for “Use Underline Cursor” is Off.
In addition, when editing with a braille display, you can now press a cursor routing button twice to select a word, and triple-press the cursor routing button to select the entire line.
Item Overview
Item Overview is a new braille display feature. It shows you the first few cells of items on the screen on a single line with a specified number of cells for each item. You can turn this on with dots 6-7-8 and use the same keys to turn it off. You can display from 2 to 7 cells for each item. You can set the number of cells in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille > Item Overview. The default is 3.
Braille Screen Input
There are several new features in Braille Screen Input in iOS and iPadOS 26. Braille Screen Input lets the user type braille directly on the surface of an iPhone or iPad. Its settings can be found in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille > Braille Screen Input.
You can now customize the commands that are used in Braille Screen Input’s command mode. You will find this under “Commands” in Braille Screen Input settings.
In VoiceOver Activities, you can now specify whether Braille Screen Input comes on automatically when you create a particular activity.
Learn Dot Positions
When this setting is turned On, Braille Screen Input will continue to monitor the user’s fingers to keep track of dot location. This helps with keeping dot positions calibrated.
Single-Hand Mode
You can now use Braille Screen Input with one hand. This only works with the device in portrait orientation and is not available on the iPad. To start Braille Screen Input in single-hand mode, double-tap and hold with three fingers.
There are four input styles in single-hand mode. They are:
- Right Hand: Three dots are oriented horizontally across the screen with dots 1 and 4 on the left (default).
- Left Hand: Three dots are oriented horizontally across the screen with dots 1 and 4 on the right.
- Slate and Stylus: Six dots are vertically on the screen with dots 1, 2, and 3 on the right and 4, 5, and 6 on the left.
- Reverse Slate and Stylus: Six dots are vertically on the screen with dots 1, 2, and 3 on the left and 4, 5, and 6 on the right.
In Left and Right Hand modes, you enter a cell in two parts?first the left column and then the right column. If you only want half the cell, swipe right with one finger for the other half. In the Slate and Stylus modes, you can enter the dots one at a time and swipe right when you are finished with a cell.
You can also choose whether dot numbers are spoken as you enter them. “Dot Numbers for Single-Hand Mode” is in BSI Settings. The default is On.
Braille Access
Braille Access is a major new feature in iOS and iPadOS 26. It is described as a braille notetaker. To launch Braille Access, press dots 7 and 8 simultaneously if you are using an 8-dot braille table, then press dots 7, 8, and Space simultaneously. This brings up a menu of several applications that include:
- Launch App: This item lets you search for apps. Simply press Enter and begin typing the app’s name. Press Enter to launch the app you want.
- Choose Item: This item lets you search the screen.
- Braille Notes: You can type in braille to make notes. Speech is automatically turned off. Files are stored in a folder in the Notes app.
- BRF Files: This feature allows the reading of contracted braille files. Files must be placed in a folder on iCloud Drive.
- Calculator: This will be called UEB Calculator or Nemeth Calculator depending on how you have it set in Braille Access Settings.
- Live Captions: This feature listens to speech in the environment or audio that is playing on the phone and displays a transcript on the braille display. It also allows the user to type on the braille display and have that text spoken. You can select the source in Braille Access Settings.
- Clock: Displays the time.
In some of the applications, dot 7 brings up a context menu. Braille Access settings are in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille > Braille Access. You can edit or rearrange the menu as you wish. Each menu item can be assigned its own braille keys in the settings for your braille display.
Braille Keyboard Input
This feature is for QWERTY keyboards. It turns eight keys on a QWERTY keyboard into an eight-dot braille keyboard. You can launch this with VO-Y (VO is the Control and Option keys). The default braille input keys are F, D, S, and A for dots 1, 2, 3, and 7, and J, K, L, and semicolon for dots 4, 5, 6, and 8.
