Hidden Features of iOS 6

iOS 6 has been out for a couple of weeks, and there have been quite a few changes.  Some of them have been talked about over and over, but at least one I had never heard about.

When Apple released iOS 6 everyone knew there would be a clock app.  I decided to take a look at it recently and discovered something interesting.  I tested out the timer, and immediately noticed that it includes a visual reminder.  Starting the timer starts visual representation of how much time is left.  It actually is very similar to what a Time Timer looks like.  It's a very simple representation, but it might be just what you need in a pinch.  Check out this video I made of what it looks like:

Visual timer in iPad Clock app

Speak Selection has been available as an Accessibility option since iOS 5, but with the update word highlighting has been added as an option.  Once you turn on Speak Selection (Settings - General - Accessibility - Speak Selection), you can turn on Word Highlighting.  To use, just long hold on a block of text and highlight it, then Speak will be an option.  You can see a short video about it from the latest episode of EdCeptional.

Word Highlighting with Speak Selection

Guided Access has been talked about quite a bit, it brings an interesting option for shutting down access to an iDevice.  Once turned on a student cannot exit the app without a 4 digit code.  You can also disable certain portions of the screen.  Mark Coppin showed it off in this clip from EdCeptional.

Guided Access

Have fun checking out these new features!

Patrick

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EdCeptional #038 - Diving Deeper in iOS 6

Check out the latest episode of EdCeptional, where we talk with Mark Coppin (@mcopp) about iOS 6 and the updates to the accessibility options like Assistive Touch & Guided Access.  This episode is our 2nd on video, which gives us the opportunity to show off the features, apps and more!  Make sure to check out all the fun at http://edreach.us/edceptionalshow.  If you'd like to watch the show live you can join us on Google+ Sunday, October 14 at 8:30 Central.

EdCeptional #038 - Diving Deeper in iOS 6

Patrick

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#AppMondayTAS-iOS 6 - new accessibility options

In case you missed it, Apple announced last week that they will be releasing iOS 6 sometime this Fall.  There have been quite a few additions and changes that were mentioned (and some that were not) and I thought I'd share some of them here.

Voiceover changes -  one of the big drawbacks to using Voiceover was that you couldn't use it with Zoom and/or Assistive Touch so you'd have to pick what you like to use.  That is changing with iOS 6.  Now Voiceover will work with them so you can use them all as you use the device.

Speak Selection - a little known feature of iOS 5 is called "Speak Selection", located in the Settings - General - Accessibility, once on you can highlight text and you will get an option to have it spoken to you.  This works in most parts of the OS and is most helpful when using mobile Safari.  In iOS 6 it will have the addiditonal feature of highlighting the words as it speaks them.

Siri Improvements - many of the improvements in Siri are related to finding more information, but one is a big change.  Siri will now give you to option to launch apps (not sure if it's all apps or just the standard Apple apps), making these devices even easier to operate.

Guided Access - This new feature add a few different capabilities.  It gives you the option of disabling the Home Button so you have to stay in the current app.  This could be very useful for a person using the device as a communication tool.  It also allows you to block off certain portions of the screen (like settings buttons or ads) to keep individuals from accessing them.  I haven't seen how it will work exactly, but during the keynote they mentioned it was as easy as drawing a circle around the screen.

There are a few more announced and unannounced changes, you can find all of them here at Apple's website.  You can also find some more info about the accessibility features at Luis Perez's Blog.

Patrick

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