Apple Vision Pro will get new accessibility features later this year
Apple has announced new accessibility features for Vision Pro designed to help people with disabilities in their daily lives.
For example, it will be possible to enlarge everything within the field of view—whether digital or real—using the passthrough view. Previously, only virtual content could be enlarged. The short video below demonstrates the improved Zoom feature, which is intended to support blind users or those with visual impairments.
The VoiceOver screen reader will also be enhanced with a new feature called Live Recognition. This uses on-device AI to analyze the passthrough view in order to describe environments, identify objects, read documents aloud, and more.
For selected accessibility apps, a new API will allow access to the passthrough cameras, enabling live human-to-human support for visual interpretation in apps such as Be My Eyes.
Another new feature is support for brain-computer interfaces (BCI). This involves a new BCI-HID protocol that is activated with Apple's Switch Control. The so-called Stentrode implant from Synchron will be the first BCI device to run on this protocol. It is designed to help people with severe mobility impairments to perform click actions on the computer using only their thoughts.
The new accessibility features and BCI support will be released later this year, possibly as part of visionOS 3, which is expected to be announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9.
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