Goodbye to the Home Button, Hello to Face ID; What Might This Mean for Blind and Low Vision iPhone Users?

Lee | Posted on October 19, 2017 |

10/19/17

Shared by the AppleVis Editorial Team

Goodbye to the Home Button, Hello to Face ID; What Might This Mean for Blind and Low Vision iPhone Users?

By Serina Gilbert | September 13, 2017

With the announcement of Apple’s brand new iPhone X the blind and vision impaired community has been buzzing about one of the biggest changes to the iPhone, the removal of the Home button and the addition of Face ID. We have grown very comfortable with our familiar Home button. After all, it’s been a very consistent part of our smart phone that we use probably dozens of times a day to perform a variety of tasks since the iPhone 3GS. Change is scary and sometimes, especially when it comes to technology it can be far too easy to assume that we will be left out.

I totally get it. There are tons of “What if” situations. What if I keep my eyes closed too much? What if I have prosthetic eyes? What if I grow facial hair or change my hair color? These would all be reasonable questions if we were looking at any other company than Apple, but we are working with the most inclusive company there is. This is the company that made the very first out of the box accessible smart phone when it wasn’t popular or cost effective. This is the company that took the time to make videos featuring individuals with disabilities using their technology to live, work and play. This is a company that has an entire dedicated team committed to accessibility in every single device that they produce.

Apple takes care to include individuals with disabilities in everything that they do and Face ID will not be an exception. It is expected that Face ID will have dedicated settings that can be customized for accessibility settings including for use with VoiceOver. Given that this will be a brand new feature, however, I would expect that it won’t work perfectly every time for sighted and visually impaired individuals alike. When that happens, you will always be able to use a passcode to still be able to gain access to your phone.

Read More: “Goodbye to the Home Button, Hello to Face ID; What Might This Mean for Blind and Low Vision iPhone Users?” https://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-iphone-news-opinion/goodbye-home-button-hello-face-id-what-might-mean-blind-and-low