Pros and Cons of iOS 7.1

Contributed by Joel Zimba, Special Projects Coordinator, MDTAP

Yesterday, Apple released iOS 7.1 for all modern iOS devices.  There are many great accessibility and performance enhancements, as well as at least one known potential show-stopper.

First of all there are many new changes to the user interface for low vision users.  There are several new options under the Accessibility section of the Settings app. Also, there are additional wall papers which may improve usability.  After the release of iOS 7, we posted an article about the problems encountered by many low vision users with the new operating system.  Apple has made some attempt to address these problems.  The verdict has yet to come in on whether or not they hit their mark.

Many irritating VoiceOver bugs have gone away. Volume issues and playing nicely with Siri are notable.  Also, the recurring “Screen Locked” message has gone away.  For a full report of accessibility related changes to iOS 7.1, you can check out: http://www.applevis.com/blog/apple/whats-new-and-changed-blind-and-low-vision-users-ios-71

Overall, iOS 7.1 seems much more responsive and stable.  Apparently this is quite noticeable on the aging iPhone 4.  Ordinarily, I would say everyone should go out and get the update.

However, there is one big problem.  Bluetooth keyboard support is very buggy.  The exact nature of these problems is unclear, as the behavior is not the same from app to app.  As a regular user of a wireless keyboard, I find this glitch particularly annoying.  Let’s hope the patch, which usually drops a couple of weeks after a milestone release, will address this.