I'm looking into how to programmatically control color filters in the Accessibility settings under "System Settings" -> "Accessibility" -> "Color Filters"--in particular the "Intensity" and "Filter type" settings. As far as I have gathered, changing this setting can only be accomplished using the CoreGraphics APIs or Accessibility APIs (I've poked around GitHub, Stack Overflow, and queried some LLMs), but there doesn't seem to be a clear cut example for doing this using public facing APIs, without ripping off source code from another project wholesale or using private APIs. My goal is to overlay a color filter at either a per-application or system level to help with accessibility. If there's a way to overlay this capability on an application-by-application basis as a third-party developer, that would be the most ideal scenario. For example, modifying the look and feel/UX for Launchpad, Photos, etc, as a third-party developer without accessing the source code of the application that I'm modifying the look/feel for (with appropriate user consent of course).

I made a (very simple) custom tab bar in SwiftUI. It's simply an HStack containing two buttons. These buttons control the selection of a paged TabView. This works well, but in VoiceOver they don't behave like the bottom tab bar or e.g. a segmented picker. Specifically, VoiceOver does not say something like "tab one of two" when the first button is focused. According to my research, in UIKit this can be accomplished by giving the container view the accessibility trait tabBar, hiding it as an accessibility element and give it the accessibility container type semanticGroup. In SwiftUI, there is also the trait isTabBar, but that does not seem to have any impact for VoiceOver. I don't see an equivalent of semanticGroup in SwiftUI. I tried accessibilityElement(children: .contain) but that also does not seem to have any impact. So, is there any way in SwiftUI to make a button behave like a tab-button in VoiceOver? And how is SwiftUI's isTabBar accessibility trait supposed to be used?

Hello, the AVSpeechSynthesisVoice has a audioFileSettings attributes let utterance = AVSpeechUtterance(string: text) utterance.voice = AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(identifier: voiceSelected!) print("- voice \(utterance.voice!.audioFileSettings)") ["AVLinearPCMIsBigEndianKey": 0, "AVLinearPCMIsFloatKey": 1, "AVLinearPCMIsNonInterleaved": 1, "AVNumberOfChannelsKey": 1, "AVSampleRateKey": 22050, "AVFormatIDKey": 1819304813, "AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey": 32] This is declared in AVSpeechSynthesisVoice { ... @available(iOS 13.0, *) open var **audioFileSettings:** [String : Any] { get } @available(iOS 17.0, *) open var voiceTraits: AVSpeechSynthesisVoice.Traits { get } } How can we specify the audioFileSettings attributes in a AVSpeechSynthesisProviderVoice ? Cause in AVSpeechSynthesisProviderVoice there is no such field AVSpeechSynthesisProviderVoice { open var name: String { get } open var identifier: String { get } open var primaryLanguages: [String] { get } open var supportedLanguages: [String] { get } open var voiceSize: Int64 open var version: String open var gender: AVSpeechSynthesisVoiceGender open var age: Int } Regards

After enabling Developer Mode on my iPhone and restarting it, the device asks me to press the Home button to confirm. Unfortunately, my Home button is broken, so I can’t access Developer Mode. The iPhone itself still works, but I can’t enable the mode. Is there any way to bypass this without the Home button?

Hello everyone, I’d like to report an issue I’ve encountered when using a Bluetooth mouse together with AssistiveTouch on iPhone running iOS 16.5. This has also been reported via Feedback Assistant with Feedback ID: FB17806167 Description: When using a Bluetooth mouse together with AssistiveTouch on iPhone (iOS), the pointer behaves incorrectly in landscape orientation. Specifically: The pointer cannot move past the center of the screen Horizontal and vertical (X/Y) movements appear to be swapped or misaligned Natural movement of the pointer is not possible It seems as if the internal coordinate mapping remains locked in portrait orientation, even when the device is physically rotated to landscape. This issue occurs system-wide, regardless of the current app. It is observable in Settings, on the Home screen, and in third-party apps. Steps to Reproduce: Enable AssistiveTouch Connect a Bluetooth mouse to the iPhone Rotate the device to landscape orientation Try moving the mouse pointer across the screen → Notice that: Pointer cannot move past the center Horizontal/vertical input is interpreted incorrectly (as if still in portrait) Expected Behavior: The mouse pointer should move across the entire screen correctly, regardless of device orientation. Actual Behavior: In landscape orientation, the pointer is either restricted to part of the screen or misaligned. It behaves as if the device is still in portrait. Horizontal mouse movement causes vertical pointer movement, and vice versa User experience feels broken and unintuitive Feature Suggestion: Please improve the synchronization between physical device orientation and AssistiveTouch pointer mapping on iOS. I also suggest exposing AssistiveTouch orientation control via a public API, so developers can help maintain consistent pointer behavior. Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions. Best regards, Jannis

In our application we are using UITableView for data population and that TableView cell contains a button. When we are enabling full keyboard access that time only TableView cell is focusing not the button. We need to focus on cell and button differently.

I'm working on a ble connected device that use ancs and system clock to receive alarm notification events for earing impaired people. It used to work until iPhone 13 with latest iOS 18.x. Starting with iPhone 14 onward (iOS 18.x), system clock alarm notification is not sent anymore. Is There any reason for this to happening?. Is anyone aware of this behaviour? Any suggestion would be really appreciated. Cheers

I have been working to remediate PDFs for a client. The documents/forms have many tables. When I correctly tag a table, using Foxit Editor Pro, it works beautifully on a PC reading it with NVDA. On Mac using VoiceOver the table isn't accessible. It doesn't matter if I try to read it in Adobe Acrobat, Foxit, or Preview. The reader often says the document is empty, omits column headers, and/or associates the wrong header with the column data. The documents have essentially the same coding behind them as for the web. Why is it they perform so well on a PC with NVDA, but so poorly with Mac VoiceOver? I am a Quality Assurance Specialist. I review websites apps, and documents for accessibility. Why can't I do my job using only my Mac system? As a Mac user, it frustrates me that I can't use my preferred system for checking documents to see if they are accessible because VoiceOver doesn't work well. I actually have to recommend to my clients and their customers that they need to use a PC with NVDA or Jaws for these documents to be able to get all the information. Unfortunately, most people aren't able to have, or maintain, both systems. Overall, Mac products are very high quality. This, and other issues with VoiceOver, seems to be a large gap in Apple's offerings and functionality. I would appreciate a human response to the original email I sent about this on 7/30/2025.

I’m trying to set the accessibilityActivationPoint directly on a UITableViewCell so that VoiceOver activate on a specific button inside the cell. However, this approach doesn’t seem to work. Instead, when I override the accessibilityActivationPoint property inside the UITableViewCell subclass and return the desired point, it works as expected. Why doesn’t setting accessibilityActivationPoint directly on the cell work, but overriding it inside the cell does? Is there a recommended approach for handling this scenario? The following approach works, override var accessibilityActivationPoint: CGPoint { get { return convert(toggleSwitch.center, to: nil) } set{ super.accessibilityActivationPoint = newValue } } but setting accessibility point directly not works private func configureAccessibility() { isAccessibilityElement = true accessibilityLabel = titleLabel.text accessibilityTraits = .toggleButton accessibilityActivationPoint = self.convert(toggleSwitch.center, to: self) accessibilityValue = toggleSwitch.accessibilityValue }

I am developing a vision os app for controlling an underwater ROV. I have ornaments with telemetry and buttons around a central video view feed. I have custom buttons mappings, such as "A" for locking the depth of the drone. However, when I look at buttons or certain ornaments, my custom gamepad logic is kept from running. This means that when a SwiftUI Button gains focus on visionOS, pressing the controller’s A button triggers the system’s default “click” on that Button rather than my custom buttonA handler. Essentially, focus interception by the system is stealing my A-press events and preventing my custom gamepad logic from running. Is there a way to disable the built in gamepad interaction and only allow my custom gamepad mappings?

Hi everyone, After installing the macOS beta (Tahoe 26.0) on my MacBook Pro M3, I’ve noticed two issues: Significant increase in system temperature The laptop feels hot even with light usage like Safari and Figma Rapid battery drain Battery is dropping unusually fast compared to macOS Sonoma. I’ve tried, Restarting the device. I’m aware this is a beta, but just wondering. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is this a known issue? Would love to hear if others are facing similar problems or if it might be something specific to my setup. Thanks in advance!

In our application we are using a Search bar in a pop over view and we have enabled Accessibility full keyboard access and we are using external keyboard. Now if the focus is on Searcher that time by next Tab key press Search bar will dismiss and focus needs to shift to the next UIElement.

In some places of our app we make use of NSAccessibilityElement subclasses to vend some extra items to accessibility clients. We need to know which item has the VoiceOver focus so we can keep track of it. setAccessibilityFocused: does not get called when accessibility clients focus NSAccessibilityElements. This method is only called when accessibility clients focus view-based accessibility elements (i.e. when a NSView subclass gets focused). At the same time we need to programmatically move VoiceOver focus to those items when something happens. Those accessibility elements inherit from NSObject so we can't make them first responder. Is this the expected behavior? What are our options in terms of reacting to VoiceOver cursor moving around? What are our options in terms of programmatically moving the VoiceOver cursor to a different element? Here's a sample project that demonstrates the first part of the issue: https://github.com/vendruscolo/apple-rdars/tree/master/DTS12368714%20-%20NSAccessibilityElement%20focus%20tracking If you run the app, a window will show up. It contains a button and a red square. If you enable VoiceOver you'll be able to move the cursor over the red square, and a message will be logged. You'll also notice there's an extra element after the red square. That element is available to VoiceOver, however when it gets focuses, no message gets logged.

When my app is in the background, I create a Live Activity through a push notification with token get from pushToStartTokenUpdates, and this process works fine. However, without opening the app, how can I retrieve the new push token for this Live Activity again and use it for subsequent updates to the Live Activity content?

This has been an ongoing issue and continues in Tahoe. When dictating into Gmail in Safari, whole portions of sentences are copy and pasted, making the text a mess. I have reported this in feedback for a couple years, and it has never been resolved.

In our application we are using OTP login. When accessibility full keyboard access is enabled, and we are trying to enter OTP in the OTP field that time in iOS 17 focus is moving to the next text field accordingly but in iOS 18 focus is staying the first OTP field only and not moving to the next text field.

Our application, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gamecontroller-mapper/id6737088417 which maps game controller inputs to keyboard/mouse events system-wide, has stopped functioning properly after the macOS 15.4 update. Specifically, the app can no longer capture game controller inputs when running in the background, severely impacting its core functionality. Environment macOS version: 15.4 Previous working versions: All versions prior to 15.4 App type: Background utility with accessibility permissions Hardware: All game controller brands compatible with macOS Detailed Description Before macOS 15.4 Our application correctly captured game controller inputs from any brand connected to Mac and successfully translated them to keyboard/mouse events system-wide. Users could control any application (e.g., scrolling through documents in Preview using controller buttons) while our app ran in the background with the accessibility permissions granted. After macOS 15.4 The application only works when it has active focus (is in the foreground). When any other application gains focus, our app completely stops receiving or detecting any input events from the game controller while running in the background. For instance, pressing the 'down' button on the controller while another app is active results in no event being registered within our application. We've tried updating the app to work in accessory mode (in the menubar), but the issue persists. Steps to Reproduce Install our application on macOS 15.3 or earlier Grant accessibility permissions when prompted Connect a compatible game controller (e.g., Xbox or other controller) Open another application (e.g., Preview with a PDF document) Press buttons on the controller to navigate the document without touching the keyboard Expected result on 15.3: Controller inputs are translated to keyboard events, even when our app is in the background Upgrade to macOS 15.4 Repeat steps 2-5 Actual result on 15.4: Controller inputs are only translated to keyboard events when our application has focus Technical Implementation Our app uses: CGEvent.tapCreate() to create a global event tap CGEvent for simulating keyboard and mouse events GCController.extendedGamepad?.valueChangedHandler for detecting controller inputs Proper NSAccessibilityUsageDescription and appropriate entitlements GCController.shouldMonitorBackgroundEvents = true to ensure controller events continue when the app is inactive Possible Relation to Recent Changes We noticed in the macOS 15.4 Release Notes: Game Controller - Resolved Issues: Fixed: Game controllers might stop responding when accessibility features, such as Voice Over, are enabled. (141497799) We suspect this fix might have introduced a regression or intentional limitation affecting applications like ours that rely on background event simulation with game controller input. Impact This change severely impacts: Applications designed to use game controllers as assistive input devices for users who may have difficulty using traditional keyboard and mouse inputs Applications for media control, presentation navigation, and other similar use cases Users who rely on our application for accessibility purposes Questions Is this an intentional security change or an unintended side effect of the controller fix mentioned in the release notes? Are there any new APIs or alternative approaches we should implement to restore functionality? If this is a system bug, when can we expect a fix? We would greatly appreciate any guidance on how to restore our application's functionality. Thank you for your assistance.

Is it possible to position windows on the floor by changing some setting? Currently, they cannot be placed on the floor due to drag limitations.

Voice Control Disabling System Services After Reboot I recently learned from Apple Accessibility Support that the issue I’m experiencing with Voice Control is now affecting multiple users. When I first reported the problem, I appeared to be the first case—what you might call “patient zero.” I have provided extensive feedback and system logs, but now that the issue is more widespread, I have been told that I will not be informed of the cause or notified directly when a fix is found. Instead, updates will be released as solutions are identified, and support staff will not necessarily know the details of the underlying problem. To summarize my experience: after enabling Voice Control and rebooting my MacBook Pro (14.2-inch, M4 chip), critical Apple system services—including FaceTime, Apple Music, and News—stop functioning. Dictation remains available, but it is not as accurate or effective for my needs as Voice Control. I rely on these accessibility features daily due to my disability and cerebral palsy, and this issue has persisted for over five months. I have always valued contributing to the developer program and supporting Apple’s efforts to improve accessibility. However, I find it discouraging that there is no clear communication about the status of this issue or its resolution. My theory is that there may be a hardware interaction—perhaps between the neural engine and the new Wi-Fi chip—rather than a purely software problem. I understand that some information may not be immediately available, but I believe that users who rely on accessibility features should be kept informed about major issues and their progress toward resolution. I appreciate the dedication of the accessibility and development teams, and I want to continue supporting Apple’s mission of inclusion. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Donald Spencer Kirby Dayton, Ohio

We are unable to programmatically enable AppleScript automation for VoiceOver on macOS 15 (Sequoia) In macOS 15, Apple moved the VoiceOver configuration from: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.VoiceOver4/default.plist to a sandboxed path: ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.VoiceOver/Library/Preferences/com.apple.VoiceOver4/default.plist Steps to Reproduce: Use a macOS 15 (ARM64) machine (or GitHub Actions runner image with macOS 15 ARM). Open VoiceOver: open /System/Library/CoreServices/VoiceOver.app Set the SCREnableAppleScript flag to true in the new sandboxed .plist: plutil -replace SCREnableAppleScript -bool true ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.apple.VoiceOver/Library/Preferences/com.apple.VoiceOver4/default.plist Confirm csrutil status is either disabled or not enforced. Attempt to control VoiceOver via AppleScript (e.g., using osascript voiceOverPerform.applescript). Observe that the AppleScript command fails with no useful output (exit code 1), and VoiceOver does not respond to automation.