Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

operating systems include built-in

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

features, as well as

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

s for third-party developers to use in their applications. These accessibility features provide computing abilities to people with visual impairment,

hearing impairment Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...

, or

physical disability A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epileps ...

Components

Accessibility (formerly Universal Access) is a preference pane of the

System Preferences System Settings (System Preferences on macOS Monterey and earlier) is an application included with macOS. It allows users to modify various system settings, which are divided into separate Preference Panes. The System Settings application wa ...

application. It includes four sub-components, each providing different options and settings.

Seeing

* Turn On/Off Screen Zooming * Inverse Colors (White on Black, also known as reverse colors), +++8 * Set Display to Greyscale ( 10.2 onwards) * Enhance Contrast * Enable Access for Assistive Devices * Enable Text-To-Speech for Universal Access Preferences * Disable unnecessary automatic animations

Hearing

* Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs * Raise/Lower Volume

Keyboard

Sticky Keys Sticky keys is an accessibility feature of some graphical user interfaces which assists users who have physical disabilities or help users reduce repetitive strain injury. It serializes keystrokes instead of pressing multiple keys at a time, allowi ...

(Treat a sequence of modifier keys as a key combo) *

Slow keys Slow keys is a feature of computer desktop environments. It is an accessibility feature to aid users who have physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other p ...

(Delay between key press and key acceptance)

Mouse

* Mouse Keys (Use the numeric keypad in place of the mouse) * Mouse Pointer Delay * Mouse Pointer Max Speed * Mouse Pointer enlarging

External links

Universal Access Webpage

Apple Accessibility webpage with more information
MacOS {{mac-stub