Guides

Privacy AI is a helpful tool for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that uses artificial intelligence directly on your device. Most AI apps send your data to the cloud, but this one works completely offline. This keeps your conversations and photos private because they never leave your device. You can use it to write stories, translate different languages, and look at documents. The developer recently added a feature called View Assistant. This tool is free and uses your camera to continuously…

For macOS Tahoe

Intro

Ever since the introduction of macOS 15, you have been stuck with using your region's default voice as the voice at the login window (Samantha for English US, Daniel for English UK, etc.).

Previously, you could just change this back to whatever voice you like. With the introduction of macOS 15, this became impossible because you couldn't add voices to the voice rotor on the login screen. Pressing VO+F8 doesn't work to open VoiceOver Utility.…

Disclaimer: the following guide is currently for iOS 26.0.

With each iOS update, Apple continues to refine the Safari experience. For VoiceOver users, these changes can feel subtle but meaningful. If you’ve recently upgraded to iOS 26 and want to manage your bookmarks with confidence, this guide will walk you through the updated process and highlight what’s new.

Step-by-Step Bookmark Navigation

1. Open Safari and Access Bookmarks —— Launch Safari and double…

Intro

Have you ever wondered if there was a way your phone could just dial into an automated system without you needing to dial anything? Turns out, you can do just that.

Making the iPhone dial any number

Dialing a number directly within the phone app

Within the phone app, hold the star (*) key. VoiceOver should then say "Comma".

• This is how you would enter a pause. You can dial the next part of the sequence of digits you want…

(Updated 06.09.2025)

Overview

A short, clear guide for blind users on macOS Sonoma to set up Parallels and run Windows 11 as a virtual machine.

• Uses VOCR for inaccessible screens.
• Uses Karabiner-Elements on macOS to map Caps Lock → Insert.
• Uses SharpKeys in Windows to map Insert → Caps Lock, so Narrator can use Caps…

For macOS 15 Sequoia

Intro

Here are 10 tips for macOS that you probably didn't know.

One thing I like to do in my spare time is find out new tips for macOS. Digging through underrated tips and ones which might not be useful to me (better managing windows, mission control, etc.), I have found a few useful tips which I want to share.

Most of these will work with any recent version of macOS. Ones that require a certain version or later will be mentioned if I…

for macOS Sequoia

Intro

Although Apple has killed off Macs with the Touch Bar, there are of course some still in the wild. Rearranging the control strip on the Touch Bar is easier than you might think. Just by looking at the instructions found in System Settings, it doesn't seem like there is a way to accomplish this. "Drag your favorite items to the bottom of the screen to add them to the Touch Bar. Drag items up from the Touch Bar to remove them."

…

for macOS Sequoia

Intro

When performing searches within apps, you can use keywords to narrow your search without having to navigate through popup menus.

This can save you the trouble of navigating menus trying to find a similar option to what you could type.

For example, if I wanted to search for all audio in a folder, I would previously type audio. I would then navigate with up/down arrows to find the audio option under kind.

You can directly enter…

for macOS Tahoe

Intro

This guide will attempt to document all of the options in VoiceOver Utility and what they do.

This guide has ben updated for new features and changes in macOS Tahoe.

After the release of my guide for iOS VoiceOver settings, I figured I would create a similar guide for macOS.

The VoiceOver Modifier will be abbreviated as the VO key. The VO key/…

for macOS Sequoia

Intro

Have you ever thought, "I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for that"? This guide will teach you how to create a keyboard shortcut for any option in the menu bar, under any menu, including the Apple menu.

What can be turned into a keyboard shortcut?

You can create a keyboard shortcut for all options in the menu bar, as long as you have the exact title of the option. You can interact with a menu option to see how it is spelled.…

This guide will teach you the extreme basics of using the Mac including
turning it on.
Locating keys on the built in keyboard including a description of what's Touch ID.
turning on the screen reader (VoiceOver)
Understanding the function of the fn, control, option and command keys
Using voiceover to show the dock, open context menu, focusing voiceover to the menubar and the status bar.
The guide will also teach you basic macOS keyboard shortcuts such…

for iOS and iPadOS 18.5

Intro

VoiceOver is Apple's screen reader, which can be found across all Apple platforms, from iPhones, iPads, Macs, iPods, etc. This guide will document how each setting in VoiceOver's settings on iOS and iPadOS affects the way VoiceOver behaves, as well as what the options do.

At the time of writing, May 2025, the release of iOS 19 and associated operating systems is really closed to being released in beta. Once they release to the public,…

I'm happy to release the third edition of:
Personal Power: Getting The Most from iOS as a Totally Blind User
This book, freely available to all, was written to help totally blind people use iPhones competently and make the most of their capabilities in all possible aspects of life. From choosing and setting up your iPhone to using its capabilities and accessible apps, this book is my attempt to make it easier for blind newcomers to enjoy the benefits of this technology which…

For iOS 26, macOS Tahoe

Intro

As is widely known, a major selling point of Apple devices is the interconnected ecosystem they collectively foster, allowing users to work seamlessly between iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices. Some of these features, like iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime, are facilitated by central servers, whereas others, like the Continuity features discussed in this guide, are largely facilitated by Apple’s proprietary peer-to-peer networking protocols…

For iOS and macOS 26

Intro

This guide covers how you can create shortcuts on both macOS and iOS, from automation to creating shortcuts that can enhance your workflow, to turning your shortcuts into .app files on Mac.

What's a shortcut?

A shortcut is a set of steps (actions) that can be put together to create a workflow, which can do several things at once, such as sending a text to someone and playing a playlist, to sending the last image in your photos to…

Intro

If, like me, you have wanted to turn this new extra button into something non-camera related, such as the option to open Be My AI, or a 3rd party voice recording app, there is an easy way to do this.

Requirements:

• In order for this to work, you will have to select an app for the camera control to open before running your custom shortcut.
• This also has the added downside of not allowing you to use said app (except if your device is locked)…

Introduction

With the recent release of the new iPhone 16e, this means the end of the Home Button for iPhone users. Those who have been using iPhone SE's for years will now have to face not having a phone on the market which has the Home Button. We can't bring Touch ID back, but we can do something about duplicating the function of the Home Button. While many users have adapted in various ways,…

Intro

For those who may not like the current implementation of iPhone mirroring, there is a free solution to do the same thing, which might be even easier compared to the iPhone mirroring app. As a bonus, this method also works on iPads as well.

How it works:

This approach uses a free app called Keypad, which is free for one device. The in app purchase unlocks the ability to…

For macOS Sequoia 15.3

Intro

This guide discusses the many ways you can change verbosity options in macOS VoiceOver, and how they work.

The Purpose of This Guide

This guide is here to explain in great detail how the plethora of verbosity options can affect the way VoiceOver behaves.
If VoiceOver is or isn't speaking something you want it to, this guide will hopefully allow you to configure VoiceOver the way you want it to behave.

Speech and…

For iOS 18

Intro

If you’re like most people, you likely have many online accounts with usernames and passwords. In this guide, I will describe how Apple Passwords, the password manager built into iOS, iPadOS, and other Apple platforms, can help you create, use, and manage strong credentials for your online accounts.

While Apple Passwords is also available on macOS, as well as Chromium-based browsers on other operating systems, this guide will focus primarily on how…