News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by AnonHP on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @07:54PM (#24499507)
One of my favorite new features in iOS 14 is an accessibility setting that allows a double tap or triple tap on the back of the phone to trigger an action. You can set this up in Settings->Accessibility->Touch->Back Tap .

In general, I love how accessibility features on iOS are so useful even for the average person who wouldn’t be considered or classified as disabled.

Re:iOS 14 is available today by gumby on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:12PM (#24499659)
> In general, I love how accessibility features on iOS are so useful even for the average person who wouldn’t be considered or classified as disabled.

This is super important. People who don't need accomodation sometimes complain about the ADA rules for buildings but at some point everybody takes advantage of things like crash bars to open a door (when your hands are full, or are just on the phone), ramps (perhaps you're pulling something, have a kid, or are on crutches for a few days), handrails (momentary distraction) etc.

And ditto for the phone. I consider the label on the "accessibility" settings just there to make them easy to find; they aren't there for a small number of people (even if most people change at most one default setting).

Re:iOS 14 is available today by ObsoleteNerd on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @10:05PM (#24500415)
My wife has no disabilities (and is a very light/casual tech user) but uses heaps of the iOS accessibility features. I personally had never really looked at them until she started showing me how handy so many of them are day to day.

Things like:

The triple-tap-to-zoom feature has a “low light” filter that works on top of your brightness setting so you can use it to get a lower-than-lowest-brightness for reading in bed at night (even the lowest brightness isn’t low enough sometimes).

Reachability setting if you have a big phone and small hands let’s you drag the entire interface down with 1 finger and reach buttons at the top of the UI.

LED Flash for Alerts gives you a visual notification if you work somewhere where you need your phone on silent but also can’t use vibration alerts (she works in a medical field and her phone sits across the room on a table).

Lots of interesting ideas in an area of Settings 99% of people never touch.

Re:iOS 14 is available today by singularity2001 on Thursday September 17, 2020 @04:27AM (#24502341)
Your “low light” filter is an unneccessary hack: just use the 'reduce whitepoint' feature and add it to power-button menu for quick access.

... which doesn't help the mayor annoyance that safari still doesn't support dark mode! (FF to the rescue)

Re:iOS 14 is available today by zeckalpha on Thursday September 17, 2020 @05:20AM (#24502620)
Reduce white point and low light mode are different and can be combined, at least on my 2016 SE.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by kiddico on Thursday September 17, 2020 @03:28AM (#24502040)
"Zoom" settings seems like a very odd spot to put something like a low light filter, which is why I never found it.

Thanks for sharing! (and the same to your other half!)

Re:iOS 14 is available today by Polylactic_acid on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @10:36PM (#24500585)
I make use of big text mode on my linux laptop because 1080p on a 13" laptop makes everything tiny and fractional scailing is still a beta thing right now.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by dhosek on Friday September 18, 2020 @09:29PM (#24523979)
I've long used the Mac's ctrl-scroll shortcut for zooming in on the display. Ages ago, when I was working in the same room as the design staff for a company I worked at, they saw me do that and were quick to activate it on their iMacs as it's really handy for checking pixel-level rendering on web interfaces.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by porkloin on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:08PM (#24499625)
Seriously! It's really frustrating that people tend to think accessibility features are just for people experiencing disability. The web, applications, and the whole world at large is made better for _all_ people when we build with a mind toward accessibility.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by city41 on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:12PM (#24499650)
iOS lets you turn on a red filter that disables the green and blue channels. you can set it to turn on by triple tapping the home button (or I'm guessing the back for new phones). This is the one thing I really miss after switching to Android. The red screen is fantastic for reading at night, really easy on the eyes.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by jtvjan on Thursday September 17, 2020 @01:28AM (#24501492)
Cf.lumen has this feature (yes, true red colouring, not just a yellow tinge like night shift), but it requires root and it's not updated anymore. (you need to find the 3.72 beta version online for it to work on Android Q)
Re:iOS 14 is available today by culopatin on Thursday September 17, 2020 @08:31AM (#24503795)
Android got night light even before Apple did, you could just set it at high intensity, but I’m sure you know this.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by ponderingfish on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:17AM (#24501140)
That the night-shift mode right? I've been using it for almost 2 years I think. I have the same settings on my iPhone and macbook pro
Re:iOS 14 is available today by evan_ on Thursday September 17, 2020 @03:39AM (#24502103)
No, it's a different thing.

Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters

Re:iOS 14 is available today by davchana on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @09:50PM (#24500315)
My Android 10 Realme Pro2 has a option to desaturate screen every day at a fixed schedule.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by city41 on Thursday September 17, 2020 @04:14AM (#24502269)
Yeah Android has some features and apps in this space. This iOS mode is an accessibility feature. I guess for some people a pure red screen helps them see it better?

This feature is not intended as a "night mode", it's very extreme. It also makes anything that has no red channel in its color disappear (although this is rare). I found it's a better night mode than actual night modes. But it's best if you're just reading text, for video or games it's probably too extreme.

Re:iOS 14 is available today by irrational on Thursday September 17, 2020 @02:54AM (#24501885)
Also fantastic when out star gazing.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by ghostpepper on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:39PM (#24499862)
This does not appear to be available on the iPhone SE (2016). Interestingly, searching for "Back Tap" does show a singel result for Accessibility -> Touch, but once you're there the option is hidden.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by PascLeRasc on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @09:15PM (#24500115)
I believe it requires the Taptic Engine, which only appeared on the 7 and later models.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by Answerawake on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:14AM (#24501127)
Why is that? Isn't the taptic engine just a miniaturized vibrating unit?
Re:iOS 14 is available today by throwaway5792 on Thursday September 17, 2020 @01:02AM (#24501359)
I guess a vibrating unit is an electric motor fundamentally. And an electric motor is also a generator when run in reverse. Maybe the Taptic Engine can also sense vibrations too.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by diesal11 on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @11:24PM (#24500867)
I have a 7 and cannot see this option.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by mthoms on Thursday September 17, 2020 @11:27AM (#24505818)
Ditto here.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by OkGoDoIt on Saturday September 19, 2020 @12:20AM (#24525024)
It requires the iPhone 8 or newer, sadly
Re:iOS 14 is available today by scottkrager on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:40PM (#24499864)
I take screenshots often as reminders, to annotate, etc. I setup a double-tap as an action to take a screenshot. So much faster then the older methods. You get some false positives, but really handy productivity hack.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by Cro_on on Thursday September 17, 2020 @05:11AM (#24502563)
i use the power button (which i wouldn't ordinarily use) so it's a single tap on the screen and done
Re:iOS 14 is available today by prh8 on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @11:25PM (#24500874)
Have you used it? I tried it for awhile during beta and I found it triggering far too frequently by accident.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by rexf on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @10:40PM (#24500608)
That's awesome. The ergonomics seem to require a 2 handed phone hold. With 1 hand, holding the phone and trying to tap on the back in quick succession is too difficult for me.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by Cockbrand on Thursday September 17, 2020 @07:38AM (#24503385)
I'd really like the double/triple tap to work on a locked iPhone. Opening the camera app when the phone is locked would be a nice use case for this.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by jazzdev on Friday September 18, 2020 @12:42PM (#24518957)
You can already open the camera app when the phone is locked by swiping left on the lock screen.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by purephase on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @09:45PM (#24500293)
This is really nice. I have my airpod double tap set to pause, play but I miss having siri available for hands free. This makes it easy to have both!
Re:iOS 14 is available today by miguel_rdp on Thursday September 17, 2020 @05:29AM (#24502658)
This sounds great, tried it but I have Apple's silicone cover and it needs a forceful tap, which I didn't find confortable..
Re:iOS 14 is available today by sagz on Thursday September 17, 2020 @07:17AM (#24503247)
I'm surprised they still don't have anything that comes close to Live Transcribe that Google has for Android.
Re:iOS 14 is available today by tuananh on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @11:48PM (#24501004)
i tried it but it's too slow for me. i set it up with backtap for home but it only switch after like a second or so