Apple announced a set of accessibility updates powered by Apple Intelligence that will expand features in VoiceOver, voice control, live recognition, and real-time caption generation for videos. The company said the features will be available later this year, likely as part of the iOS 27 release.

Vision Pro users will be able to control a compatible wheelchair with their eyes through the update. The wheelchair-control feature will launch with Tolt and LUCI drive systems in the U.S., with support for Bluetooth and wired accessories, and will work under varying lighting conditions without recalibration.

The image recognition feature in VoiceOver will describe images in detail, including photographs and personal records, and will read out information such as the amount and due date of a bill. Users will also be able to activate a Live Recognition feature on an iPhone that uses the camera to identify content in the frame and allows follow-up questions.

Users with low vision can assign the Magnifier app to the action button to present content on a high-contrast interface. Users can use voice commands such as "zoom in" or "turn on flashlight" to access features. The company said users can describe tasks in natural language to take actions on what they see on the screen, including commands such as "tap the guide about best restaurants" in Apple Maps or "tap the purple folder" in Files.

Apple updated Reader to handle documents such as scientific papers with multiple columns, images, and tables. Users can get AI-powered summaries and read text in the original language with custom fonts and colors retained. The company said the updated Reader can cater to disabilities such as dyslexia and low vision.

The company is adding AI-generated subtitles for videos without pre-generated captions, including videos recorded on an iPhone or received from contacts. The subtitles will work across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, and users can control their appearance.

A name recognition feature, which notifies users with hearing disabilities when someone says their name, will support 50 languages. Made for iPhone hearing aids will handle handoff between different devices. The company will also roll out large text support to tvOS.