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In general, Apple takes technology accessibility seriously. Its most visible efforts come via iPhone features like voice control, but they’re hardly limited to iOS and iPadOS. Although accessibility features are developed to help people with physical disabilities, macOS users can also access a number of accessibility features that make computers easier for anyone to use.
Makes it easier for the eyes to see
You probably spend hours every day staring at your Mac screen, which isn’t great for your eyes, strictly speaking. Fortunately, these accessibility adjustments can help alleviate eye strain.
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display, then try the following features:
- Reduce Transparency: This removes the blurry menu bar and other fancy elements making them more concrete and easier to see.
- Increase Contrast: Another useful feature that removes ambiguity from the Mac interface. Buttons are clearly marked as buttons by an outline.
- Invert Colors: A ruthless version of dark mode that turns white to black and black to white, making media and text easier to see (doesn’t work if you have dark mode on).
- Pointer: From this section, you can change the color of the mouse pointer, making it easier to see.
- Color Filters: This tab has a couple of different color filters that you can apply. The grayscale filter will make everything on the screen black and white, which can be useful when trying to reduce screen time.
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Zoom in on text (or anything)
The screen of a MacBook is high resolution. This is great, but it also means, by default, that some elements are too small to see clearly unless you have perfect vision. You can make everything on the screen bigger by going to System Preferences > Displays. Here, choose the “Larger Text” option, or the No Label option next to it, to make the text and interface bigger.
However, let’s say you only want to zoom in on a document or image once in a while. This is where your Mac’s zoom feature comes into play. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Zoom and enable the “Use hotkeys to zoom” feature. Now, use Option + Command + Equal to zoom in on the screen. Keep pressing the “=” button while holding the other keys to continue zoning. Use Option + Command + Minus to shrink the image.
If you want to zoom in with your mouse or trackpad, choose “Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom.” Holding down Control will allow you to use the scrolling of your mouse or trackpad as a zoom function.
By default, your Mac zooms to the entire screen, but you can change this to a picture-in-picture or split-screen mode from the “Zoom Style” drop-down menu in the zoom settings.
Use the built-in screen reader
You spend most of your time looking at text on the screen, but what if you asked your Mac to read things to you? Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content and enable the “Speak Selection” option. Then click the “Options” button next to it to customize your settings. By default, the keyboard shortcut to activate this feature is Option + Escape, but you can change it to whatever you want. From here, you can also change the highlight color.
To use the feature, highlight the text you want to read aloud (use the shortcut Command + A to select all text on a page). Then use the keyboard shortcut Option + Escape to hear the text. It’s similar to how things work on your iPhone.
If you’re looking for a slightly more advanced solution, Apple’s VoiceOver feature lets you hear what’s on the screen and then gives you options to interact with it, all using the keyboard. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Turn on VoiceOver. It’s worth checking out the quick start guide as implementing the feature can be a bit confusing.
Dictate, not write
Can’t type for too long due to engine problems or RSI? We can all benefit from a break from the keyboard. Your Mac’s Dictation feature lets you type with your voice, and it works surprisingly well.
To enable it, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation and make sure the feature is turned on. Next, take a look at the “Shortcut” dropdown menu and change it to whatever works best for you.
Now, go to any text field, use the keyboard shortcut and wait for the dictation icon to appear. Start speaking and your Mac will convert your speech to text.
Control everything on your Mac with voice control
In fact, you can take control of everything on your Mac with just your voice. Voice control is a deeply integrated feature that works with all apps. Once enabled, you can use it to do everything you can with a keyboard and mouse, including reading and writing text, clicking buttons, scrolling through documents, and more.
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Voice Control > Turn on Voice Control to get started. Follow the setup process to select and download languages. You can then ask Siri to “Turn on voice control” to enter voice control mode. You can also ask Siri to turn off voice control.
When the feature is enabled, you will see a small microphone icon. Start saying commands like “Open mail,” “Scroll down,” and “Click Done,” and the voice control feature will do them for you. For even more control, you can choose the menu next to “Overlay” and choose between “Item Numbers” or “Item Grid”. This will place numbers or a grid across the entire screen, allowing you to tell your Mac to interact with a specific number or grid section for a more accurate and precise experience.
Type to Siri
Siri can be useful on your Mac, but sometimes, you just don’t want to ask a question out loud. If you’d rather ask your digital assistant something in private, turn on Write to Siri. Go to System Preferences > Siri > Enable Type to Siri. Now, whenever you activate Siri, you will see a text box appear, where you can enter your questions.