Updating Dad’s iPhone: Adding Remote Control

Today we synchronized Dad’s iPhone with his computer and installed remote control access by my laptop.  In that way, I could modify Dad’s iPhone remotely, at a moment’s notice.  Dad lives thirty miles from my house.  It’s become a regular chore for me to update his contact list, change his podcasts or song lists or download something interesting to his iPhone.  Now, I can do the update without having to wait for my next visit to the house.

Dad calls his iPhone his left hand.  I’m not entirely sure where the expression comes from but what he means to say is that he could not be without it.  It’s that important to him.  He is 91.  He was diagnosed with Adult Macular Degeneration (AMD) in 2006.  We’ve set him up with an iPhone.  On it are several simple to use, very handy apps including Talking Clock Digital, BigNames, JustSongs and Magnifyer.  There are others, too, but these are the essential ones.

Talking Clock tells him the day, date and time when you touch the screen.  The digital display is huge but he prefers to hear the time spoken.  BigNames by Xinsight is Dad’s contact list and telephone dialer.  The names are huge and the display is set to white lettering on black background.  It works like a charm.  He has dozens of names and telephone numbers that he can read, and touch to place a call.  JustSongs is Dad’s playlist though lately he has become enamored with Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose for which we made a separate Home Screen button that goes directly to that one collection of songs.  Magnifyer turns the iPhone into a magnifying lens for reading labels, menus and such.

Last year I started a company called Alibali Software which produced all of the apps mentioned above with the exception of BigNames.  All are available in the iTunes store (shameless plug).

Setting up the iPhone Home Screen

The key to successfully using the iPhone with low vision is to setup the Home screen properly.

Simplifying the iPhone’s Home screen by removing all icons except for those of apps that are often used such as Phone, iPod and Talking Clock.  Move all  of other icons to another page.

In this example, there are just four apps; three in the dock at the bottom and one in the screen above.  They are easy to find. Hiding the other apps prevents unintended consequences which often lead to annoying, unwanted changes and extremely frustrating, difficult technical support telephone calls.

Big Names — An iPhone App

Big Names by Xinsight is an exceptionally well done app. Big Names can be used instead of your contact list on the iPhone to place calls .  The names are boldly displayed in a scrolling list in large type.  The text is so large that only five names appear on the screen at a time.

You can see, from the photos, that some care should go into using condensed names.  Whatever name you use in your contact list appears the same way in Big Names.  So it might be better to have Dad, Bill, and Sis rather than Mr. Alexander Dubchek, William Lattimore Thomas, and Katherine Samantha Jellison.

 

Magnifyer™ – An iPhone App

This is the first screen you see when you launch Magnifyer™.  The graphic shows how to move the iPhone to change the image size.

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Magnifyer™ was designed to turn the iPhone into a magnifying glass to read the fine print, menus, labels and the like for the visually impaired.  Magnification ranges up to 14x.  We use the accelerometer in the iPhone to control the magnification.  Simply moving the iPhone closer to or away from the object makes the image larger and smaller.  Pretty nifty.

There is also finger controls.  Swiping the screen upwards enlarges the magnification of the object.  Swiping downwards reduces the magnification.  There is also an audible whistle played when the screen is swiped. Since Magnifyer™ was published, Apple has incorporated a similar action into the standard camera view; not great for our sales but good for the visually impaired community.

The program was designed by Allen Lubow.  The programming was done by Arie Putu Ganapathi.  The graphics are by Isaac Lubow and the Alibali Software logo was done by Milton Glaser.

Talking Clock Digital

 

Talking Clock Digital was our first app for the visually impaired.  When launched, the time, day and date are displayed in bold, large type filling the iPhone screen.  The time, day and date are spoken aloud, too.  Each you touch the screen the date, day and time are repeated aloud.

 

 

The voice is that of Candice Agree, who was the voice of WQXR radio’s Classical Music radio program.  The animated logo of Alibali Software was designed by Milton Glaser.  The programming was done by Arie Putu Ganapathi.

 

 

We are very proud of the fact that there are no other features to the program.  Whereas most software publishers can’t seem to refrain from adding feature upon feature to programs until their original intend is buried under a mountain of difficult to navigate menus, windows and buttons, we managed to keep it simple.

 

iPhone: Accessibility Tool?

At the same time as my father was having to adjust to life with Adult Macular Degeneration (AMD), I began experimenting with iPhone apps and thought we could write some for Dad’s use.  I am a software developer, an inventor and early adopter of new technology.

As a result, we produced Talking Clock Digital, Magnifyer™, JustSongs and JustPodcasts.  Each is described in a separate blog post.  We also worked very hard to setup Dad’s iPhone for the best possible use of the apps.   Setting up the iPhone, it turns out, is just as important as the apps themselves.  This process is also described in a separate blog post.  After all, if you can’t access the apps, what good are they?

We also highly recommend Big Names, by Xinsight.  This app displays your contact list in lettering large enough for even those with severe vision problems to be able to see.  The app is exceptionally well done and can be used instead of Apple’s own phone dialing system.

Dad swears by his iPhone now but in the beginning he did more swearing at it.  We learned alot about how to setup the apps, how to arrange his home page, what to put out of sight and what apps he should and shouldn’t use.

Now, Dad uses his iPhone religiously.  He calls it his left hand.  He gets the date and time often.  He makes all of his calls from the iPhone.  We setup calls he would receive with different ringtones for each of his favorite callers.  We made custom buttons on his Home Page for certain songs he loves to hear and his favorite radio stations. There are many other apps for low vision worth mentioning, too.  If you have others you would like to suggest here, please do so.

Please note: While iPhone is a wonderful technology with limitless promise to provide fantastic new access to information and to be able to communicate with others, it is not without some serious shortcomings, especially for the low-vision community.  For one thing, there are very few buttons to press or touch. The few controls that are provided, will take a lot of getting used to for the elderly and low vision communities.  We do not advocate using the iPhone unless the user is willing to go through a certain amount of learning and accommodating. Otherwise, the experience will be frustrating and not end well.

Designing iPhone Software for the Visually Impaired

Call me crazy. Why would anyone choose a device for the visually impaired that has no buttons, no keypad, and a minimal design like the iPhone?  For just that, its simplicity.

Here’s how I looked at the problem:  A device should be designed for the 95th percentile. Practically speaking, that means that designers should only add features when shown that they will work for the vast majority of your customers. Likewise, never add a feature that is for only a handful of your customers.  That’s good advice, especially when talking about software, because every new feature is also the source for more confusion.  If a feature only helps 5% of your users, it is bound to confuse the majority of your customers who don’t need it.  The take away — keep it simple. How about a piece of software with only one function?

Making the iPhone work for the visually impaired is also akin to the one-handed mailbox problem. That’s another bit of wisdom I picked up in design school that goes something like this: the standard U.S. Postal Service mailbox, the box that stands on the street corner and has been standard issue for the last seventy-five years, is a device that requires two hands. You can’t mail a letter with one hand. It can’t be done. What’s wrong with that, you ask?  Well, that mailbox was created, thinking that except for the one-handed amputee, the rest of the community would be able to mail letters without a problem. Ouch. What about someone carrying groceries, or a pregnant woman, or a mother with a toddler in tow or a man with a large attache case? These are all one-handed people, too, aren’t they?

As wonderful as it is, and it is truly wonderful, the iPhone is a problematic for large segments of society. In many other respects it is the perfect storm of technological innovation. And, the stuff works. Apple put together, in one small package, a computer, a telephone, a GPS device, multiple sensors like temperature, moisture, tilt, sound and light, camera and speakers. No wonder over 65,000,000 of these devices have already been sold. If you are a healthy, fifteen year old, this device is for YOU!

But, if you’re six or sixty-six, the box starts not to work as well.  The more out there you are on the bell curve, the less well it works. My grandson drowned an iPhone by sucking on it. I have many friends who are seniors with iPhones. Do you know what is the first thing they say to me when I say “Take a look at this great app on my iPhone.”? They say, “Hold on, let me get my glasses.” It’s too small for them to see.

My philosophy — If you can design for the 95% percentile, those customers at the ends of the bell curve, you are going to be improving the design for all of its users. If a one-handed mailbox could be designed,  that would be an improvement that would be appreciated not only by amputees but by all letter mailers.

If the iPhone could be made to work for the visually impaired, that would be a huge contribution.  I was up for the challenge.