My Top Ten List of Favorite iOS Apps
May. 26th, 2020 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzyjjHi everybody. Hope you're all still keeping safe and sound during the pandemic. I recently received an email on a list, asking members to post their top 10 iOS apps. Well, I think I just discovered one extra app in my list or some numbering snafu but that's okay. You tell me. Perhaps there will be a bonus at the end. I've decided to post this here as well, just in case anyone wants to check these out if they haven't. Let's show those developers some more love! I may not have as many iOS apps as others, but here you go. I will offer up a brief explanation of the app where appropriate. Additionally, I will refer readers to AppleVis to find most of these apps. Some of these are mainstream apps, while others were designed specifically for users of assistive technology. With all the introductions out of the way, here we go! Enjoy.
To be honest I've not really given this much thought yet, as I'm still somewhat new to iOS. I've had my phone since 2018, but due to various other commitments I'm only now starting to use it on a regular basis. But having said that, in no particular order I think Number 1 for me is Weather Gods. As the name suggests and for those who haven't experienced the awesomeness, it is a weather app. This app just received a major update over the weekend. I've found Apple's native weather app to be very good, but WG is really great because of all the sounds. Obviously I cannot see the screen animations, but it works great with VoiceOver and the devs are very responsive. Additionally, their app gets updated frequently.
My local healthcare provider's patient portal and companion app is number 2 on my list, because of the great accessibility with VO. VO = VoiceOver. I've read that not many of these portals work well or at all with screen readers, but the local hospital network and devs have done a nice job.
Number 3 on my list would probably have to be BARD Mobile, an app for registered patrons only. I am an avid reader, and this app makes it really easy. I still use the BARD website on my Mac, and my DTBM for some things. DTBM = digital talking book machine. But I've had little to no trouble with this app.
Number 4 is NFB Newsline Mobile. I was never much for the news--especially given all the violence in recent years. But I've been a Newsline subscriber since shortly after the service debuted, and the team has done a very nice job. As mentioned here, this app is only available to subscribers of the service.
Number 5 is Time Crest: The Door. I saw this app mentioned on AppleVis, but didn't pay much attention to it until my brother sent me a link to it in the App store a couple years ago. I've played the game and really like it.
ACB Link comes in at number 6. This app lets you connect with the American Council of the Blind. You do not have to be a member in order to use it though. I've done a bit with this app, and the developer is doing a nice job. I'm attending the ACB virtual convention in July. It'll be my first ACB convention, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Number 7 is Seeing AI from Microsoft. I haven't quite mastered taking pictures on my phone, but am working on it.
Microsoft Soundscape is number 8.
Talking Typer from APH comes in at number 9 for me.
Marco Polo is 10 on the list, but it probably should be bumped up a bit. This is a messaging app that I heard about from a neighbor. The developers have done a very good job making it work with VoiceOver. I'm using the free version, but they just started a newsletter which said a paid version is in the works. Hopefully that will be accessible too. This app was listed on AppleVis at one time, but for some reason it got taken down. So I'm providing the link here for everyone's convenience. To check out Marco Polo, just point your fave browser to https://www.marcopolo.me .
Bonus: Scriptalk is last, only because I don't think I have the correct kind of labels. But it'll be interesting to actually read one of my medication bottles when I am able to obtain the proper labels.
I have other apps, but there you go. One final thought: Please don't feel obligated to download these. I'm just posting this here for fun, and to let more people know of their existence. There's so much that iOS can do these days, and I've found the apps that come pre-installed to be quite good as well.
To be honest I've not really given this much thought yet, as I'm still somewhat new to iOS. I've had my phone since 2018, but due to various other commitments I'm only now starting to use it on a regular basis. But having said that, in no particular order I think Number 1 for me is Weather Gods. As the name suggests and for those who haven't experienced the awesomeness, it is a weather app. This app just received a major update over the weekend. I've found Apple's native weather app to be very good, but WG is really great because of all the sounds. Obviously I cannot see the screen animations, but it works great with VoiceOver and the devs are very responsive. Additionally, their app gets updated frequently.
My local healthcare provider's patient portal and companion app is number 2 on my list, because of the great accessibility with VO. VO = VoiceOver. I've read that not many of these portals work well or at all with screen readers, but the local hospital network and devs have done a nice job.
Number 3 on my list would probably have to be BARD Mobile, an app for registered patrons only. I am an avid reader, and this app makes it really easy. I still use the BARD website on my Mac, and my DTBM for some things. DTBM = digital talking book machine. But I've had little to no trouble with this app.
Number 4 is NFB Newsline Mobile. I was never much for the news--especially given all the violence in recent years. But I've been a Newsline subscriber since shortly after the service debuted, and the team has done a very nice job. As mentioned here, this app is only available to subscribers of the service.
Number 5 is Time Crest: The Door. I saw this app mentioned on AppleVis, but didn't pay much attention to it until my brother sent me a link to it in the App store a couple years ago. I've played the game and really like it.
ACB Link comes in at number 6. This app lets you connect with the American Council of the Blind. You do not have to be a member in order to use it though. I've done a bit with this app, and the developer is doing a nice job. I'm attending the ACB virtual convention in July. It'll be my first ACB convention, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Number 7 is Seeing AI from Microsoft. I haven't quite mastered taking pictures on my phone, but am working on it.
Microsoft Soundscape is number 8.
Talking Typer from APH comes in at number 9 for me.
Marco Polo is 10 on the list, but it probably should be bumped up a bit. This is a messaging app that I heard about from a neighbor. The developers have done a very good job making it work with VoiceOver. I'm using the free version, but they just started a newsletter which said a paid version is in the works. Hopefully that will be accessible too. This app was listed on AppleVis at one time, but for some reason it got taken down. So I'm providing the link here for everyone's convenience. To check out Marco Polo, just point your fave browser to https://www.marcopolo.me .
Bonus: Scriptalk is last, only because I don't think I have the correct kind of labels. But it'll be interesting to actually read one of my medication bottles when I am able to obtain the proper labels.
I have other apps, but there you go. One final thought: Please don't feel obligated to download these. I'm just posting this here for fun, and to let more people know of their existence. There's so much that iOS can do these days, and I've found the apps that come pre-installed to be quite good as well.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-27 05:48 pm (UTC)Two Voice Dream apps: Voice Dream Reader, which is an e-book reader, and Voice Dream Writer, which is a word processor. Both are customized for the visually impaired. I prefer the epub reader Marvin for large-font reading, but both Voice Dream apps are great for text-to-speech. Plus, Voice Dream Reader accesses Bookshare's periodicals, which I can't download onto Marvin, since they're not available in epub.
I think that's it for the accessibility apps I use. If I could afford a braille display, I'm sure I'd be using BARD, if only to keep my braille knowledge fresh. As it is, Bookshare and Open Library meet my needs.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-30 02:47 pm (UTC)