This week I was going to tell you about Apple’s strong history of accessibility features, specifically how to turn AirPods into hearing aids. This amazing technology is easy to set up (see our article with four easy steps) and will help many people with hearing loss.

Unfortunately, Apple’s strong history has been blemished with the removal of some critical Siri commands used by many people, especially sight-impaired or blind iPhone users.

So this email has been interrupted for a public service announcement on Apple iPhone’s iOS update.

Don’t update your iPhone if you rely on Siri commands to check and play your voicemails and calls.

Yes, I repeat … Don’t update your iPhone if you rely on Siri commands to check and play your voicemails and calls.

Apple turned a blind eye to their sight impaired/blind users by removing some critical Siri commands in recent iOS (Apples operating system) updates.

In the past few months some of the most popular Siri commands are no longer working, making this “upgrade” more of a “downgrade,” especially for visually-impaired and blind users. The removed commands include:

• Do I have any voicemails?
• Play my voicemail messages.
• Check my call history.
• Check my recent calls.
• Who called me?
• Send an email.

If you have already updated your iPhone, you can try rolling back the iOS update or wait until Apple sees the error of its ways and brings back these useful Siri commands.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming: here’s the article on How to use Apple AirPods as Hearing Aids.  Not every hearing problem will be fixed by changing your hearing profiles, but many people could benefit from Apple’s LiveListen technology.

And remember, LSH (Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation of Southern California) helps fund services to restore the gifts of sight and hearing for those who can’t afford the help they need in 12 California counties.  Find out if we can help you by visiting LSHF.org or calling us at 1-800-647-6638.

Randy Stein, CEO