4 Accessibility Tips for Capturing your Photos this Summer

As the weather (hopefully) brings us towards a Summer of adventures, holidays, day trips and everything in between, I've put together some tips and tricks to help everyone capture those moments to look back on!

There are a few ways to access the camera on your mobile device and iPad that may be a little more hidden beneath the settings, so I'd love to share some of these so that everyone can get involved with capturing memories! This list does focus on, but isn't limited to iOS devices, read on to find out more ...

1 . Using the Volume Keys

When you open up the Camera app on your device, the main 'capture' button will appear to the bottom centre of the screen, in either orientation. It can be quite a stretch to reach this, especially whilst holding a device securely with two hands. Instead, try using the 'Volume up' button on the side of the device instead! This will act as the camera shutter button instead, offering a more comfortable and secure grip to take your photo or video. This works for both iOS and Android!

2 . Voice Control on iOS

Whilst use of smart speakers and our phone assistants has become well embedded into daily device use, Voice Control on iOS offers new levels of functionality for users that benefit from skipping the physical gestures to get to what they want to do on their device. In the case of taking a photo, you're able to choose exactly what you want to say in order for to capture the moment with a picture.

Firstly, head to the Shortcuts App

In the Gallery, search for a Shortcut called 'Say Cheese' and select the + icon to add it to your library of Shortcuts.

Next, head to:

Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control > ON

Then:

Commands > Custom > Create New Command

Here you choose the exact words you'd like to trigger this action, 'take a photo', or 'lets take a selfie' work well! As you won't be using a 'wake word' such as Siri, it is important to consider that the phone will take a photo when Voice Control is ON, whenever it hears this command, so something a little more unique can be helpful.

Next, choose the Action > Run Shortcut > Choose 'Say Cheese'

Application > Camera

Hit 'Save'!

Now when you open the Camera App, you'll be able to use your chosen command to take a photo with your voice!

Tip: Add your command as a quick phrase or programmed cell into your AAC device for easy, efficient access. You may have to switch 'off' some other commands to prevent accidental triggers.

3 . External Bluetooth Switches

This one lets us build on iOS and Android use of the Volume button as your camera shutter, and for this there are a couple of options I would recommend from Pretorian Technologies; iSwitch and APPlicator

Both are wireless, rechargeable, and connect via Bluetooth to your devices via your phone or tablets main Bluetooth menu. The main difference is that the iSwitch is a switch in its own right, whereas the APPlicator lets you plug in a switch of your choosing; wobble switch, grasp switch, Pal Pad to name just a few! Once connected you can choose the function that you want to replicate with the switch, in this case, we will choose 'Volume Up'.

With your iSwitch or APPlicator and switch connected, you'll be able to take photos when the Camera app is open. This will work both for photos, and to start/stop video recording. You can use iSwitch and APPlicator with most Bluetooth devices, so this is a great option for both Android and iOS phones, and also Windows OS for a wealth of other functions. Our Operational Lead, Andrew, has written all about this system in a previous post, which you can read here.

Tip: the configuration options and set-up steps can be found in the device manual, which are also in PDF format on the Pretorian website.

4 . Assistive Touch Menu on iOS

In a similar way to the first solution, reaching over the camera button on the touchscreen can be impractical, unsteady or unsafe when trying to keep your device in prime position for your photo. The Assistive Touch menu lets you move this to a more accessible part of your screen ...

You can set up assistive touch by:

Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Assistive Touch > ON

When in the AssistiveTouch settings page, choose 'Customise Top Level Menu'

Here, we're going to again find 'Volume Up' and add this to our menu. You can have a few options on your menu here, which are certainly worth exploring, but if you have only 'Volume Up' on your menu, this will be its only function of the floating AssistiveTouch button.

Now, when you open up the Camera app, you will see your floating AssistiveTouch button on the screen - drag this over to the most convenient and comfortable position for you, and snap away.

I hope you all enjoy capturing your Summer memories!