Today, with great pride and deep enthusiasm for blind readers everywhere, I am incredibly excited to announce the release of the free Access Information News iOS app for iPhone and iPad, and the free Access Information News Android app for Android phones and tablets.
Did I create these apps specifically for blind readers? Yes, I did. But since I am not blind myself, I decided that I would still contribute to this app from a sighted e-reader best practices perspective, while tapping blind experts with extensive e-reader experience to map out the most-requested functionalities that sighted reading apps lacked. Unless you’re blind, you’d probably be surprised at just how many there are.
In short, today, there are functionalities that blind readers expect in an app dedicated to reading. Just as there are functionalities that sighted readers expect in an app dedicated to reading. Some overlap, but many do not. So I wanted to build an app for Access Information News that blended the two. This is my first attempt. And I would love to know what you think.
I will provide a list of the Top 12 app functionalities below that I think readers will be most excited about, but I encourage you to read the full list on the new, dedicated Access Information News App page. Or, better still, simply download the app and try it yourself. If you feel there is a functionality I missed, I would love to hear about it.
The Access Information News App page: https://accessinformationnews.com/app/
For iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later), on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6822820788
For Android phones and tablets (Android 8.0 or later), on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mvsltd.accessinformationnews
These apps were designed, from the ground up, for blind readers. Every screen was tested at each step of the development process using Apple’s own automated accessibility audit, with VoiceOver and the largest text sizes in mind, and reviewed by AI accessibility agents before being tested on a real iPhone and iPad by 3 unique, anonymous blind users and 3 unique, anonymous sighted users prior to launch. The Android app was held to the same standard, with every main screen checked by Google’s own Accessibility Test Framework on Android phones and tablets, with TalkBack in mind. If you encounter a bug, I would love to know about it.
The apps are free, carry no additional ads and have no in-app purchases. They were built to be the most accessible way to read Access Information News each and every week. Period. Please tell me how I did. Especially if you are a blind reader.
Blind readers, specifically, have been asking for an app for as long as I can remember. Since about 2008 if memory serves, when Apple first launched the App Store. But the development cost always made this idea a nonstarter.
Before the rise of AI coding assistance, developing native reading apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, built specifically for blind and low-vision readers, could easily have cost between $200,000 USD and $550,000 USD for professional, production-ready builds.
While a standard commercial app fell on the lower end of that spectrum, an accessibility-first app commanded a steep premium. Before AI could instantly write screen-reader mappings or automate auditory logic, developers had to manually architect highly specialized features.
So when I found that AI coding had finally gotten to the point where I could reduce this cost by approximately 100X, I decided to donate the time and resources required to create them. These apps are my gift to the publication and to blind readers everywhere. I am sorry only that it took me 18 years to get us here. But at long last, they are finally here. And they’re far better than we ever could have made them before.
Access Information News escrow will take care of the maintenance of these apps going forward. I was only able to donate the builds. This means that going forward Access Information News Sponsors and Advertisers will support these apps just as they support the ongoing distribution of the publication via email today.
And if you also read our sister publication, Top Tech Tidbits, its own apps for iPhone, iPad and Android are coming soon.
I sincerely hope you enjoy them, and I look forward to any feedback that you might like to share at publisher@accessinformationnews.com 📧️.
Before you go, below are the Top 12 Features of the New Access Information News Apps that I think you will be most excited about:
- Listen. The app reads the issue aloud from wherever you are, highlights the heading being read, and keeps reading when your screen locks. Set a sleep timer, listen to everything you’ve saved in a row, or, on iPhone and iPad, just say “Hey Siri, read me the latest Access Information News.” On Android, tap Listen right in the new-issue notification.
- Built for VoiceOver, TalkBack and Braille. Every section is a level 2 heading and every article a level 3 heading, so the VoiceOver rotor, or TalkBack set to Headings, moves you article by article. Sections jumps to any part of the issue and tells you how many articles you haven’t reached yet, and emoji are left out of headings unless you want them.
- The New Issue, First Thing Monday. Turn on the New Issue Notification and each new issue downloads on its own overnight, with a notification normally at 6:00 AM Eastern, ready to read with no connection.
- Topic Alerts. Follow words or names such as JAWS or braille, and get an alert naming every article that mentions them. Your device looks through each issue itself, so your topics never reach us.
- Save, Notes and Highlights. Save any article for later, add your own notes, and highlight passages, with VoiceOver and braille telling you where each highlight starts and ends on iPhone and iPad. All of it follows you to your other Apple devices through your own iCloud account, and on Android it is kept in your Android backup, so it comes back on a new phone or tablet.
- Stories Without the Clutter. On iPhone and iPad, tap any story and it opens in Reader View, just its words without the website’s menus and ads. On every device, translate the whole issue into another language, with Apple’s own translation on iPhone and iPad (iOS 18 or later) or Google’s translation on Android.
- Events. Every upcoming event from every issue in one list, soonest first. Tap an event to add it to your calendar, with its time and link already filled in, or touch and hold it to see it in its issue.
- Every Issue Since 2022. Every Access Information News issue from November 7, 2022 to today is in the app, each article with its own heading, so you can move through the archive article by article, just like this week’s issue.
- Search Every Issue, Even Offline. Search every issue from 2022 to today, article by article, even with no connection, and jump straight to the article you pick.
- Your Text, Your Colors. The issue grows with your device’s text size up to the largest accessibility sizes, with nothing cut off. Choose Dark Mode, high-contrast Yellow on Black, White on Black or Black on White, the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, and wider line spacing.
- Take the Issue Anywhere. Share a link to any article or the whole issue, or save the issue as a text file or an EPUB book for the Books app or any reading app, a braille notetaker or a book player.
- One Tap Away. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show the newest issue (on Android, a Home screen widget), a Control Center button opens it and starts Listen with one press (iOS 18 or later), as does a Quick Settings tile on Android, and touching and holding the app’s icon takes you straight to Listen, Search or Saved. Or, on iPhone and iPad, just say “Hey Siri, open the latest Access Information News.”
Cheers,
” The greatest barrier to accessibility is indifference. “
Aaron Di Blasi, PMP
Engineer, Educator, Advocate, Publisher & Journalist
President & Sr. PMP, Mind Vault Solutions, Ltd., PR Director: AT-Newswire, Publisher: AI-Weekly, Top Tech Tidbits, Access Information News, Title II Today
Mind Vault Solutions, Ltd.
President, Sr. Project Management Professional (2006 — Present)
Innovative ideas. Solutions that perform.
Top Tech Tidbits
Publisher (2020 — Present)
The Week’s News in Access Technology
Access Information News
Publisher (2022 — Present)
The Week’s News in Access Information
AI-Weekly
Publisher (2024 — Present)
The Week’s News in Artificial Intelligence
AT-Newswire.com
PR Director (2024 — Present)
Access Technology’s Digital Newswire
Title II Today
Publisher (2025 — Present)
The Month’s News in Title II Compliance
PWD Media Co-Op
Founder (2025 — Present)
Amplifying Disability Voices Through Collective Reach
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