First we’re going to explore what it’s like to use apps with visual color deficiencies. Put your phone in black and white mode. Then use an app in which color plays some role. Take notes on the experience. Is the app usable? Does anything not work? What does it feel like?
Second, we’ll explore the experience of someone with more extreme deficiencies. You your phone either as someone who is blind or as someone who can only push a button. Put your phone in Voice Over more or Switch Control mode (or the Android equivalent) and use an app. What’s it like to use it without sight or without motor control? What works? What doesn’t? What’s surprising? What’s infuriating? What’s kind of neat!
I started by putting my phone in black and white mode. My home screen and apps are pretty colorful so seeing everything in black/white was pretty strange at first. I don't have many apps on my phone that I felt would not be usable in black/white. I decided to use YouTube, the app is still very usable but the thumbnails don't stand out as much and don't draw in your eyes. Sometimes certain colors draw you to a thumbnail but everything felt the same. I could see how someone who want's to spend less time on their phone would use this setting.
I put my phone in voice over mode and then closed my eyes. The first thing I was struggling with was the scrolling, you need to use three fingers which I wasn't used to doing and I kept forgetting. Theres a lot of voice information that you are processing with the voice over. It's very specific and I could see how helpful this option is for someone who can't see. What I did struggle with for a while was unlocking my phone, I use my finger scan to unlock my phone but that wasn't working. I clicked on the number for my password but it kept being incorrect, it ended up working after some tries. I struggled using the voice over with my closed and even with them open it took some time. I thought it was neat that in the voice over setting there's many things you can customize like the speaking rate, speech, and verbosity.