Apple is upping the ante in accessibility with the launch of sign language interpretation for a small number of original shows on the Apple TV+ streaming service.
After updating the Apple TV+ application, users will be able to toggle on and off American Sign Language and British Sign Language for a selection of Apple Originals, the company said.
The move is designed to make Apple’s content more accessible to those who are deaf and hard of hearing, and gives them an additional option alongside the subtitles that are common across all major streaming platforms. And it’s great that the feature covers both ASL and BSL, which are totally different from one another, with their own grammatical rules, sentence structures and visual cues. According to Apple, the two sign languages are both better at conveying emotion than regular text-based subtitles.
Users will see which films and shows support sign language through a helpful “Sign Language” icon that appears next to supported content in the menus. All they have to do is turn the feature on through the Apple TV+ settings menu. Alternatively, users can search for supported content directly by typing the name of a show or movie and adding “with ASL” or “with BSL.”
Unfortunately, there is very little such content to begin with. The first Apple Original to support ASL and BSL is Being Heumann, which is a biographical drama about the American disability rights activist Judith Heumann that launches on Apple TV today. The film’s sign language interpretation was directed by Daniel Durant, who explained that his team took “a lot of care to ensure every translation captured the emotion and meaning of the story.”
It’s because of this need for such accuracy that the rollout of sign language support is going to be rather slow. Apple said F1: The Movie will be the next to get ASL and BSL, hopefully arriving in the next few weeks. Later this year, the 2020 war film Greyhound and the soon-to-be-released Way Of The Warrior will also be added to Apple’s ASL and BSL content lists, and more titles are promised in the coming months.
Apple said sign language interpretation will work across all of its hardware platforms, including the Apple TV 4K box, the Apple Vision Pro virtual reality headset, plus the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. Whichever device you have, it will need to run the latest version of Apple’s operating system, such as tvOS 27.2, iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS 27.2 or visionOS 27.2.
Although the catalogue of content is small for now, it’s an encouraging sign for anyone with hearing disabilities, and shows that streaming platforms and broadcasters are beginning to take accessibility seriously. HBO Max has also promised to add support for BSL in the U.K., but has so far not done so.
Last month, Sky introduced support for live, AI-generated captions for 109 live Premier League football games this season. It provides a continuous, blow-by-blow commentary of what’s actually happening in the game, similar to traditional radio, to make up for the fact that some people may not be able to hear the commentator properly.
