Thanks. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 7, 2025, at 11:17 PM, 'Ryan Dour' via VIPhone <[email protected]> wrote:
A bit late to this conversation. I don't tend to post often. This is one topic I feel I could help lend a hand. The LG ThinkQ app makes some LG washer and dryer units accessible. Each unit provides a different experience. I specifically purchased the following LG product: Model: SWWE50N3 Product Name: STUDIO WashTower Stacked SMART Laundry Center in Noble Steel 5.0 Cu.Ft. Front Load Washer & 7.4 Cu.Ft. Electric Dryer Note: Gas dry model is SWWG50N3 One source of information, here is the link to the product page at Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-STUDIO-WashTower-Stacked-SMART-Laundry-Center-in-Noble-Steel-5-0-Cu-Ft-Front-Load-Washer-7-4-Cu-Ft-Electric-Dryer-SWWE50N3/324595210 Physical description: This is a stacked unit, but it is also LG's largest tower. There isn't a single physical button on the unit. However, the power buttons and start / pause buttons are static elements on the touch screen that never move. I placed large tactile dots just below each of these, so that i can touch directly above these dots to activate the power and start. For low vision users, depending on vision conditions, the interface is bright large text on a dark or black background. Two low vision friends have commented at how they can use the unit quite well due to the minimalist UI and high contrast display. This particular model is very large, you can easily wash bedding in it without feeling the barrel is overstuffed. It also has a self-dispensing feature for your washing product, and you only need to specify in the settings how much liquid you added and how many washes that liquid claims to be good for. It then calculates the proper dose based on the composition and weight of the laundry, and your washing routine choice. This is much better than trying to dose it yourself, no more random drops on your hands to go wash off if you don't get things perfectly poured. The unit also has an easy to access lint trap in the dryer, and a cleanable filter for the dirty water hose that is accessed in the bottom left corner via a removable hatch. The act of cleaning it out is entirely tactile, if you're ok with getting your hands a bit dirty and know how to handle wast water situations. Running a cleaning cycle is recommended every 30 washes, and the app will remind you. The app itself is quite accessible, however, it is also taking the risk that if the app becomes inaccessible, so does the machine itself. This means needing to immediately report any bugs to LG with actionable steps to reproduce, screen recordings, and a backup plan. The good news is that by default the machine runs a normal wash and normal dry with no interactions beyond turning it on and pressing start, so under the worst conditions you have a default wash and dry cycle. My use is exclusively via VoiceOver and these limited tactile markings I have installed, no visual assistance other than original configuration to get the unit on wifi. Beyond the above warning, the app itself works quite well. I can pick a wash and dry cycle without issue. There are multiple optional preferences such as steam in the dryer, they appear as toggle switches and properly report dimmed if they don't qualify for a particular wash or dry routine. There is even an AI wash and dry cycle that uses a combination of sensors and weight to determine what materials are being washed and then later dried, it works quite well with loads of the same type of clothing, such as a load of shirts, underwear, sox, etc. Not so great for mixed loads where the materials make choosing a cycle style more ambiguous even for the AI. Overall the app was quite accessible. Like many apps, some controls may have swipe order issues, and the occasional unlabeled button. I've taken the time to email support about a few of these, but they didn't prevent my usage so far. Even the timed dry controls are accessible, but appear out of swipe order. I have not encountered a show stopper yet. I found the documentation to be readable, the manual comes as a PDF. It has a large section providing information about the various wash and dry cycles, which actually helps both save time with the wash and provides less stress for clothing when using the incorrect cycle. As an example, there is a cycle for towels that will spin cycle at an extreme speed, which isn't so gentle on your button down shirts. However, use it with a load of towels and they come out of the washer ready to dry so much faster having had the water squeezed out under incredible pressure in there. Having never had access to finite controls on a washing machine or dryer before, it is quite satisfying to know I'm no longer limited to a very basic machine or one where there are options but only the basics are accessible. One of the best parts of having a machine like this compared with previous machines I've used, the opportunity to get a push notification that the thing is actually done. Not only that, but if I know ahead of time I am not going to be around to grab out the fresh dry items that wrinkle, I can set a wrinkle guard that occasionally turns the unit back on for a few moments and tumbles the load under light heat to keep the wrinkles from forming. Hopefully this is enough detail to consider giving the LG products a try. The real challenging part is knowing if a specific model is going to work just as well, or perhaps not at all. Thus, I can only speak to the exact model I listed above. It might be overkill for some people, so consider looking at similar models that may be smaller in capacity or lacking premium features like the automatic dispenser if you don't want to spend as much on a machine like this. I sure hope this was useful information, it took a few moments to write this review, but if you're going to be spending good money on an appliance you hope is going to be fully accessible, at this time, this model at least works perfectly well for my needs as a VoiceOver user living entirely independently. Thanks, Ryan On Mar 26, 2025, at 11:51 AM, Marcos Rodrigues <[email protected]> wrote: Thanks, I will check it out. Regards. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 26, 2025, at 12:47 PM, RvR <[email protected]> wrote: Hi, I am using all Siemens devices like washer, dryer, microwave/oven, fridge and dishwasher. Their app called Home Connect is very accessible. My devices are models from 2022 and have physical buttons for start and others. I only use the app and the start button to start the programs. I am in Europe, so dont know if Siemens is available in your region. Ronald Op 25 mrt 2025, om 11:23 heeft Marcos Rodrigues <[email protected]> het volgende geschreven: Thanks. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 24, 2025, at 7:55 PM, 'Ryan Dour' via VIPhone <[email protected]> wrote: I have an LG wash tower. It is fully accessible using the LG app, but is 100% inaccessible touchscreen on its physical surface. The app is actually very good, and so all you need to do is put tactile indicators on the surface where the start buttons and power buttons exist, And everything else just works. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 24, 2025, at 2:32 PM, Barbara Stahl <[email protected]> wrote: This is completely non-phone related, but you could buy a washer and dryer that have dial's on them and you could mark the dial's. I did this using a labeling system of raise stickers I got off of Etsy. I also just wrote down The order of the settings on the various dial's so for instance, I know that the middle dial which controls water temperature goes tap cold, cold, cool warm, and so on this works quite well for me On Mar 24, 2025, at 9:50 AM, Jonathan Cohn <[email protected]> wrote: There has been some recent discussion about LG washer/dryers. I believe that they showed up at this year's CSUN Accessibility Technology conference which ended two weeks ago. Also search for Lucy Grecko of Berkeley, I probably spelled her name wrong, but she did give a talk at this years CSUN AT conference about appliance accessibility. So, hopefully given what information I provided and one or two google/bing/preplexity searches you should be able to find something out. Jonathan On Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM Marcos Rodrigues <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Good afternoon. 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