Monarch: Looking Forward

We have heard your questions and concerns about the Monarch, and we’re here to provide the answers! Our Monarch support team has compiled some of the most frequently asked questions to help you get the information you’re looking for. 

When will we see email and terminal mode on the Monarch?  

We know these features are important to you! Emergent technology is time intensive to develop, but we are working diligently to add these functionalities to your Monarchs. Consider 2007, the brand-new iPhone (no numbers yet!) was shipped to customers with no app store, no Microsoft Exchange support for email or calendar syncing, no ability to have two apps open at once, and no copy and paste. It wasn’t until iOS 2 released almost a year later, that the famously elegant user experience took shape.  

Similar to the iPhone, APH has prioritized a solid software foundation for the Monarch at release that will support its blossoming future for years to come. With the Monarch being the first multiline tactile display capable of rendering both braille and tactile graphics, we are proud to say that APH and HumanWare have created every aspect of the interface and software. No user interface with multiline braille or graphics has ever existed before the Monarch, so even seemingly small features such as the focus indicator, a nine-dot square that highlights where your cursor is, required over five months of extensive testing and refinement. When we say we’re working as fast as we can, we mean it!

The concept of utilizing multiple lines in apps is entirely in a class of its own. Even the simple user interface you see today required us to create a completely new framework for software development. Because of the newness of the technology, mainstream support by common screen readers is still in development by their respective teams. Connection with mainstream devices is temporarily limited in some capacities until there is broader support for multiline tactile interfaces. While the future is very bright and we have every expectation that Google, screen reader software companies, and others will expand support for this tactile technology in the very near future, until then, every multiline experience is created by our developers from scratch.

Please rest assured that the apps and features you see today are only the beginning! APH’s software team is hard at work on Monarch’s first software update, which we expect to release in Spring 2025. Along with performance improvements and bug fixes, we will be adding KeyMail (an email app), Contacts, and support for the eBraille standard, another first-of-its-kind specification. 

What is the future of apps on Monarch? 

At APH, we initially sought to release the Monarch as a Google-certified device right at launch. That would mean that Monarch users could download any app from the Google Play Store. However, since it is neither a traditional tablet nor smartphone and doesn’t meet the standard definition of a touch screen, the Monarch did not fit neatly into the current requirements set out by Google for certifying devices. At this time, the apps in the Google Play Store are not built to support multiline braille or tactile graphics, and until accessibility support is updated, third party apps aren’t yet being designed to take advantage of the multiline and tactile capacity of the Monarch.  

Because this is  an emerging technology (and because we have an exceptional team of software engineers), APH was inspired to create a foundation outside of the certification structure under which we built our own Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK will enable developers to build customized tactile experiences for the Monarch that will be efficient and beneficial in the classroom, the workplace, and beyond. In upcoming updates in 2025, the Monarch will support cloud sharing services to enable simple sharing of files and easy communication between students, teachers, employees, and their colleagues. 

Can I install APK files on my Monarch? 

Because the Monarch is not officially Google Certified, we are not able to support users in undertaking unofficial Google activities. This includes supporting users with installing unofficial Android Package or APK files, or, in other words, apps for Android available outside of the Google Play store. While it technically is possible to install these on the Monarch, we do caution that there is a high likelihood that the accessibility and usability of those third-party apps will be less than ideal as these apps do not support a multiline or tactile graphic interface. 

If you have any other questions about the Monarch or need technical assistance, please contact our Monarch support team at monarchsupport@aph.org or (833) 447-8444. To learn more about Monarch or to follow along for future updates, check out the Meet Monarch page, your one-stop solution for all your Monarch needs.