The Accessibility Bugs Introduced and Resolved in iOS 13 for Blind and Low Vision Users

By AppleVis, 14 September, 2019

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

iOS 13 was released to the public on 19 September, 2019. This post contains details of the VoiceOver and braille bugs which we believe to have been introduced in iOS 13; as well as details of the pre-existing bugs which we believe have been resolved.

As is our routine practice, each new bug has been given a severity rating; these ratings are based upon what we believe to be the implications for accessing and using features and functionality and the level of impact on the overall user experience. However, as these ratings are subjective, it is very possible that they may not reflect your own opinion or use case.

Regrettably, there are a significant number of new bugs for VoiceOver and braille users in iOS 13. There is also one extremely serious issue for low vision users who rely on a light on dark display. Consequently, we strongly recommend that you read through this post and any comments before updating—as this will allow you to make an informed decision on whether to install iOS 13 when it becomes available; or whether to wait for the release of iOS 13.1 on 24 September, which we believe should resolve many of these issues. If you do decide not to upgrade to iOS 13 at this time, we recommend disabling Automatic Updates in Settings> General> Software Update> Automatic Updates.

As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible for us to test all devices, configurations, applications, and use cases. Some of the bugs listed below will be specific to a certain device, configuration or use case. Consequently, it is entirely likely that you will not encounter all of what we list; and it is also probable that you will encounter bugs or regressions that we did not identify during our testing.

To help us ensure that the information on this page is as complete and accurate as possible, we would appreciate feedback from those who have installed iOS 13 —both to confirm whether they are encountering the same problems (or have found workarounds), as well as to let us know of any additional issues that are not on this list. Of course, it’s even more important that you let Apple know of any additional bugs that you find (they already know about the ones currently listed here and are actively working on resolving them). This post explains why you should report bugs directly to Apple, as well as the best ways to do so.

With all of the disclaimers out of the way, here are the new bugs for blind and low vision users which we believe to be present in iOS 13:

Serious Bugs

  • Smart Invert and Classic Invert do not behave reliably or consistently. Specifically, our testing indicates that anybody seeking to use a combination of display settings that results in light text on a dark background is likely to find that their device's display will spontaneously and randomly switch between light on dark and dark on light during normal use of their device. We believe this behavior to be so prevalent and significant that we recommend that anybody who relies on color inversion to make their iOS device accessible does not update to iOS 13 at this time.
  • When composing an email or note using a braille display keyboard, after 5 or 6 sentences, braille stops responding to input. This also applies to editing an already composed email or note.
  • On occasion, the volume of VoiceOver sound effects and other system sounds (such as notifications) will be significantly louder than that of VoiceOver speech. The presentation of this issue is inconsistent, and it is most noticeable and of particular concern when using headphones.

Moderate Bugs

  • Although this problem is not new in iOS 13, using an external keyboard to move through text fields by paragraph or to select text by paragraph has become even more inconsistent and unreliable. In most text editors, this functionality is now essentially broken completely.
  • The Status Bar can at times be difficult to locate by touch; most notably on the Home screen.
  • When typing using a braille display, text shortcuts do not work unless you write them in eight-dot mode. The workaround for this issue is to press space with dots 2-3-6 to toggle braille input to this mode, type the text shortcut, and then press space with 2-3-6 again to get back to your preferred braille code.
  • When composing a new email message or reply in the Mail app, the cursor will randomly jump around the screen when using braille input from a braille display.
  • You cannot use the VoiceOver rotor to navigate by line when composing an email in the Mail app.
  • The Misspelled Words option is missing from the VoiceOver rotor's Action menu in the native Mail app.
  • On occasion, it is not possible to expand grouped notifications in Notification Center when VoiceOver is enabled.
  • On occasion, VoiceOver speech stops working while navigating Notification Center.
  • The initial position of the VoiceOver rotor for many text fields (such as the address bar in Safari, the subject line in the mail composition screen, and the message field in the Messages app) will be “Show Context Menu” (which does nothing when double-tapped). Previously, you would expect the VoiceOver rotor to default to its character navigation option when entering these fields.
  • VoiceOver occasionally freezes for ten to fifteen seconds, usually after double-tapping on an app icon to open it.
  • When editing a video in the Photos app, after adjusting the start or end point of a video by flicking up or down to move the position of the marker on the timeline, it is not possible to select the Done button to confirm the edit when VoiceOver is enabled. Note that you can ‘drag’ the marker position, and this does make the Done button active, but this allows less control over the exact position of the marker.

Minor Bugs

  • As of iOS 13, Apple is deprecating 3D Touch in favor of a long press that will bring up what it calls a “Context Menu”. Unfortunately, there are numerous places system-wide where the VoiceOver rotor contains a “Show Context Menu” action on a UI element which does not support this feature. A prime example is the App Store, where many UI elements will report that you can double-tap to show the Context Menu, but where a double-tap does nothing.
  • When in the Status Bar, performing a 2-finger scrub or pressing space with B will not allow you to leave the Status Bar when in an app. One workaround is to press space with S or VO Modifier M again to leave the Status Bar. Alternatively, you can go to the Home screen, and behavior is as expected.
  • After setting an item to be watched, such as the progress of a download, when the status of that item changes it is not displayed in braille, but is vocalized by VoiceOver.
  • When encountering an emoji in braille, such as a smiling face, grinning face, etc., braille output sometimes shows a series of random symbols, instead of the actual emoji.
  • After pairing a Made for iPhone hearing aid, the controls for bass and treble are not labeled for VoiceOver users. For reference, the first element is bass and the second is treble.
  • The “Clear All Notifications” action available from the VoiceOver rotor on the Notifications Center does not work. For now, you need to double-tap on the ‘Clear’ button and then double-tap on the ‘Confirm Clear’ button.
  • The audible tone that confirms your device has been successfully unlocked with Face ID is not always present.
  • The spoken guidance and haptic feedback given to VoiceOver users when taking a photo in iOS 13 is also present when viewing already taken photos within the Camera app.
  • VoiceOver focus unexpectedly jumps to another location in the inbox of the Mail app. If navigating down through a list of unread emails, and deleting, moving or marking emails as read, Voiceover focus will occasionally jump to a location closer to the top of the list after taking those actions.
  • In the Mail app, VoiceOver does not always announce the number of unread emails in a mailbox accurately.
  • When viewing a message in the Mail app, VoiceOver no longer speaks the badge on the Back button which indicates the number of unread messages in the same folder.
  • When opening an existing conversation in the Messages app, the initial placement of VoiceOver focus is higher in the thread than would be expected. Typically this will be 8-12 places above the last message in the thread, and the placement appears to not relate to whether there are unread messages in the thread.
  • VoiceOver does not speak the pasted text when pasting in to the message field in the Messages app.
  • Various UI elements in Today View widgets have their VoiceOver label prepended with the extraneous text “today”.
  • There is a new Control Center widget that allows users to quickly switch between Dark Mode and Light Mode. Although what's spoken by VoiceOver for each selection status of this toggle is different, it in both cases essentially says the same thing - that Dark Mode is off.
  • When using AirPods, the volume of VoiceOver speech may fluctuate. Pressing one of the volume buttons on your device will usually restore it to its correct level.
  • When listening to an audio file in the Files app, flicking up or down on the playback scrubber control does not rewind or fast forward playback.
  • The VoiceOver label on the playback progress control when playing videos in the Photos app is incorrect; while the video is playing, VoiceOver says, "Paused."
  • When using the Alex voice, you may find that there are longer pauses following punctuation than there were in iOS 12 or earlier.
  • When using the Irish Siri female voice for VoiceOver, some words may not be spoken when navigating by word.
  • When swiping right to cycle through the elements on the Lock screen, the contents of the Status Bar are encountered.
  • When an iOS update is available through the Settings app, VoiceOver does not consistently locate and speak the size of the download or the download progress.
  • On the Map Settings screen in the Find My app, the Close button is missing a VoiceOver label.

If you encounter any additional accessibility bugs in iOS 13, please let others know by posting a comment below. When doing so, please provide as much information as possible so that others know exactly what to expect; when and where the problem occurs; and any possible workarounds you have found.

Accessibility Bugs Resolved in iOS 13

Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved in iOS 13:

If you encounter any additional fixes during your own use of iOS 13, please let us know by posting a comment below.

In Closing

We have been compiling these lists of new bugs for every major iOS release since iOS 7. In our opinion, the iOS 13 beta cycle was particularly ‘rough’; and, sadly, the final release reflects this. Nevertheless, our experience during the beta cycle has been that most new bugs we filed were resolved very quickly by Apple's engineers, and their efforts are to be commended. To put our findings in this post into context, we reported in excess of 200 unique accessibility-related issues to Apple during the iOS 13.0 beta cycle.

With iOS 13.1 already publicly set for release just 5 days after 13.0 releases, it doesn't seem unreasonable to hypothesize that Apple has faced some challenges with the iOS 13 development process on a more general level. With this in mind, if you are willing to hold off upgrading until the release of iOS 13.1 on 24 September, we recommend that you do so; as it is our expectation that iOS 13.1 will provide a vastly superior experience to that of iOS 13.0 for blind and low vision users.

Options

Comments

By Gar on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

When reading anything with voiceover, if you come across anything with the letters o n in it, voiceover will not read that word correctly.
For instance, words like won't, don't, are both spoken as dot o n t. This occurs with Alex as well as some other voices, along with some oddities with... some sort of static or interference present while navigating certain elements with the Irish Moira or British Daniel voices.Voiceover speech

By Gar on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

When an update is available, the software update icon doesn't strictly state that one is available. Instead it reads something else which, unfortunately I did not write down.
Note: I already filed a bug report about comment 1.

By Isabelle on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I just wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone at AppleVis who has worked so hard to both compile this list, and report bugs to Apple to help ensure iOS is improved for blind and visually impaired users. I will personally be waiting to update until iOS 13.1 thanks to your efforts and advice.

By Mlth on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

The fluctuating system sound volume bug is quite serious, especially, as the post states, when using headphones. I really hope this will get fixed, I won't be upgrading until that's resolved. It gave me quite a shock when I was wearing airpods in the beta.

By Missy Hoppe on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Thank you, Applevis Editorial Team, for this wonderful article. I haven't felt any excitement regarding IOS 13, and especially after reading this, I think that I will hold off on updating until at least the 13.1 update, if not longer. I have turned off automatic updates, and will stay on ios 12.4.1 until I feel that upgrading is worth dealing with whatever changes have been made in ios 13. Hoping to at least feel excited about new software/hardware next year, but for now, I couldn't be more apathetic about it.

By Troy on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Not that I cared that this was an issue as it never bothered me as the phone had its own lock sound, but I would like to point out that the lock sound voiceover playes when you lock your screen now plays each time you lock your phone where in previous ios versions it was hit or miss.

By Holger Fiallo on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Sad we went from a very stable iOS 12 to very bad iOS 13. What happen to the so call disability people who supose to check this? The people who were interview by applevis? Looks like they did not do their job or apple did not listen to them.

By Nikola Jovic on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I still would not consider this release very bad. Sure, some bugs are there, but I am sure they will quickly be solved. Of course iOS 12 was great when Apple in fact focused on performance and optimisations that year and not new features.

By Zachary on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I would agree with the previous comment. Most of these bugs are pretty minor, and I will personally update. I would say if you use a braille display or are low vision definitely hold off, otherwise if you can live with the bugs for 11 days you should update because it's much better for security.

By Maldalain on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

The shortcut for moving to the status bar in iPad does not work, it just dings and as far as I think it is part of the problem of locating the status bar with touch navigation; VoiceOver seems to hav issues finding some elements on the screen, opening the settings can locate you anywhere not at the very top option.
Unfortunately I find it very buggy, old issues have not been addressed and it is going to be really problematic to update for those who use their i-devices with bluetooth keyboards as their main machines.

By SuperSilly on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

After opening the mail app,
open either email,
When the focus is on the email subject and swipe down or up with one finger, voiceover will speak those actions e.g. mark flag, reply, move to recycle bin, etc.
However, if I stop at the move to recycle bin action and double tab, there is no respective response and the mail is still in the original inbox.

By SuperSilly on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

1. bugs in widget page
If I swipe from the home page to the widget page, there I have set to display some of my important shortcuts.
One of my shortcut has a action of 'choose from menu' and if I run that shortcut in the widget page,
voiceover has problem in focusing on the menu and the options, it is because the ui of the menu and the widget is integrated together, i.e. after activating the shortcut, if the voiceover focus moved out of the menu, voiceover will read the content of the widget page, e.g. other shortcuts names, my meeting today, etc.
Which the menu can only be found after swiping left or right many times in between the shortcuts with the widget.

2. share button is inaccessible
Open either shortcuts from the shortcut app,
there is a share button at the bottom and voiceover reported that it is dim and cannot activate

3. shortcut cannot be run
opening the shortcut app
tap on either shortcut in ios 12 will directly run the app,
however in 13, it enter into edit mode
even in context menu there is no way to runthe shortcut

By SuperSilly on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Opening either web page, e.g. home of Applevis, by safaritap share button and at the top of the page title, enter into the setting page to set the share option as Web Archive  then, press save to file, voiceover became totally unresponsing

By Morgan Watkins on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I deeply appreciate the work you all have done to test the iOS 13 betas. Your efforts have helped me decide to wait before updating as I am dependent on my iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard to do everything. I am impressed by your dedication to helping us all. Thank you very much. Here's hoping that 13.1 will be a much friendlier environment to work in.

By Jurgen on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

the bad experience when navigating through a textfield line by line using up and down arrow when Quicknav is switched off becomes even worse. It's horoble now to use textfields in word processors productivly. Nearly impossible.

And another minor thing, not really a bug but a change: In Reminders the status of a reminder is spoken in the first place followed by a long pause before speaking the actual text of the reminder. VoiceOver reads the status incomplete, pauses and tells me then what I wanted to be reminded of. Very annoying when a long list of reminders wants to be checked.

Both experienced in iPad OS 13.

By Dawn đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠŻ on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Thank you for the heads-up!!
I'll wait until 13.1 comes out 2 update. Because of bugs, & I have questions about Itunes on the ipad if it's going or staying. So, I'll be calling Accessibility just to clarify.
But, I do have 1 question:
I know Ios. 13 will drop on Sept. 19th & IpadOS. drops on the 30th. And I keep hearing conflicting things. I heard from 1 source Ipads would go straight 2 13.1 & phones would get 13.0 & then 13.1. My question is, should I wait 2 update 2 whatever will come after 13.1 on the ipad? Yeah, I know this may seem like a dumb question, but Apple's schedule is... to put it mildly, a little batty. And I'd rather wait to update until a good chunk of bugs are squashed, or somewhat resolved.
Also, while I'm here, has anyone seen the volume bug rear it's head when using a bluetooth speaker? I ask because I use my Amazon Echo & pair her 2 the ipad & listen to audiobooks from Nls. Bard. at night. And if it does, I'd rather wait 2 update not only to save my sanity & hearing, but also 2 not wake up the whole house just because I'm trying 2 play my audiobook so I can sleep. Thanks in advance! And thank you AppleVis for keeping us informed!! Can't wait 2 hear your podcast on knew accessibility features on Ios. 13!! As well as read other related blog posts, guides & listen to other related podcasts.

By Dawn đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠŻ on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Before I go on my soapbox/rant, let me be clear I'm not bashing Apple or engineers. I think Apple deserves a lot of credit for building accessibility into products from the get-go. And they deserve pats on the back for squashing some bugs that were present in Ios. 12. I agree with 1 of the comments on here about bugs.
But as I'm reading the article, I couldn't help thinking on some of the bugs (Ex. unable to navigate by line when composing email in mail app): Really Apple? Come on now! That's rediculous! And then I think: How were some of these able to slip through?
I get not every one or thing is perfect, & all software will have bugs, & devs & all other related departments cannot squash & catch every single bug. But with some of these bugs, I can only shake my head.
I'm not bashing, just stating opinions.

By Khushi on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

first of all, thank you so much to all those a part of apple vis edotorial team.
secondly, since it's my first ever major update after getting my Iphone excluding those like 12.4.1, I'll be updating my device irrespective of the bugs since 11 days is not too long a time period to hold myself back.
I really love how the people at this site work since it is my first ever following up of a major update to IOS, my experience has been amazing.

I wanted to ask a question:
has anyone tested the new Indian english voice coming in IOS 13? if yes, are their any bugs specifically for that voice since I plan on using it as soon as my phone updates :)

thank you again

Khushi

By Aine on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Echoing my appreciation for the efforts of the blind/low vision accessibility beta testers' work here. I am very glad to hear that the accessibility team at Apple has been responsive, and that the majority of issues will hopefully be resolved in 13.1. This said, I can't help noting that a release of similar poor quality would hardly survive half an hour if let loose on a general public who depended on display contrast, bluetooth keyboard or Braille entry as much as many of us do. I will (respectfully) advise Apple of this also.

By slj on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Hi.
Excuse me for being stupid, but: Long time ago, I saw a thread on the forum where someone asked if it was okay to discuss beta versions of IOS here on Applevis. The answer was clearly that this was not allowed, because the rules says discussion is only allowed for officially released versions of software from Apple. Maybe I got that wrong, but that's how I understood the answer. The user tried his best to argument against it.
Then, I really got surprised to see this great list of bugs and fixes before IOS 13 has officially been released. I'm also surprised to see, that it's suddenly okay to discuss bugs in beta versions of IOS, which previously was not okay here on the site.
I have also tested IOS 13, and could have used a place to discuss the beta.
I'm sorry for the confusion, but I just don't get why it is suddenly okay to discuss the new beta version, when it previously was clear that this was not welcome on this site.
I have something to add, but first I would like to get my question answered.
I wish you all a great day.

By Marco on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Hi everyone!

First of all thanks to the AppleVis team for this excellent write-up!

One clarification for those who are struggling with Apple's schedule: iOS 13.0 will come out on September 19 for iPhone and iPod Touch (the latter only the 7th generation released earlier this year). iPadOS will come out on September 30 and will be the version 13.1 version, essentially iOS with all the cool iPad features, and iOS 13.0 will be updated to 13.1, which will then be roughly on the same feature and bug fix level. I am currently testing the 13.1 betas, and the build numbers are the same on both iPhone and iPad.

By Marco on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Hi to the team,

does anyone know if the bug regarding the Send button after recording a voice message in Messages has been squashed in time for 13.0, or is this also a bug that will be (or rather has recently been) addressed in 13.1? Essentially, after recording a voice message, lifting your finger, and focus moves to the Send button, if you touch anything else on the screen, the Send button disappears from VoiceOver's view. I know this was a problem in the last 13.0 beta, but currently have no device where I could put the gold master on that is available to developers.

By AppleVis on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

This is actually the second year that we have posted our findings ahead of the public release of the final version of the software.

The first time was last year, after Apple confirmed that it had no issues with us sharing this information once the GM version of the software had been released (this is the version of the software released to developers shortly before the public release, and is typically the same as the public release).

Consequently, we now typically post our findings once we've had an opportunity to perform our final tests and checks against the GM release. This also means that others involved with beta testing can share their own experiences and recommendations at this time; all of which helps to ensure that we can make informed decisions on whether to install the public release when it becomes available.

By Michael Feir on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Keep in mind that it's still possible for Apple to address bugs prior to the public iOS13 release. I think this is especially likely if good solutions to many of the major ones have been found for 13.1. Some of the tweets and blogs I've read from testers point to how much better the iOS7 public release was from the GM release beta testers got a look at. Thankfully, I kept my iPHONE7 so I can keep it on 12.41 in case I can't live with the bugs on my 10R. I will, of course, comment if I find anything not yet mentioned here in the way of accesssibility issues. Here's hoping the Apple programmers put on some major last minute polish.

Hello
When typing a text message within Whatsapp Chat using my Astrum 3.0 bluetooth keyboard I encounter this upsetting bugg:
When I type punctuation marks using the shift key I encounter this:
When I need to type the full stop plus the shift key to create a Greater Than sign, only the Full Stop appears. When typing the Comma plus Shift to create a Less Than sign results in only typing a Comma. I can go on and on here. My Astrum 3.0 bluetooth keyboard types correctly in other apps like Messages, Notes etc. I do not encounter this sad issue when typing a message within a Whatsapp Chat using the on screen keyboard.
Now I encounter 2 more buggs:
The 3 SA voices still pronounce ercent instead of %.
Using FaceBook I encounter some friends's names are beeing pronounced somewhat distorted: For example:
TTom Jones or Tom JJones instead of Tom Jones
JJohn Smith or John SSmith instead of John Smith. I feel like crying here.

By Piotr Machacz on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

For anyone having issues with the volume fluctuations, here's how you can at least have more controls over them.

iOS operates on 2 separate volumes. The ringer volume and the media volume. The ringer volume is adjusted by the sound volume slider in settings>sounds and haptics, as wella s with the volume buttons if you press them while no sound is playing and VO isn't speaking. This volume is used for ringtones, alarms, short system sounds like keyboard clicks and some UI sounds in third party apps like whatsAPP or Facebook Messenger. The media volume is used for everything else, including VoiceOver speech, so when you think of adjusting your phone's volume this is probably what you think of more.

What used to be the case is that as long as VoiceOver was running, it forces most other sounds, like incoming notifications, to play at the media volume unless an alarm goes off or a call comes in. What happens in iOS 13 is that if VoiceOver is not speaking, the ringer volume is used and it gets changed only after it starts speaking. This is why the fluctuations happen.

So, to work around the problem, reduce your ringtone volume in settings and turn off the change with buttons switch so you don't accidentally change it. That way the fluctuations shouldn't be as pronounced.

By Ekaj on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I agree with those of you who say to just dive right in. Since I don't use a Braille display or any of the low-vision features in iOS, it seems like I will be good to go on Thursday or shortly thereafter as time and wi-fi availability permit. I don't use the Airpods either for that matter. Incidentally, this was just posted on the i-devices email list and I read it there. I'd like to also add my sincere thank you to the team who bring us AppleVis. It's truly been a big help to me, and more recently to a sister of mine and her life-skills tutor. I'm going to share this with them, as neither of them are on AppleVis nor the email discussion list I just mentioned.

By tunmi13 on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

We beta testers have received iOS 13.1 Beta, which fixes some of these things. I won't say which, but what I can say is the 13.1 update should hit your devices somewhere around a two week period after iOS 13 is released.

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I sometimes read that people will not update until the issues are fixed.

That of course is your choice. However, I would strongly encourage everyone to update as soon as possible if only to better understand the bugs and be able to report them directly to Apple. The more information Apple receives, the more likely they are to actually fix these issues.

Please consider that this is a numbers game. Apple puts focus on issues when there are a higher number of people reporting them. Not updating and not reporting sometimes prolongs a bugs existence.

Also, please consider that reporting issue should not be relegated to only this website. It is great that so many people take the time to communicate to one another about what they are experiencing. But, this should only be used as one source to discover and discuss the various issues. Please also make an effort to call Apple Accessibility phone number (1-877-204-3930), email accessibility@apple.com, submit a bug report through the feedback assistant website, etc.

Regarding your question, their is no such bugs related to the same not mentioned in about list
Since im not a bita tester, not sure about it
If you useing hindi tts lekha or niten in daily, then wait until 13.1 arrive.
Once update officially lonch, other users from india will share there experiences with us on foram.
Then we get clear image whether update or wait for issue gets resolve.

By Troy on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I'm not sure if this is a bug or not and doesn't even relate to accessibility, but in previous ios versions text messages when not attended to right away will give you a second notification, however in ios 13 I only get the text notification once instead of twice.

By Gary C on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Thank you AppleVis editors, this is an excellent collection of accessibility issues for iOS 13.

Is there a similar blog post for macOS Catalina?

MacOS Safari has an invert colors bug that was introduced in 10.13.4 High Sierra in June 2018. This bug prevents "invert colors" from being a true pixel-by-pixel color inversion. For someone like me, sho is visually impaired, it makes Safari unusable. AppleVis readers like me reported this in 2018, but it still exists in Mojave...

It sounds like iOS 13 has introduced a new invert colors bug as well, but that bug will be resolved in 13.1 -- that's a pretty quick turnaround for a bug fix.

Has the macOS invert colors bug described in AppleVis been reported to Apple in the same way the iOS bugs were reported? Is the iOS team just better at resolving these issues?

Thanks again for the excellent collection of iOS 13 issues!

By Karok on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

A new indian siri voice is available, but i don't think it usable with voiceover.

By mendi on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I understand a post or two above me about updating and encountering the bugs for reporting purposes, but as someone who uses braille, I cannot see intentionally updating to a version that I know will impact my user experience just for the sake of out of frustration reporting bugs for the next 11 days. If I had more than one phone, perhaps I would, but I definitely will not be doing this on my main phone that I use for everything from identifying items to keeping in touch with the world around me. I will however watch this post, and if some of the bugs end up getting squashed in Thursday's release, I'll reconsider. For now, I think I can wait until the end of the month on this one.

By Alan Lemly on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I have heard from a third party keyboard developer that these keyboards have issues when using Voiceover under iOS 13. I didn't see any mention of this in your bug blog but since I depend heavily on the FlickType keyboard, I thought I'd better ask directly if you've experienced these issues. Thanks.

By Jim Noseworthy on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

While placing and listening to a call via the EarPods, audio is lost when hanging up to call with the middle button.

Hi Gary,

The Mac OS Catalina is still in the beta cycle and will not be released until sometime in October. So, when the time gets closer and Apple drops the GM for the NEW Apple Mac OS is when you can expect to hear more news about the OS. Plus, we will have a blog on this at that time.

By Gary C on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

In reply to by AnonyMouse

Thank you for the reply. I agree that macOS ship date is later than iOS. My question is: Has anyone from the AplleVis team filed a bug on the macOS "invert colors" Safari issue that has been around since High Sierra? It seems the Apple team has been very responsive in addressing the iOS bugs that have been identified by the AppleVis editors. I talked to the Accessibility team in Jun-July 2018, and was promised a "true invert colors" would be done by Mojave ship timeframe. It has not been fixed, so clearly I am not reporting the bug in the correct way, or to the correct people.

By Doug Greene on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

I use Classic Invert on my Iphone 8, and I was under the impression that the new system-wide Dark Mode is essentially the same thing. Whether or not the Inverts continue to be buggy, can someone tell me the difference? I was just expecting to switch to Dark Mode after installing IOS 13. thanks.

The new dark mode will be a good replacement for the smart invert feature. However, App developers will need to make updates to their apps to display correctly in the new dark mode environment.

By Khushi on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

In reply to by Wahid Raza

hi
thank you for your reply.
Oh no, I use English on my IPhone and use Tom for now.
sure, I will post my feedback here when the official update roles out for Indian voices.

By David Goodwin on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Sean C is correct in saying that the new Dark Mode will not be a direct replacement to Smart or Classic Invert for those who want a system-wide light on dark experience.

My understanding is that developers need to add support for it to their apps.

Some already have, and I am sure that there will be lots more over coming months.

However, there are certain to be many apps which don't add support for Dark Mode. My guess is that these will primarily be apps where the developers feel that a specific color scheme is part of the identity of the app, simply prefers their own choice of colors, or where the app is effectively little more than a wrapper for HTML content (Amazon being a prime example here).

And it's the mention of HTML which brings us to what is probably the main reason people will still be using Smart or Classic Invert, and that's for websites. It is possible for websites to add support for auto-switching of colors if it's detected that the site visitor is using Dark Mode, but I am only aware of a very small number of websites which have implemented this (it's not straightforward). And, as the majority of websites use a dark on light color theme ... well, Dark Mode is not going to help here.

My expectation is that people who do want and rely on a light on dark display, will enable Dark Mode, but have Smart or Classic Invert as their Accessibility Shortcut, making it quick and easy to get light on dark where Dark Mode needs some ‘help’.

By Simone Dal Maso on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Hello,
do you know if these bug are solved on ios 13.1?
It is not a secret that at the end of september Apple will release ios 13.1, and beta cycle are already on air. Is this bug solved?

By Nikola Jovic on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

there is also another one not mentioned. If you open voiceover practice and select the braille tab, located to the left of the done button the practice mode rotates the screen, and should give you feedback on what each gesture does in the braille screen input mode. However, any gesture you perform will give the same results as if you performed it while the general tab was active. So instead of voiceover telling you that swiping right inserts a space, it will say it moves to the next item.

By Manuel on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Will this post be updated before Sep 30, 2019 to know whether some bugs were fixed?

By Manuel on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

In the Music App: if you are double-tapping to select a playlist in the playlists view further down in the list, the playlist won't show any content. Also, the music app becomes unreliable if you select the "Playlists, back-button" or go back to "recently added".

In the Settings App: If you are downloading a software update and VoiceOver is reading out "prepare update" and you go back during this process and close the settings app, open it again and navigat to software update, the settings app will become unreliable and completely unresponsive since you have double-tapped "software update".

Braille bug: If you want to jump in an empty line between two paragraphs, this will no longer work.

VoiceOver and hardware keyboard: If quick navigation is turned off and you want to jump to the end or top in a text field, the keystrokes CTRL+Arrow key up (jumping to the top) / CTRL+Arrow key down (jumping to the end of document) won't give vocalized feedback. Furthermore, the braille focus won't jump to the end/top immediately. First, you have to sync the braille focus by pressing left/right arrow keys on the hardware keyboard.

Braille bug: If you want to jump to the end of a line with the routing buttons on the braille display, the braille cursor will jump to one element before the position which was selected on the braille display.

In summary, iOS 13 is really buggy and I hope that Apple will fix the most serious and moderate bugs as soon as possible. In my opinion, an update is currently not recommendable.

By jcdjmac (not verified) on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

Hi,
I would like to thank the AppleVis team for putting such an amazing work on this post on iOS 13 before it's official released to the public. I'm already on the GM release, and everything appears to be working fine. I haven't discovered any of the bugs you've mentioned previously in the post.

By Pavel Ondra on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

i came across this term, what is watched item and how to i set an item to be watched?

By Tina on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 17:16

First off, I want to thank AppleVis for posting this bug list. This bug list reminds me of what happened with IOS 8. A friend updated one of her phones to IOS 8 and it rendered her phone useless. Seeing all these bugs makes me feel uneasy, so unless these have been worked out, I'm holding out for 13.1. However, I'd hate to get too far behind.

I, to, would like to know if this post will be updated. Thanks.