Apple has today released iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 to the public. In addition to bringing many new features originally slated for the initial iOS 13 release, these releases bring fixes for a large number of the bugs that iOS 13.0 introduced for blind and low vision users.
Bug Fixes for Blind and Low Vision Users
Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved in iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1:
- The performance of Smart Invert and Classic Invert is now much more consistent and reliable. In particular, our testing suggests that users are unlikely to find their device's display spontaneously and randomly switching between light on dark and dark on light. There are occasions when some UI elements - in particular the onscreen keyboard - do not use the expected and desired color combination, but this appears to be no worse than it has been in previous versions of iOS.
- Braille input once again works correctly when composing an email or note.
- When composing an email with a braille display, the VoiceOver cursor now behaves consistently.
- System sounds (such as notifications) now much more reliably follow the volume of VoiceOver, even when "Change with Buttons" is disabled in Settings> Sounds and Haptics.
- VoiceOver volume no longer fluctuates when using AirPods.
- Expanding grouped notifications in Notification center now works correctly.
- VoiceOver speech now works reliably when navigating Notification Center.
- VoiceOver no longer becomes unresponsive when opening apps.
- VoiceOver now correctly announces the number of messages in a mailbox in the Mail app.
- The Status Bar is now somewhat easier to locate by touch, although the target area when on the Home screen still feels smaller than it has been in the past.
- Apple has resolved the behavior which saw some VoiceOver labels for Today View Widget elements prepended with the extraneous text âTodayâ.
- When an iOS or iPadOS update is available through the Settings app, VoiceOver once again speaks the size of the download and the download progress.
- When swiping through the Lock Screen, VoiceOver focus no longer enters the Status Bar.
- It is now possible to reliably navigate by heading the history tab in Safari.
- When opening the App Switcher, VoiceOver now correctly places focus on the most recently-opened app.
- When using the Alex voice, there are no longer unnaturally long pauses after punctuation.
- When in the Status Bar, performing a two-finger scrub or pressing space with B on a braille display now works correctly and takes the user back to the main area of the screen.
- When encountering an emoji in braille, VoiceOver now displays the emoji correctly.
- On the Map Settings screen in the Find My app, the Close button is now announced by VoiceOver as being a button.
If you encounter any additional fixes during your own use of iOS 13.1 or iPadOS, please let us know by posting a comment below.
New Bugs for VoiceOver and Braille Users in iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1
Disappointingly, our testing suggests that iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 also introduce some new bugs for VoiceOver and braille users:
Serious Bugs
- On occasion, VoiceOver becomes unresponsive after ending a call in both the Phone and FaceTime apps; this issue sometimes necessitates that the user must perform a force restart to restart the device. The presentation of this behavior is inconsistent; some members of our team report experiencing this issue several times per day, while others have not experienced it at all.
- When running a shortcut that prompts you to make a selection from a menu, VoiceOver does not read the menu options. * Note that this problem is not present if the menu has only a few options.
Moderate Bugs
- When using a braille display and editing text in a text field (such as in an email message or note), the blinking cursor represented by dots 7 and 8 will often not be indicated on the display, even after pressing a cursor routing button.
- VoiceOver focus is âjumpyâ on the People and Devices tab of the Find My app. Our assumption is that this is triggered by the location data updating; hence the more people and devices you are tracking, the âjumpierâ VoiceOver focus will be.
- On occasion, the Edit item is missing from the VoiceOver rotor's Actions menu when in empty text fields; even though you have text on the clipboard. On these occasions, a double-tap and long press on the text field will typically reveal the Paste button. At this point, Edit also becomes available from the Actions menu.
- The VoiceOver keyboard shortcut to move focus to the Status Bar does not work when on the Home screen. It works when in an app, but you are unable to then use the keyboard to move focus through all items on the Status Bar.
- On iOS, double-tapping on a shortcut in the Shortcuts app will open its edit page rather than run the shortcut (which the VoiceOver hint indicates should be the expected behaviour).
Minor Bugs
- On occasion, you may find that VoiceOver focus will jump to the first UI element on the screen soon after you go to that screen, but after you have placed VoiceOver focus on another UI element. For example, after using View from the Actions menu on a notification and then placing focus on to the Delete button, focus will jump to the Dismiss button. If the timing is right, this may happen just as you double-tap on what you expect to be Deleted. Similar behavior can routinely be reproduced after selecting to âreactâ to a message in the Messages app, where VoiceOver focus will initially be on the âHeartâ tapback, but then jump to the Back button. These are just two examples. Similar behavior is present system-wide.
- The âNew Windowâ UI element on the App Expose (âShow All Windowsâ) screen in iPadOS is not spoken by VoiceOver as being a button.
- On occasion, VoiceOver does not speak the time when using the Side Button to wake the device's screen.
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. Accordingly, to help us ensure that the information on this page is as complete and accurate as possible, please let us know in the comments of any fixes; enhancements; or regressions that you find in your own use of iOS 13.1 and iPadOS.
How to update
iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or via iTunes on a Mac or PC.
Before updating, we strongly recommend making a full and complete backup of your device (either in iTunes or iCloud, depending on personal preference). This will ensure that, in the unlikely event that something goes wrong during the update process, you will have a current backup on hand in case a device restore becomes necessary. Also, if using OTA update, we recommend plugging your device into a power source for the duration of the download/installation process, so as to prevent the unlikely event of your battery going dead during the update.
More information on how to update the software on your device is available on this Apple Support page.
As always, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on these updates. Questions? Comments?? Let us know by adding a comment below.
Comments
My iPhone is taking longer to charge
I am using an iPhone X and since I upgraded to iOS 13 I am having an issue when charging my phone. It is taking two times or three times longer to charge than usual. Sometimes it will say for example, 91%, charging. It will stay like that for 10 minutes or 15 minutes then it will say, 92%. I am hoping that that issue will be corrected tomorrow.
New battery settings
Hi Drummerguy,
Under battery health, there's a new option for maximizing the battery's overall performance during the life cycle. That might be turned on by default. If it is, then either leave it on or turn it off. Its called maximize battery life or something.
Voice Control sluggish on my iPhone 8+
Hello
I have IOS 13.1 beta 4 (GM) installed and Voice Control takes for ever to respond. Many times not at all. I seldom use Siri and turn off all Siri suggestions in all apps. Still the issue persists. I listened to the podcast Thomas Donville Created and really couldn't wait to start using Voice Control. What a disappointment.
VoiceOver problems on iPhone SE
After upgrading to iOS 13 I find VoiceOver very sluggish when I start it using the accessibility shortcut. If I start it while on the home screen it takes several seconds until I hear the name of the first app, and several seconds more before it speaks the hint. With iOS 12 it also used to tell me the screen orientation before starting, announcing that the phone orientation was "Portrait" for example, after identifying that first element, but this seems to be gone.
Intermittently VoiceOver stops speaking to me too. I hear clicks when elements receive focus, but no speech on elements that do have text. I have to restart VoiceOver again for the speech to come back. Neither of these problems were present for me with iOS 12.
Iphone SE with IOS13
My Iphone SE also behaved very sluggishly on every step immediately after updating, but it went normal after some time. So if you have recently updated it should perform normally after a while.
Allright. Something to note
Allright. Something to note here. I've still got the extraneous dollar dollar characters after updating to iOS 13.1. Will try restoring as new later on and see what happens, but I doubt that'll solve my dollar issue.
Hello
I'll stay on iOS 12.4.1 on my iPhone XS Max. I think this iOS 13.1 is still buggy.
Definitely On the fense about updating
A few days ago, I posted that I was planning to hold off and possibly stay on iOS 12.4.1 until next year, but my inner geek is clammering to play with the new update. I'm currently updating my apple TV boxes, so maybe that will be enough excitement for now. I'm conflicted regarding my phone because I know that reporting bugs is the only chance we have of getting them fixed, but at the same time, if the update is going to have any significant impact on my daily activities, I don't want to end up being frustrated. One of my co workers did the update and she says that for the most part, all is well, which is the only reason I'm even considering giving the update a chance. Maybe I'll just keep following AppleVis posts to see how others are fairing with the new iOS before I take the plunge.
Voices still broken
Voices are still broken. I'll report this to Apple Accessibility again but they couldn't figure it out last time.
Update on the apps crashing upon launch I previously reported
I'm happy to report that APH, the developers of Nearby Explore are now aware of the crashing issue with 13.1 and are working on a fix. For now, they recommend not updating if you depend on the paid version of NE. The free online version is not affected. Hopefully the developers of Envision AI and Last Pass will also follow. So for now, if you depend on any of these apps, you should hold off on this update.
notification
When I get a news notification, voiceover reads the time at the end of the news notification. This is a major pain and blank. Sad this will not be fix probably until iOS 14 next year.
Emails switching tabs
After updating to iOS 13, I have realized that whenever I open a tab in the mail app, for example, unread messages, it doesn't take me back to that tab if I close the app, then reopen mail again. Now, it takes me to another tab, usually, all mail, or it takes me to one of my email accounts.
Notification and time
Well I turn news notification for lock screen to avoid having to hear the time. Sad because I like hearing about the news without having to go to the news app.
Using Voiceover on iPhone SE with iOS13 Bugs
For the most part, my experience has been OK using VO with iOS13 on my iPhone SE and for the record I love that phone just like my 5S before it. Two main areas of concern that remain with 13.1 are the jumpy notification log both on the lock screen and in the notification center and the jumpy messages app that places you into the middle of a message thread when you double tap on one. Both of those have been reported by me to Apple Accessibility this afternoon. One fix is the fact that now when you highlight a block of text in a message, it is now reading again when you select all of it and copy to the clipboard. When the update first ran today, it was very jumpy and unsettled, but after a few seconds everything worked fine once the phone completed the restart process. After doing a powerdown and restart, the start up process was normal and ran smoothly. I don't have a ton of extra apps that have been added to my device, I'm running 56 total apps, 32 native that came with the device that I had not deleted and 24 that I reloaded from my old device or have since installed using the App Store. I'm curious if the number of running apps could be having an impact, as I have only two apps set to always be accessing my location, the others are set to never or only while using the app.
Dollars dollars
Hi Justin,
I am currently running iOS 13.1 on iPhone 6 S. The issue with VO saying dollar is partially result. when I was running iOS $13.0, was always mention at the beginning and at the end. But now it is only heard at the end.
iOS 13.1
I just updated to iOS 13.1. So far, there are no problems. However, my phone Was lagging until I summoned Siri. then the lagging went away.
An update on shortcuts
Hi. Firstly, I can't replicate the bug where shortcuts aren't run when tapped on, that works fine.
Choose from list, however, is seriously messed up. Lists of links will read the URL , not the title and text entries either don't read at all, or act as though they're images, saying something like possible text followed by the option name.
That said, though, no complaints about the new editor so far, after a few minutes use.
iOS 13.1 battery drain
Since updating to iOS 13 and then 13.1, Iâve noticed my battery has been draining quite rapidly. Has anyone else noticed this?
Phone call bug
Hello,
I am greatful that some of the bugs were fixed from iOS 13. However, I do get the bug where VoiceOver does not respond when hanging up from a call. I know this was listed, but I wanted to find out if there was a workaround for now. I have to force restart my phone. Several versions of iOS back, the phone used to vibrate when restarting. Because of this lack of feedback, it can be difficult to tell when the phone restarts and wait for VoiceOver to restart, especially taking into account this new bug. Could this be addressed by Apple as soon as possible? I am going to copy this in an email to accessibility@apple.com.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Holding Out for 13.2
I have to admit, all the bug reports are making me uneasy, so for now, I'd rather hold out for 13.2. I also have to admit that this is not an easy choice, since I feel tempted to go ahead with the update. However, the only thing holding me back is the need for a stable phone.
Regarding the call bug, does anyone out there have a good workaround? The only one I know of would be to temporarily turn off Voiceover until your call ends, then when the caller hangs up, turn it back on. It's not ideal, but from my chair here, it's the only fix I can see for the short term. Also, please report this to Apple. Thanks.
Phone call bug
Hi Tina,
I have not tried this approach. I must admit, I am thinking of downgrading, but have never done that before. Also, I have reported this to the accessibility team at Apple. I have not received a response yet. I am surprised this has not been addressed yet by Apple. I hope I am wrong about that..
iOS 13.2
When? I had not seen a release of any beta yet. Throughout my use of iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 6s, 7 and xs when I updated to a new iOS bugs were limited to one. The last bug I delt was voiceover reading the time of the end of a news notification, similar to current bug. I just turn news notification from the lock screen before I got upset and broke my nice iPhone. I will wait but I will not hold my breath.
RE: Battery Drain
I have noticed the battery drain in iOS 13 but just downloaded 13.1. Haven't had a chance to test this yet. Guess I'll know by the end of the day.
Has anyone gotten the new iPhone 11 and, if so, are the same bugs prevalent on the new device?
John, there's a change in
John, there's a change in iOS13 around battery charge, Apple has introduced a new battery charge optimization mode that is toggled on by default. Basically, this mode monitors your charging habits and prevents the device from fully charging until you are likely to disconnect it from the charger. As such, I don't think we get that "on AC power" message any more as the phone never actually gets to that point. To be fair, I haven't disabled the charging optimizer option to see if that fixes it as I like the feature, but I really think they're related. AppleVis has done an awesome podcast on the new charge optimizer feature, other info can be found here: https://www.macworld.com/article/3408336/ios-13s-new-optimized-battery-charging-feature-explained.html
Hope this helps,
Steve
That's actually a new feature
That's actually a new feature, AppleVis did a podcast on it -- more info can be found here: https://www.macworld.com/article/3408336/ios-13s-new-optimized-battery-charging-feature-explained.html
iOS 13.1
I just updated to iOS 13.1 this morning and discovered one bug that I have already reported to apple concerning the notifications. when you go to the clear notifications button and flick down to clear all notifications, voiceover makes the end of page sound and nothing else, and the notifications don't clear.
Battery drain and a couple of other things
In reply to comment no. 69, Matt I have noticed this too. To be fair, I've only been running IOS 13.1 since last night, but I took the phone off charge at 6am and the battery was at 100%, but down to nothing by 3pm. It tookk me completely by surprise and when the phone went to sleep at the end of a phone call and wouldn't switch on I thought I was experiencing the Voiceover phone call bug, but it was instead caused by my battery running out. Interestingly my pohne reported that Mail had used 35% of my battery life during that period. I'm going to give it another go but I am also wondering whether this is linked to the battery optimiser feature.
In terms of other things I have discovered:
1. The UK Siri female voice remains broken. So the words are and our are not echoed when typed into a message or email, and she is still quite choppy (DeImmed instead of dimmed, for example). That said, it's nothing compared to the issues that soe of you appear to be experiencing with other voices.
2. This morning I got a phone call and the magic tap to answer it did not work. It was literally of no effect. This hasn't happened since, however, so is possibly just one of those things.
3. There's plenty of jumping around in the mail app.
But one thing has improved: BSI translation using the Liblouis UEB table is better. Don't get me wrong - the system UEB table was already very good, but with the Liblouis table you can now type fractions, for instance.
I've told a couple of friends
I've told a couple of friends to consider holding off updating because of the phone call bug. That happened to me yesterday and since I have a XR, when I was trying to force restart I inadvertently ended up triggering the emergency SOS thing. I didn't figure out that happened till I plugged my earpods back in and was talking to them. Fortunately the dispatcher understood that sometimes that will happen. When I got VO back again, I was stuck on the emergency screen and it took me a while to figure out how to get my phone to stop constantly sharing my location with my emergency contact. I'm confident that Apple will fix this in an update, but it's also frustrating knowing that if this affected sighted people, you could bet there would be a 13.1.1 update in a couple days.
Bugs report
Please let me have email to report a bug. I do not recall it.
Answer to comment number 77, concerning Apple and Voice Over
Of course they don't test Voice Over as rigorously as they test the mainstream features. Probably not one in a thousand people use Voice Over. so there aren't as many people to beta test the VO features. And all you have to do is look at the list of resolved bugs and new bugs to see that there are a lot more resolved bugs. Sited people are having a rough go of it with the release of IOS 13 also. That's just how it is with technology some times. And that's also true with other tech companies other than Apple.
I don't think switching to
I don't think switching to android is the solution because they are going to have bugs too. I also bet that talkback gets the same attention as voiceover.
The Real Problem
The real problem is that Apple sets itself these deadlines. It doesn't matter how much testing or resolution has occurred. A new iOS version is going to be released early in September each year; that's just how it is. Instead of setting these consistent deadlines, perhaps they should wait until a stable version of the software is tested and as many bugs ironed out instead of just saying "oh hey, it's the second week in September. Time to release the new version. screw whether it's ready or not." I'd much rather Apple take the time to work on stability instead of hosting a huge event to simply announce a bunch of software that really should not be released to the public. Just my rant ⊠I mean two cents worth.
Bugs
I had been using iPhone since iPhone 4. I got the 4S, 5, 5s, 6, 7 and XS. Until now I had not issues with bugs when I updated in the past with one issue. A long time ago, news notification VO reported the time. Now same issue. Unlucky 13.
email address for Apple Accessibility
accessibility@apple.com
Apple has changed
When Steeve Jobs by president of Apple, before he released anything, he tested it and retested it. It was a pain, but well worth it! That's what a friend of mine told me.
While I agree, I don't think
While I agree, I don't think there's such thing as thuro testing anymore, take freedom science fiction for example, they always release their next major release of jaws around the same time every year regardless of bugs.
Voice-overs âWatch itemâ feature
I donât think Iâve seen anyone mention this but I Wyke voice-over is âwatch itemâ feature. The only place Iâve seen this mentioned is in the commands section of the VoiceOver settings. Iâve set it to be a two finger quadruple tap. You basically move to the item you want voice-over to monitor then do the gesture and it will read any updates to the item. As an example, doing this on the clock or the battery indicators in that status bar because heâs voice-over to read any changes even if I open another app and Iâm no anger focused on the status mate bar. You seem to be able to set multiple watch items. Iâm surprised no one has mentioned this. Unless Iâve missed something.
Rapid battery drain
I was just going to post about this myself. I'm sorry you're having the problem, but at the same time, I'm relieved that it isn't just me. On a typical work day, my battery is around 70 percent by the end of the work day, but today, it was at 59 percent, and that's mostly because I noticed how fast it was draining and turned it off for the majority of the work day so I'd be sure to have enough battery power to set up my Lyft ride home. I noticed that the battery had dropped to 84 percent just in the two hours between when I got up this morning and when I clocked in for work, and my use during that time was fairly minimal and my battery used to be around 90 or 95% at that time of day. I hope this is something that Apple will address soon.
Updating wasn't as scary as I feared
Hey, Tina! Like you, I was very much on the fence about updating, and against my better judgement, my inner geek dominated and I took the plunge yesterday. I am not experiencing the phone call bug. There are quirks, and I think there are just some things that have changed that we'll have to get used to, but over all, the update was far more stable than I expected. The only serious issue I'm having is that my battery seems to be draining a lot faster than usual. I'm also not keen on the new way we check for app updates, but that's not an accessibility issue so much as a change Apple has made. I'm not saying you shouldn't wait; after all, if it isn't broke, it would be silly to fix it, but at the same time, if you're feeling tempted, I can more or less assure you that your device will be stable enough for daily use after the update. Best of luck, whatever you end up deciding to do.
Voice Over loses focus when expanding thread in Email App
I am running IOS 13.1 on an iPhone 7. Also a 5th gen Mini iPad with iPad IOS 13.1. In both cases when VO is on a thread in Email and I flick up to choose âExpand Threadâ the VO focus jumps away from the thread altogether onto a different email. I use this command quite a lot to preview messages in a thread without actually opening them.
Battery drain
Oh, definitely. I was just going to ask if anyone else had a battery life complaint when I read your comment. At 1st with 13.0 I just thought I'd been using my phone a lot more to play with the new features and get it set-up as I like it. Last night I upgraded to 13.1 and charged it. It's only halfway through the day and it's down to 50%. I've hardly used it at all today, because I was busy with other stuff. I have an iPhone 8 and if I was a conspiracy theorist I'd say Apple was trying to get me to buy one of the new phones with exceptional battery life. LOL I've even turned off most of the haptics because I thought they'd be a battery drain and they were mostly annoying anyway. I'm really concerned about it.
A music app disappointment
This is obviously not an important bug, but I really had hoped that the new scroll-bar would make it less of a pain to scroll through my music by song. I can't be bothered to remember which album my music is from so I always display it by song which alphabetizes by artist name. I used to be annoyed by VoiceOver always switching to actions when I was trying to move by the headings that are the letters of the alphabet. I assigned a gesture to move by heading but it still doesn't work in the Music ap. Even worse the scroll-bar in there is an alphabet as well and it totally doesn't work. VoiceOver still gets stuck on a letter and won't move to the next one. Guess I'll complain to Apple about it, even though it feels like I'll be taking dev time away from more important bugs.
mostly ok
mostly ok.
just a few ways of doing stuff has changed & moved around.
I did have 2 bugs though.
1. the ipad lost it's voice. but with teeth pulling & patience & jech assistance I got it back.
2. I'm experiencing the phone call bug too on Fb. messenger. I did today.
I called a friend of mine today & I hung up & right after that, it locked up. Called tech got it back but it was scary & nerve-wracking to say the least.
that was why I updated because I figured it'd only effected phone & FaceTime both of which I don't use. So, it's something 2 keep an eye on. I just asked my friend 2 end the calls 4 now since she doesn't use Vo. & she's very understanding. But if you use a 3rd party call &/or messaging & calling app, like Fb. messenger, be aware of this before you update! I reported it 2 Fb. in case it's on their end also, but if anyone who has not updated & uses 3rd party calling/meisaging/call/messaging apps like Messenger, I'd hold off. And if anyone who has updated uses 3rd party apps like messenger 4 calls, keep an eye out 4 it. because you may also get this bug.
if using 3rd party call apps also
if anyone on here uses 3rd party apps 4 calling, I'd either hold off or keep an eye out 4 the call bug
I use messenger & it happened 2 me! nevre-wracking 2 say the least.
Safari and Bookmark bug on 13.1 using VO
Voice over sometimes freezes when interacting with saved bookmarks. It isnât corrected by turning voice over off/on. I have to restart. This didnât happen on 13.0 with iPhone 11.
Charge Status Indicator Not a Bug
The change to the battery status indicator, where VoiceOver says "100%, charging," when the battery is fully charged, is not a bug. Visually, the charging indicator is displayed onscreen even when the battery is at 100% and just sitting on the charger.
battery.
Same problem. My battery tended to last all day if I was listening to an audiobook Now does not last long. Sad this is an issue. Does anyone know when iOS 13.2 beta is out? Hope they address the many issues with VO but I will not hold my breath.
battery drain update
Those of you who read my comment (no. 78 I think it was) yesterday will know that I was going to see how things go today to confirm whether or not I have the battery drain issue. Well, the battery was at 100% at 6:30am and down to 66% by 10am. Even allowing for a fair amount of use, that's definitely a much faster drain than I had before. Admittedly, I had screen curtain off without realising, but I doubt that explains it all. I have now turned off all voiceover haptics and turned on screen curtain. I have also disabled battery optimisation. In this totally unscientific way I'm hoping I'll resolve the issue. Using an iPhone 8 by the way.
Battery
I wander if the new feature that suppose to help the battery might be the one that is affecting the battery?
Invert is a disaster in 13.1
If youâre dependent on invert (white on black) I strongly recommend NOT INSTALLING 13.1. The invert feature is so buggy Iâm starting to look at devices other than my iPad. Iâm hugely disappointed in Apples screw-up of this functionality. Invert worked perfectly pre13.1, but in the latest release is completely unreliable, especially on web pages. Iâve tested it in Safari, Chrome and Firefox with the same disappointing results across the board. If this isnât fixed Iâm moving back to my PC, which I had all but abandoned in favor of iPad. This is a very sad day for me when Microsoft beats Apple on accessibility. Shame on you Apple! Youâve let down the VI community.