Strange issue with Apple books and Braille Note Touch plus

By Missy Hoppe, 25 June, 2020

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

I've got a super weird issue, and am hoping someone out there might know how to fix it. I bought a book on Apple Books that I would love to read in Braille. If it matters, the book is The Freddy Files updated edition. The book wasn't accessible at all on Kindle, but at least is readable with speech in Apple Books. Unfortunately, the text of the book does not appear on my Braille Note Touch Plus. Braille seems to work fine everywhere else on my phone, and even the text of the books app itself displays just fine, but the text of the book, while easily read with speech, will not appear in Braille. Is this something I need to contact Apple about, or is it something I should try to address with Humanware?

On a more or less unrelated note, I have to say that pairing the braille note with my phone is a pain in the tail, and only works about 25 percent of the time. I wanted to pair the Braille Note with one of my Apple TV's as well, but I don't think that's ever going to happen. Oh well. Those are issues to deal with at another time. My main concern is trying to figure out how or if I can read my Apple Books purchase in Braille. Thank you very much for any advice you may have, and I hope any of you reading this are staying safe and healthy.

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Comments

By Life in Six Dots on Monday, June 22, 2020 - 07:16

To answer your last question first. When you connect your BrailleNote to the iPhone make sure it doesn’t lock. I have my iPhone to lock after eight hours of inactivity. If the iPhone locks it disconnects the BrailleNote. The only way to guarantee to reconnect the BrailleNote to the iPhone is to go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille then scroll down the bottom and tap on your BrailleNote to reconnect it.

Now for your Apple book. As far as I know iBooks are DRM protected. Therefore, you can only read them using the official app. The same goes for Kindle books. Kindle books are more accessible on the BrailleNote than iBooks.

I don’t know if you’re a member of BookShare but after a quick search I see that “The Freddy Files” is available on there in a number of accessible formats such as .epub that you could read in braille using the Easy Reader app.

I hope this helps.

By Missy Hoppe on Monday, June 22, 2020 - 07:16

Thank you very much for your response. It is extremely appreciated. Unfortunately, when I purchased the Freddy Files book on Kindle, it wasn't accessible at all; not voice-enabled, and it just didn't appear in readable text. I don't have bookshare, as I tend to prefer audio books whenever possible, so I guess I'll just be reading this book with speech. I wonder why Apple Books can't display in Braille. Do you think it's worth reporting to Apple accessibility? Thanks again, and I hope that you're having a great day!