Toggling VoiceOver On and Off Using the Accessibility Shortcut on iOS and iPadOS

By Darrell Hilliker, 14 August, 2010

Do you need a way to easily turn off VoiceOver so a sighted friend can use your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone? Are you playing a gesture-based audio game that requires you to disable VoiceOver? If you need a way to easily turn VoiceOver off and on without sighted assistance or Siri, keep reading for instructions. This quick guide is for you.

Configuring the Accessibility Shortcut

The Accessibility Shortcut allows you to enable or disable accessibility features by pressing the Home button (or Side button if you're device doesn't have a Home button) three times in rapid succession. Apple does not enable this feature by default, so it must be configured before it can be used. We assume VoiceOver is enabled while following this guide, so VoiceOver gestures are used. If you are sighted, you may wish to turn off VoiceOver before proceeding. Follow these steps to configure the Accessibility Shortcut to toggle VoiceOver:

  1. Go to your device's Home screen.
  2. Locate and double tap Settings.
  3. Double tap Accessibility.
  4. Double tap Accessibility Shortcut.
  5. Double tap VoiceOver.
  6. Now return to the Home screen.

Toggling VoiceOver On and Off

Simply triple tap (press three times in rapid succession) the Home (or Side) button to turn VoiceOver on or off. VoiceOver says, "VoiceOver on," or, "VoiceOver off," according to its status.

Tags
iOS
VoiceOver

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Comments

By Kevan on Thursday, November 24, 2011 - 07:17

This post needs to be updated for the changes in iOS5, as the tripple-click home feature is now enabled by default. A blind person can take any iDevice running iOS 5 and use it in 2 seconds. How exciting.

By Darrell Hilliker on Thursday, November 24, 2011 - 07:17

Since the default behavior didn't change for all new iPhone 4S users, I don't think anything should be changed in this guide. The info remains valid despite the default.

I thought it was like that for everyone running iOS 5! Apparently I was wrong.

By Samara on Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 07:17

Please ignore my last comment. I flicked instead of searching the screen and was able to find it. I'm about 2 days old when it comes to this iPhone. Sam

By tbunce on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 07:17

I am using IOS8 on a iPad air in the accessibilities their is no triple click home so where do I turn it on? I had to do a system reset which turned it off and I now can not turn it back on. I went into general then accessibility and their was no trip click for home.

By mehgcap on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 07:17

Go to Settings, then General, then Accessibility. At the bottom is an item called "Accessibility Shortcut", and in there you can find all the options. Choose VoiceOver by double tapping it, and you should be all set.

By Ekaj on Saturday, September 24, 2016 - 07:17

Just as a head's-up, turning VO on when in iTunes on my MacBook Air does not produce any speech but only a beep. This has been the case at least for me with the current and previous few versions of iTunes. Your mileage may vary though.