iOS 17 developer beta four is out! Bugs and findings can go here.

It has happen to me. Sometimes it turns it self on. I never did the 3 finger 3 tap. It has happen.

There is a difference between sound curtain where all sound is muted, and the three finger double tap to mute VO speech. I'm glad to see that this has been made harder to activate on accident. I have muted speech before, and the first time it happened it was quite scary, but there are times when that is something I choose to do. For example, when I'm on air doing my radio show, and want to play something from my phone without people hearing Voiceover. I find the item I want, then toggle speech off before putting the mixer channel my phone is hooked to from audition (where I can hear it in my headphones, but it doesn't air) to the main feed. This works well to be able to play things like voice messages people send in, without my audience having to hear voiceover. Anyway, I wanted to just clear up that difference because of the previous comment.

Don't forget to set up a keystroke or gesture for sound curtain if you need easy access to this feature. That can be done in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Commands. I have not tried it to see if the prompt comes up although I would think it does.

Sorry, but I don't really quite get that. Someone deaf, whether blind or not, can just turn down the volume to 0% and this should serve at least an identical function.

My guess is a deaf person might just want the sound off with no chance of the phone making any noise in the same way we might want the screen off. Someone could just as easily say we could turn the brightness down to 0%.

that's a very strange bug. However, for anyone interested, Stardew Valley for the Mac can be made accessible with mods; at least the non-arcade version can. Maybe someone can test and see if the Arcade version can be modded the same way. if so, that would be one game that could be made accessible out of all the arcade titles.

Then the typical sighted user would be strongly discouraged from turning down the brightness to 0%, as they would not be able to turn it back up. It's not really like turning down the volume to 0%.

I really wanna know. Why did they screw up the design of the messages app. Why did they screw up the switch. Why did they make basically every website in accessible. I know it’s a beta, but I tested the iOS 16, people were saying that iOS 16 beta was s**t. People were saying it was unstable. That doesn’t happen for everyone. On my iPad mini five, which I have at my cousins house, it was excellent. But on my iPhone SE 2022? Terrifying. Websites are accessible, my phone is basically muted, they added some random feature, call Sam Curtin, personal voice doesn’t work, battery health maximum capacity went down, focus issue is still here, I know it’s a beta, but geez! They didn’t have to mess up the design of the app, a new iOS user, would have to freaking be looking for the copy button when you swipe up, now it’s in some damn menu which you have to double tap and hold on the message to you. I’m sorry, but no. Just, no. I know iOS 17 is just a beat, and people are gonna hate me for saying this, but iOS 17, probably has to be as bad as iOS 13. Except for the fact that I can actually use my phone, to a degree. Like iOS 17 is great and some of the features it has. I like the new British Siri voices, , all those camera features for the iPhone pro series look great, Auto deletion of verification codes, Camille the new look of the software update menu, I love all that, and all in all, until the fourth beat, it was actually quite stable. But now, I really honestly feel like everything has just taken the turn for the worst. The focus issues back, my meat switch is basically, under a dumpster fire, and for some reason, the fourth beta was 5 GB? Just download? Yeah what. Maybe I’ll download on one of my iPads, because I have two iPad sixth generations. One I use for school, but I also use that one for home use, the other one I barely use, so I could use that one to test beaters. And I know, don’t install it on your primary machine. I know I know I know, but I’ve done this multiple times, it’s just I’m absolutely shocked over how badly accessibility has fallen since iOS 16 not four,.
Rant over,

I'm not experiencing all you are or anything close to what you are. Maybe you should down grade.

Honestly I’m really thinking about it, because I’m giving my watch and phone to my mum, well both hers, but I set them up for her, and I don’t want her dealing with this type of buggy software. I can deal with it on my own, But because my mum is disabled and has a wide range of medical conditions, I don’t think iOS 17 would be suitable for her. Not just yet anyway. Plus I don’t want to update my watch to watchOS 10

Apparently, you can mute and unmute your phone Buy using the AssistiveTouch menu.
Honestly, I don't think Apple is messing up anything. They are just making changes. Whether we like these changes or agree with them, it's another matter entirely.
I don't like having to use the AssistiveTouch menu for something so simple as to mute my phone but perhaps there is a reason why we have to do it this way now.
It could be that Apple may be trying to come up with a phone without any buttons at all. I have heard this rumor for sometime now. I am not saying that this is true, but perhaps, at least, the mute switch is going to disappear soon.
Anyway, it is pure conjecture from my part.
For now, let's just keep testing and reporting what we find.
Have a great day, my friends.

With all due respect, you should really do yourself a favor, and for that matter, the rest of us as well, and just downgrade and go back to stable iOS. You're clearly not meant to handle the stress and anxiety that this experience is putting you through. Living on the "bleeding edge" isn't for everyone, but at least you can say that you tried. Good luck to you.

The assistive touch mute option has existed for literally years. This is absolutely 100% a bug. It’s probably going to be resolved in the next beta release. Just because the next iPhone might be moving to a multifunction button, that does not mean that they are going to stop utilizing the mute switch on current devices. It is not something they are going to just abandon. It’s not going to be a dead switch. It will literally most likely be fixed in the next beta. This is the nature of beta software. things that are supposed to be working Stop working. And to jump to conclusions is very irresponsible.

It is very important to reach out to Apple regarding your frustrations. This is not Apple. No one on this website can fix any of the issues you’re presenting. It is just about trying to coordinate and help each other be aware of the issues. It is meant to help us gather as much information as possible so that when we reach out to Apple, we’re providing a more full report. Please contact Apple directly and frequently.

Like I said, my friend, it was pure conjecture.
I am very aware that it has to be a bug. However, my point is that it would not surprise me if Apple decided to do something like that in the near future.
After all, there have been plenty of rumors about that.
On the other hand, I am aware of the existence of "AssistiveTouch".
Once again, my point was that, for now, that's the only way to mute and unmute your phone.
Thank you.
Happy testing. :-)

It is not the only way to mute/unmute the phone. A very very early post on this forum discussed how turning off voiceover and moving mute switch mutes/unmutes phone. It’s a voiceover specific issue. It’ll be fixed. It’s like the 11th comment. The whole point of this forum is to read each comment. Similarly, Apple has millions upon millions of idevices with mute switch in the wild. The ring switch is going to take years to phase out. There are still people that use iPhone 3GS.

There are also millions of iDevices with home buttons, many and perhaps most of which are no longer being supported by Apple. Do we have to stick with one of them just because we want to have a home button and Touch ID? Not only the mute switch but also physical buttons in general are much more convenient in several aspects for the sighted as well. You know, when you enter somewhere in a hurry where you have to mute your device but forget or don't have the time to do so, the mute switch just lets you mute the device without having to look at the screen or have VoiceOver speak, and without even having to take the device out of your pocket. This becomes particularly important if you come from a noisy environment where you had been using VoiceOver with a high volume. I know, this is just an example scenario but my point is that buttonless devices are nothing that exceptional, and no tremendous breakthrough to be promoted like that. We have this technology for quite some time already, and manufacturing devices with zero buttons has not become possible yesterday or a couple months ago. So it's a strategy to seem like adding new features and pioneering innovative technological leaps; but the difficulties that such changes bring about, are often neglected or ignored. Customers are just forced to get used to these changes, and those needing accommodations often have to wait longer for these things to be adapted to their needs, as promoting new products and targeting the typical customer has a higher priority. I'm not saying we should go back to the era of keypad phones that I could personally use to text without ever having to listen to Talks&Zooms or Mobile Speak, as I knew what key to press (how many times) to type each character, but it's a fact that even those veterans are more customizable and I still have one, a Nokia E72, intact with quite a healthy-looking battery, for well over a decade. A blind friend used it for a while, and then he gave it to my brother after buying an iPhone. I have been using it ever since my brother also bought another phone. So it's a fact that Apple restricts us in many ways. It's also a fact that the Nokia E72 can do some things with its limited set of features and inferior hardware that the iPhone can't, like letting you listen to the radio without having an Internet connection, which is something I would love to be able to do on my iPhone. Why do you still want that when we now have 5G and numerous radio stations broadcasting over the Internet, as well as numerous apps to listen to them, you may ask. I will respond to that with a question: Why can I still use the Nokia E72 without having to charge it every day? Why do I not have to buy a case or protector for the E72, and why do I not have to worry when I drop it and just pick it up knowing it should be fine, unlike the iPhone even with both a case and a screen protector?

Realistically, the new multifunction button is probably going to allow people to mute/unmute their phones by pressing and holding the button for a second or two. Or, combination pressing volume up and down. There’s no way they’re going to just get rid of a function without providing some other simple way of doing it. I wouldn’t worry. it’s good business for Apple to simplify the experience as much as they can. The average iPhone user is really not that smart. They’re not going to be digging around in Settings for something. Apple is going to essentially say this is how you now mute your phone and it’ll be literally the same function just done in a slightly different way.

Everything that Apple has removed has been replaced with literally another function that can do almost exactly the same thing. Losing the home button took all of 30 minutes to get used to. And the reason is that the swipe up method was literally just as simple. It only took a tiny bit of practice to gain muscle memory. Force touch was literally replaced with double tap and hold. No functionality was lost.

This is not a big deal. I would rather people focus on reporting the bugs and making iOS and voiceover work more seamlessly. I don’t care about the mute switch. It is 100% a non-issue that is going to be fixed.

I have the same experience. It's driving me crazy! lol!

when I go to check the spelling of text I'm editing, such as in Messages or Twitter, navigating by character causes a sound to play that I suppose is for predictive text, but it starts inserting extra characters if I do anything at all from there. With the loss of the functionality of the FlickType app, this makes typing slower and more cumbersome than ever. I wish I knew how to describe the sound. It sounds like what I associate with auto-correct, which I disabled ages ago and still have disabled, but I really like having predictive turned on. I might have all my terminology mixed up, so if someone can provide more info about this, I'd be much obliged. If anyone knows of workaround, please share. I've already submitted a bug report because there's no darn way that is not a bug! The problem only seems to occur when using the VO swipe up and down command when editing text in character mode. It doesn't happen when I use my Bluetooth keyboard.

Read my previous comment as well if you haven't, and read this one after that. So you may not care much about whether your device has a home button or mute switch, but there are people who do need a home button in particular, partly due to the fact that they find Touch ID more convenient. Also, how do you think will we be able to mute or unmute a device with no buttons whatsoever without ever having to unlock it? You know, you mentioned that Apple aims to eventually get rid of all the buttons.

Whether or not people want to keep certain buttons isn’t relevant. Apple is moving forward regardless. This year will be the multifunction button. Next year will probably be the removal of the buttons completely. They’re going to be replaced with the digital button simulations. It’s going to happen.

Things come. Things go. That’s the nature of technology. Eventually, there will be no USB-C port at all. It’s all going to be MagSafe. And then eventually after that, it’s going to be wireless over the air charging. I’m sorry. I can appreciate that it could be frustrating for many people. And they will get used to it when enough time passes period Because everybody gets used to everything eventually.

I think that it’s not about right or wrong. It’s just about what is and what’s going to be. And as I’ve mentioned, everything that Apple has removed has been replaced in some fashion. There’s a solid chance that touch ID is being phased out completely. Because people have gotten more used to Face ID. I don’t really see them implementing touch ID and face ID ID simultaneously. The only way that might happen is if they get rid of passwords an and say Biometric is the way to go. And multiple companies, including Apple already decided that Paskeys are what will replace passwords.

So it’s OK to be frustrated. It’s OK to be sad. It’s OK to be anything that you want to be. And in the end the ring switch is going away. Just like the home button went away just like the 30 pen connector went away. Just like, the fire port went away. Just like CDs and DVDs went away. Just like tapes went away. Just like floppy disks went away. Just like rotating hard drives have been going away. Just like microphone/headphone ports have been going away. They were replaced with SSDs. They were replaced with lightning ports. They’re getting replaced with USB-C. They’ve been replaced with headphones that connect through USB-C. It’s all part of change and one day all these new technologies are going to replaced with something else.

I’ve already mentioned, probably long press multifunction button for mute and unmute. Whether it’s pressing and holding down the multiple function button, pressing and holding down the volume up and down buttons, or some other combination.

Tony,

I think you’re right. It is a voiceover bug specific to iOS 17. And the new AutoCorrect functionality is adding characters. The fact that you submitted a bug report is probably the best thing you could have done. I’ve done so as well.

Even though some bugs may not go away by the time the actual software is released, I feel happy to know that we are doing our part.
We are helping Buy testing and reporting every bug or even every workaround we find.
At the same time, we witness all these changes.
It amazes me to see how far we have come through the years.
Ash said that things change, technology changes, etc. that is the truth. We need to keep adapting and learning. Some people were afraid to think that phones did not have keyboards anymore. Others were mad because Face ID would be replacing touch ID.
Nevertheless, we have learned and adapted. Things always change for the better. Let's just be positive about that.
After all, Apple has always been committed to make their products accessible.

well,
when we turn on voice over we can not switch to mute or unmute the phone.
but, we can do it after turn off voice over

As this is just going to be a whole iPhone, 15 issue, then why did the whole mute switch issue pop-up on basically every single of the iPhone iOS 7 things? What’s your saying literally does not make any sense at all,, What you’re saying, makes absolutely no sense at all

Well, you're right even though you don't make much sense either thanks to dictation :) Also, not everyone will eventually get used to everything, and as I've been trying to explain, not every move brings about or is actually the result of such breakthroughs. Literally, what's the point of wireless charging that's not as efficient as wired charging, at least as yet? So Apple has recently added a clean charging feature but this is just inconsistent and insincere, given that they have also been working on totally replacing wired charging with wireless charging. As for USB C, Apple is obliged to switch to it and also make the batteries removable due to certain EU regulations. The company would prefer the entire opposite if it was given a choice, as being able to have customers buy accessories and chargers designed specifically for the lightning port, is something that boosts Apple's revenues.

What annoys me the most apples very long timeline of breaking things that are still stable and useable . Thanks for instants the safari issues where a webpage would be inaccessible, like I know it’s a beta but sheesh, Did Apple lose his brain cells when Steve jobs went bye-bye

And what about the Smoot switch issue, but it is the reason that people are saying, the iPhone 15 come on then why is it affecting other iPhones. Other iPhones have mute switches, now my mother who is disabled doesn’t know when somebody is calling her because it’s stuck on mute and she can’t She doesn’t know how to fix it. It’s only her Apple Watch making noise
Diverts found my upgrade what walk, trust me I’ve tried with devices running iOS 12 they just don’t work into it won’t let me get into DFU mode on those devices. I’ve practically given up all hope