Apple will publicly release iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 on Monday, September 18, 2023. This post contains a summary of new bugs impacting VoiceOver, Braille support, and low vision features that we have identified during testing of these upcoming releases. We have also included details on previously reported bugs that appear to be fixed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 based on our testing.
As is our routine practice, each newly identified 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 for the average user, the level of impact on the overall user experience, and whether or not there is an effective workaround for the issue. However, as these ratings are subjective, it is possible that they may not reflect your own opinion or use case.
With our small team, it's impossible to test every device, configuration, app, and use case. We can't claim our bug list is comprehensive or that our assessments are infallible. Some issues may manifest only under specific conditions. You likely won't experience every bug. Also, expect to encounter problems not listed that we missed in our testing.
We strongly recommend reading this full post and replies before updating. This will help you make an informed decision on whether to install iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 when they become available or to wait for a future release.
To ensure the information here is as complete and accurate as possible, we welcome comments below from those who have installed iOS 17 or iPadOS 17. Please confirm if you are encountering the same problems listed or if you have found workarounds. Please also let us know about any additional issues not mentioned here. Of course, it's even more important that you report any new bugs directly to Apple - they are already aware of the ones listed here. [For an explanation of why and how to report bugs to Apple, see this post.
With all of the preamble out of the way, here are the new bugs for blind and low vision users which we believe to be present in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17:
Serious Bugs
Some users may encounter an intermittent issue that affects the operation of the VoiceOver double-tap gesture on iOS 17. When attempting to double-tap an actionable interface element, the resulting behaviour experienced is as if the user touched with 1 finger the area of the screen where they performed the gesture, rather than performed a double tap on the element that VoiceOver focus was on.
For instance, with VoiceOver focus on a button within Safari's toolbar, performing a double tap might result in VoiceOver speaking the text content of the webpage that was under your finger at the time you performed the gesture, instead of activating the intended button in the toolbar.
When this behaviour occurs, VoiceOver focus typically moves to the interface element that was spoken. It's necessary to relocate focus back to the intended element before attempting the double-tap again. While this movement of focus may sound similar to the longstanding issue for many users involving VoiceOver focus, the issue described here is new and noticeably different when experienced.
This issue is not limited to specific apps; it occurs across native and third-party applications. It impacts various types of actionable interface elements, including activating items on the VoiceOver rotor's action menu.
In some cases, the double tap might function correctly on the second attempt, while in others, it might require multiple tries before registering accurately.
The underlying issue can also cause problems with the operation of the 1 finger triple-tap gesture and the 1 finger double-tap and hold.
It is important to note that this behaviour is not consistentāit doesnāt happen every time. Based on our testing, there is no discernible pattern to predict when it will occur or how frequently. But based on experience, it likely won't be highly frequent for impacted users.
While serious, this issue does not appear to be widespread Based on our tracking of user experiences during the beta cycle. It has been encountered by five members of our Editorial Team. Additionally, A few other users across the wider community have reported experiencing this behaviour, including Jonathon Mosen and a listener to his Living Blindfully podcast. Beyond these known cases, there has been no indication that a significant portion of users are affected. Overall, current evidence suggests this is an intermittent issue impacting a small subset of users rather than something everyone should expect to encounter.
Adjusting the Double-Tap Timeout in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver has been suggested as a partial workaround for the issue. However, based on limited testing, changing this setting does not appear to resolve the underlying problem. While you may want to experiment with adjusting the Timeout interval, keep in mind that this could disrupt your natural double-tap muscle memory which is accustomed to the default timing. Any benefits in reliability would need to outweigh the effort required to learn the new timing. At this point, the setting change seems unlikely to provide a sufficient or permanent fix.
We chose to rate this issue as serious because of the importance of the double-tap gesture and its frequency of use. Moreover, our assessment has taken into account the potential impact of this behaviour on individuals who are new to or less familiar with iOS. These users might reasonably assume that the behaviour is due to them not correctly performing the double tap gesture, possibly leading them to conclude that using an iPhone is more difficult than it actually is.
Moderate Bugs
- When using VoiceOver to navigate the main screen of the native Weather app, the movement of focus is inconsistent and unreliable. Specifically, focus can become stuck on an interface element, falsely suggesting there are no further elements to the right or left. Or focus may unexpectedly jump over elements as if they don't exist on the screen. As a workaround, you will need to explore the screen by touch in order to locate all weather data.
- Using the "drag" action in the VoiceOver rotor to rearrange app icons on the Home Screen often does not work as expected. Specifically, when attempting to drag an app icon to a new position and place it before or after another app, the dragged app frequently ends up in a folder with the target app rather than moving to the desired location. It's also been reported that on occasions some drag action options, such as ādrop beforeā or ādrop afterā, may not always be available.
- An intermittent bug can cause VoiceOver speech to stop after ending a phone call, while sound effects remain. There is no clear pattern as to when this issue occurs. Similar behaviour has also been reported when using WhatsApp.
- Incoming banner notifications interrupt VoiceOver speech when the āSpeak Notificationsā accessibility setting is enabled. Specifically, any time a new notification banner appears, VoiceOver will immediately stop reading the current on-screen text or menu to announce the notification. This interrupts VoiceOver mid-sentence or mid-menu in a disruptive manner. In previous iOS versions, VoiceOver would finish reading the current paragraph, sentence, or menu before speaking a new notification. This prevented jarring mid-sentence interruptions.
- The new predictive text feature in iOS 17 provides recommended words inline as you type using the onscreen keyboard. There are verbosity settings that allow VoiceOver users to control what happens when predictive text appears and when predictive text feedback is entered. However, some users report that these verbosity settings are not being applied consistently across different apps. When the predictive text verbosity setting is set to speak recommendations, some VoiceOver users report that recommendations are silent in certain apps, even though they expect them to be spoken. Conversely, other users have found that with the predictive text setting configured to not speak recommendations, VoiceOver will still read out the recommendations in some apps like Mail.
- It is not possible to mark certain actions as favourites in the system share sheet due to the āInsertā button and checkbox being recognised as part of a single element. Specifically, when editing the list of actions to be shown in the Share sheet and focusing on an action that can be enabled/disabled via a checkbox, VoiceOver announces the checkbox state and "Insert" together rather than separately. Double tapping toggles the checkbox but does not allow inserting the action as a favourite.
Minor Bugs
- VoiceOver no longer announces the time when the device wakes if there are pending notifications. Instead, it states the number of notifications present.
- When using VoiceOver Find with a braille display, searching does not function as expected. Specifically, pressing dot 8 does nothing after typing in a VoiceOver Find query with a connected braille display. The search is not carried out. As a workaround, prior to pressing dot 8 to execute the find function, press dots 2-7 followed by space with dot 8. Your search will now work as expected.
- When using the VoiceOver rotor to mark an email as read in the native Mail app, VoiceOver fails to provide clear confirmation feedback. Instead of announcing "read" to confirm the action, VoiceOver speaks an unclear and incomprehensible word or phrase.
- When you adjusts the volume slider in Control Center using the flick gesture, VoiceOver announces the previous volume level rather than the new level after the adjustment. Specifically, when a user focuses on the volume slider in Control Center with VoiceOver enabled, then performs a 1 finger flick up or down to change the volume, VoiceOver speaks the volume percentage. However, instead of announcing the new volume level, VoiceOver reads out the volume level prior to the flick gesture adjustment.
- When editing Safari bookmarks, the bookmark names and reorder icon label are incorrectly announced with "remove" prepended.
- Double tapping on a bookmark or folder title in Safari's edit bookmarks screen incorrectly activates a delete button rather than opening the edit view. As a workaround, the contextual menu for actions includes an Edit option.
- Some users may experience inconsistent and less descriptive labelling of Control Center toggles. For example, the toggle for locking device screen orientation may simply be announced as āLockedā or āUnlockedā rather than using the more descriptive label āLock Rotationā that was present in previous iOS versions. This degraded labelling does not appear isolated to any specific VoiceOver voice. Users of the Alex voice have reported experiencing the unclear labels, while others using Alex still hear the expected descriptive labels. Additionally, isolated reports indicate similar degraded labelling for other Control Center toggles beyond just the orientation lock. This bug seems to manifest unpredictably, affecting only a small subset of iOS 17 users. The inconsistent experience suggests an underlying issue, rather than a deliberate change in labelling.
Other Reported Issues
The Messages app will now automatically transcribe audio messages into plain text, a valuable addition for deaf-blind users. However, some users report the transcript preview and āShow Moreā button appear visually but cannot be accessed through Braille commands, VoiceOver gestures or menus. Our testing could not reproduce this inaccessibility - VoiceOver consistently announced no transcription available for our audio messages. As we were unable to independently validate the issue, we have not filed a formal bug report yet. We will continue investigating this issue to clarify its specific behaviour.
Additional user-reported issues that we have not independently validated are discussed in these forum threads. While our team has not personally reproduced or confirmed these bugs, the threads are worth reading to potentially identify other problems you may encounter:
- RC's are now available for iOS 17, macOS 14, watchOS 10, and more!
- Braille Screen input not reporting deleted word if cursor not at end of text
- While using Voiceover and a bluetooth keyboard, unable to review or edit text in notes
If you know of any other VoiceOver, Braille, or low vision issues in iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 that aren't already listed here, we encourage you to share details below to help fellow community members. When reporting a new bug or problem, please include as much helpful context as possible - describe exactly when and where the issue occurs, the steps to reproduce it, and any workarounds you've found to bypass or resolve it.
Accessibility Improvements in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17
We know that there will be considerable interest in discovering whether the longstanding VoiceOver focus jumping bug has been addressed in iOS 17. This particular bug has presented challenges in checking and documenting due to its varying impact on different users. While some have been unaffected by this issue on iOS 16, others encounter occasional instances or, in more severe cases, frequent occurrences rendering their device nearly impossible to use at times. A further complication is that no consistent pattern has emerged regarding the circumstances under which this behaviour manifests. For some people, the issue exclusively occurs within Safari, while for others, it can present itself across any application. Similarly, the focus might jump to the top of the current screen for some, whereas for others, it will jump anywhere within the same screen.
The purpose of outlining these complexities is to underscore the challenge in accurately determining the status of this bug in iOS 17. Reports from the iOS 17 beta cycle have been mixed. Some users say that they have seen a end to this behaviour, while others note a reduction in its occurrence or no improvement.
Our Editorial Team's experience is similarly mixed. Given the inconsistent experiences, it's impossible to forecast post-update results for each user. You may be among the lucky subset that sees this issue fully resolved or observes some level of improvement, but we recommend regarding either outcome as a bonus rather than something to be expected after installing iOS 17.
Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17:
- When composing a lengthy email with the native Mail app using a Braille display, random words are no longer inserted in the incorrect place.
- The VoiceOver rotor's action menu no longer contains two separate Share actions in the Notes app.
If you encounter any additional fixes or improvements during your own use of iOS 17 or iPadOS 17, please let us know by posting a reply below.
In Closing
Our team has compiled lists of new accessibility bugs for every major iOS and iPadOS release since iOS 7. Based on our testing, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 have introduced fewer critical VoiceOver and Braille bugs compared to previous major updates. Overall, these seem to be the most stable and usable major releases for blind and low vision users in recent years. However, if you haven't already upgraded, we would strongly recommend that you take a few moments to read through any replies to this post before doing so in case other users' experiences differ from our own. Also consider that historically Apple has delivered fixes for many accessibility bugs within the first few x.x.1 updates following major releases. Upgrading to iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 appears low risk for most use cases, but waiting briefly may allow Apple to resolve initial problems reported after the public release.
"It's not uncommon that simply toggling VoiceOver off and on again or restarting your device can resolve some issues that may arise following an OS update. Therefore, we highly recommend including these steps as part of your standard troubleshooting process. If, despite these actions, you continue to encounter new problems that haven't been reported by others, it might be worth considering a reset of your device's OS settings to their original defaults.
While this approach requires manually restoring your customised settings, including those related to accessibility, it's worth noting that a reset has proven effective for numerous individuals in resolving various issues. This suggests that occasionally, problems can be attributed to local factors rather than being OS bugs. If you choose to perform a reset and find that it doesn't address the problems, you have the option to restore your device from an iCloud backup, eliminating the need for manual reconfiguration of your settings."
When commenting below, please keep the discussion focused on accessibility issues specifically introduced or fixed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. These posts tend to garner helpful responses, so it's important readers can easily find relevant details. Also, remember upgrade decisions are personal with each user's situation unique - there is no right or wrong choice. Comments criticising others' decisions are not constructive and do nothing to add to the discussion. Furthermore, not experiencing an issue yourself does not mean it doesn't exist for others, as bugs can be configuration-specific. Stating an issue doesn't exist simply because you haven't encountered it is unhelpful. Our aim is constructive exchange of experiences to inform decisions.
In closing, we thank Apple's Accessibility team for their prompt response in fixing many of the bugs reported during the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 beta period. Their dedication to addressing the issues raised by our team shows that Apple continues to prioritise accessibility. However, some problems remain unresolved. We encourage Apple to promptly address the outstanding accessibility issues discussed in this post and the comments below so that iOS and iPadOS can be as accessible, usable, and enjoyable as possible for all users.
Comments
Quite disappointing bug ratings
Hello there,
first of all, I would like to extend my gratitude towards AppleVis for testing every single iOS release in great detail, and providing these reports every year, which are extremely informative and helpful.
However, I must admit that I find some of these bug ratings for this year extremely puzzling.
For instance, how can such a poor experience of the Weather app be rated as a moderate bug? In my opinion, a native app being so difficult to use, especially such an important one, deserves a serious rating. However, while this can be discussed and is just my subjective opinion, objectively, VoiceOver losing speech after ending a call really should not be classified as a moderate bug. Yes, I understand that the fact this is an intermittent issue probably played a part in its rating, but regardless, when your speech stops working after ending a call, your reaction certainly won't be "oh boy, I'm glad this is an intermittent problem."
In my view, this should absolutely go on the list of serious bugs, especially considering that the double tap bug also does not affect everybody, but it was classified as serious. I have personally never experienced that one so cannot comment on its impact, but I have experienced the loss of speech after ending a call and it is highly frustrating.
Finally, this is my last critique, the bug that causes notification banners to interrupt VoiceOver speech also is not minor, in my view. It is at least moderate, while in my view it is definitely not serious.
This bug caused me to disable speaking of notifications entirely, since if you receive a lot of them keeping this setting enabled is completely pointless, since you will not be able to read any longer text on your device anymore. Note that I have not disabled this setting by my own choice, I like having my notifications read, but I do not like my notifications interrupting whatever is being read and taking the absolute priority. This is one of the most annoying things about VoiceOver on the Mac, and it's extremely disappointing that this found its way to iOS as well.
Finally, I would also like to comment on the following bug:
"VoiceOver no longer announces the time when the device wakes if there are pending notifications. Instead, it states the number of notifications present."
Are you sure that this is how this works?
On my device, this does not work, unless I want it to work this way. Here is what I mean.
If you go to VoiceOver settings/verbosity/system notifications, you have a section to choose how banners will be spoken (not important for this), but also how notifications on the lock screen will be spoken.
As long as the options "speak" or "speak count" are both unselected, the time is properly spoken here when I press the side button, and I think that is the entire point of this setting. If "speak count" is selected, then yes, I get exactly the same experience as described in this bug, but I do not think it is a bug in this case.
To conclude, of course, this is perfectly understandable, as you say yourself, you are only a small team and this is a huge operating system, so I hope this can be taken as just constructive criticism and not anything attempting to diminish the value of this blog post.
Thanks once again for your time testing the release and publishing this post, it quickly became one of the things I look forward to the most over the years, as it helps me validate my own experience or often find workarounds which I was not previously aware of.
TextTones no longer playing when Emergency Bypass is enabled
This is not quite an accessibility bug, but it is certainly an iOS 17 issue users who are blind or visually impaired may want to know about prior to upgrading. For various reasons, I keep my phone on Do Not Disturb most of the time. There are, however, some contacts who I want to know when they send a text message. I use the Emergency Bypass feature to override Do Not Disturb so I can receive audio alerts when these contacts text. Ever since upgrading to the iOS 17 beta, these text tones no longer play when Do Not Disturb is enabled. This is not a critical bug, but it is annoying. I have reported this to Apple using the Feedback app. I'm told a potential fix has been identified which will be included in a future iOS version.
Jim
The bug described as "serious" does occur on my device.
My conclusion is that it happens as I scroll through screens having a large number of items and then double tap on one of the items when I find the one I am looking for.
Nervous about updating
I'm pretty sure I'll end up updating on Monday because my phelosophy has always been that I might as well learn to adapt to updates as soon as possible. Some of what I'm reading here about iOS 17 has me more concerned than usual, though, and I'm definitely apprehensive of the changes coming to the watch. The way I see it, though, if I get the update, I can start reporting any serious issues I encounter to Apple. I think it's also important to remember that most of the worst bugs get fixed within a couple of weeks. I might try to make myself wait a few more days, though, just to read more of others' experiences.
The only reason I can thinkā¦
The only reason I can think of regarding the weather app is not marked serious is a lot of us use other weather apps.
I guess I'll wait
Maybe 17.1 will have some of these fixed. The new stuff isn't worth the annoyance IMO.
I'll wait.
I'll wait and upgrade to version 17.1 or 2.
Another bug I've discovered, has anyone else seen this?
Hi AppleVis team and community,
I've been testing iPadOS 17 all cycle, but just started with the release candidate on my phone.
Has anyone noticed a bug where the VoiceOver rotor seems to be relocated randomly?
For instance, on the home screen, you might navigate to the "adjust value" option to turn to another home screen page. But then the rotor would move to...let's say...headings. And then you'd have to move it back to the "adjust value" option to return to the previous page.
I found it weird and just wanted to see if anyone else noticed this? Maybe it's not a bug?
Like I said, the release canidate is the first iOS 17 build I've installed on my phone.
Thank you, team, for taking the time to publish this post. It helps me to know what bugs I might encounter during my use of iOS/IPadOS.
Daniel Semro
Jim D
13 pro and no issues. I get messages from people I want when phone is in sleep. Sane do not disturb.
Have iPhone, will update.
I am looking forward to updating on Monday. In my personal experience with iOS since iOS 5, there have always been ways to get around the minor/moderate bugs. Also, I personally do not use a Braille display, so these particular issues will not concern me.
Someone mentioned above about a few settings that make Notifications act in a particular way on the Lock Screen. I wonder if there are, or will be, other settings to manage some of the other aforementioned bugs in iOS 17?
Finally, I have had the issue with the VO voice cutting out on random calls since iOS 16, so its not really a "new" thing, just new to iOS 17 I guess, since it is the version of iOS everyone is focused on. Regardless, it takes very little effort to re-enable the voice. š¤·š»āāļø
Oh, one more note. Regarding the Weather app; does anyone really care about this? There are quite a number of alternative weather apps out there. š«¤
/end 2Ā¢
Time/Notifications on Lock Screen Thing
I'm on an early version of iOS 16. It announces the number of notifications, if there are any, instead of the time. I just assumed it was a feature rather than a bug.
alix still switching to samantha randumly.
I only say this here, as I didn't see it listed, and I am still seeing it even after updating to the RC build. sometimes it even happens when a notification wakes your phone up. you have your voice set to alix, but you will hear samantha. if you flick a time or two, it usually comes back to alix, but while samantha is going, the phone is a bit sluggish until alix comes back. this is on an IPhone 11
I'm using IOS 16 and I'm noticing two of these bugs.
The notification bug where the number of notifications are read instead of the time, and Voiceover interrupting itself when a new notification comes in. So, these two aren't exactly new. It's disappointing that they are present in both versions. I will probably update, because it seems that a lot of these bugs have been present in a brand-new IOS in one form or another.
I'm also having the samanthaā¦
I'm also having the samantha and alex issue with 16. Maybe it's worse in 17?
The Samantha Alex thing
I've been experiencing this for several months. It's a bit irritating, but I'd rather have the random voice swap than VO going silent altogether. Turning vo off and then back on again fixes the silence issue, but sometimes, I have to do the triple click of my side button 2 or 3 times before vo comes back. I'd much rather see that random bug get resolved than the Alex/Samantha thing, and this is coming from someone who detests the Samantha voice. The problem is, so far as I can tell, there's no rhyme or reason to what might cause the speech to completely disappear. It's happened in any number of apps, and I can't think of anything specific I've done that might trigger it. Really hoping for better things from Apple and Voiceover sooner rather than later.
iOS 16 notifications interruption
Hello,
on iOS 16, if incoming notifications are interrupting your reading, you must disable always speak notifications inside your VoiceOver settings. I forget now if this is also inside verbosity or the main page, but you should easily find it.
This won't disable speaking of notifications while your phone is awake, it will simply not speak them while your phone is locked anymore. What this will also do is prevent this speech interruption from occurring.
So, the main point is that on iOS 16, I was able to have automatic notifications reading without VoiceOver interrupting itself. Now however, even if I use the new setting to make sure notifications reading is disabled on the lock screen, this changes nothing.
Samantha
I use Eloquence, but every so often, Samantha speaks for just a second. I'm running the latest version of iOS 16.
Samantha vs Alex
Hey! Do you think if we all switch to Samantha as the default voice, Alex will make an occasional appearance? ššš»āāļø
Braille display search
I believe that I found a work around for the Braille Display Search bug mentioned in this post. I am doing this in the following way:
1. Go to Home Screen.
2. Press dot 8.
3. Type the name of the app you are looking for (or just a part of it) and press dot 8.
4. If anything is found you will see the result on your Braille display.
5. Ghtcc dot 8 to accept it and open the desired app.
6. There may be several results matching your input. In this case, before performing a final press of do t8 us Space+Dot 1 or Space+dot 4 to see all the results and press dot 8 on the desired one.
I hope it helps a bit.
P.S. Unfortunately this great feature will not work with the displays which have QWERTY keyboard. I believe that implementing this functionality for QWERTY keyboard users will very much increase the efficiency in using i-devices with VoiceOver.
Curious as to why nobodyās mentioning the issues with live voice
Iām actually pretty curious as to why nobodyās mentioning the issues with the live voicemail feature. Itās incredibly choppy and repetitive and locks. Focus onto live voicemail until itās done. I realized that people probably turned that feature off and moved on. But I could see it being very useful. Even applevis isnāt mentioning it as a bug.
Focus-jumping
Whew! Given the bugs with double-tap gesture, notification banners and deletions in BSI, I'll wait. But I am highly curious about the focus-jumping bug. My Messenger app has been awful. I can send or receive an initial message per session, but after that? It starts reading out messages like autoplay on shuffle. I cannot interrupt this readout or regain focus, and often it takes several presses of the home button before I can effectively navigate away. I noticed it in mid-late May with one of the earlier versions of iOS 16. It and several issues were persistent enough that I ultimately wound up having to restore my device after the usual troubleshooting interventions because Apple had reason to believe that my update had been corrupted. It's been so much better across the board, but Messenger started acting up again last week days before 16.6.1 was released. Installing said update didn't rectify the issue, and neither did deleting/reinstalling Messenger. Not that it's my fav app or anything, but I would like to be able to function in that space when needed, and reading about the focus-jumping bug made me wonder if this could be related. Thanks so much for all you do!
Tom
Using Tom and no issues with Samantha showing up. No issues with notification also.For checking go to VO, Verbosityand notification to check if you have your setting. No issues with focus. Only issue is tone. Sometimes it works sometimes does not. Mostly for text and news. Ringtone works well. Maybe is the phone. Old phones do not work well with some features! 13 pro, 128 GB.
spell check bug still exists in mail
to reproduce do the following:
1 go to settings.
2 go to general.
3 go to keyboard.
4 turn off auto correct.
5 turn off predictive.
6 spell check your message. Even after correcting a word it isn't removed from the list of errors. This is not the case in messages, feedback, Notes, drafts, ETC.
Not Bad!
I don't do betas so here's my thoughts on the info listed
The focus bug might be fixed: I'll take it! I only started using ios a bit before this bug was introduced, so if it really is fixed it'll be fun to see how that goes
Vo alex switches to Samantha: this is not from the post but someones comment, I just say I was wondering if anyone else experienced that! If I download Alex (Which I do every once in a while for testing purposes) and stay in the preview while it downloads, it's samantha, and sluggish
Vo drag-and-drop putting apps into folders when not supposed to: this already happens with me
VO braille find thing not working: disappointed as I use that feature a lot
VO speech stopping after a phone call: well I'm fine with that as long as there's an easy workaround, I usually shut VO off during calls because it usually crashes the call for some reason.
Very disappointed braille display enter key bugs havent been fixed yet :( , but I think apple is onto something. This seems pretty decent as far as major updates though, and I'll probably get it on Monday or Tuesday. Thank you AppleVis for putting this together!
Zoom & VO together, floating element bug
This started in IOS 16.4 and to my dismay continues in IOS 17.
When using Zoom and VO together, floating elements such as the search field in Whatsapp Chats, or the scan button in GeniusScan, don't activate when double tapped. only a long tap will activate them.
(When double tapping, sometimes an element that is below the floating element is activated).
If Zoom is off the but disappears.
My thoughts
Iāve only had the folkis issue a few times on iOS 17 which is definitely better than iOS 16
I'm wundering if
I'm wundering if the bsi bug will be fixed by a reset of all settings?
flemish dutch voice still bad
Hello,
After the update to iOS 16 the flemish dutch voice Ellen became bad in quality. I hoped this was fixed in ios 17..... not!
Failing to read back dictated text
Hello, this is not specifically iOS 17, though it is happening with this beta.
50% of the time I failed to hear my dictated text automatically read back to me. This is unfortunate because it waste a lot of time because I need to go back and verify the text I intended to dictate.
I hope that it would be improved in iOS 17, but it does not look like the first version. Will include a fix for this. Two people who do not use dictation that often. This might not be a parent but when you use dictation of majority of the time this is quite a productivity suck.
Mesage tone
FYI. Before whenever I tried to give a person a different tone, it always went to default with the RC. I kept doing it without no success. However today I did it just to play with it. This time it took. I gave a tone and when I tap on done, and check it show the one I selected. Looks like it took. I will see when I get a message from her. Cross finger.
spell check still broken in mail if predictive and auto correct
Steps to reproduce
1 go to settings.
2 go to general.
3 go to keyboard.
4 turn off predictive.
5 turn off auto correct.
6 type something like the follow:
thiss iss a tesst.
7 put that into mail. When you correct the words they still show as if you didn't correct them if you go back over the document. If you try this in messages notes or any other app it works correctly.
Lets be honest.
Ok so lets be honest here if Apple can't even sort out their own native apps before release what chance is there really they will fix any other issues. Oh and yes all have been reported and not a sniff from /Apple about my reports. The weather app issue is a major issue and the app is not usable despite what this post says. Sorry but whilst iOS17 is actually very stable the big issues mean it is not clever.
Drag and drop.
Sad it is a major pain to use. It took 5 times to get it to work with 13 pro. First time instead of dropping the app before another that I selected drop before ... It put it in the sane and created folder. Took forever to remove it from it and remove both from the folder. Nuts. Is a pain but in general the app works. Fix on Monday? I have a better chance of ruling the universe than Apple fixing it. Hope iOS 17.1 will do it.
Feedback
OK. Did it. It is a major pain doing it and could not see the number case. It did go through. I think regarding this is a focus issue with drag. Instead of drapping it before or after it creates folder and also is hard to remove them. Now I have 2 folder in my nice organize in alfabit order. Will ask a sighted friend on Monday. I know Apple will not fix it.
Strange phenomenon regarding Notes app and dictation
I've been having a problem with the Notes application on my iPhone for a while now. I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but I'm posting it here in order to receive some relevant feedback if there is any available.
Whenever I dictate text in the notes app on my iPhone, and make a correction, voiceover tends to read the statements strangely afterwards, sometimes including random spaces, to the point where it becomes very difficult to navigate in the app while reading through the text. It's almost as if there are random spaces being read out in between The words, even if there is actually no space there. I generally prefer to type my text, but there are instances when I have many thoughts in my head, and I would like to jot down the basic ideas before I forget them. In these cases, it's better for me to dictate, and then make the necessary edits afterwards. When I edit the dictated text regarding corrections, voiceover pronounces the words strangely afterwards. The only way I can read comfortably after that is by selecting everything, cutting the text from the note entirely, then re-pasting it again. While attempting to navigate the written information, voiceover keeps saying the word space, in addition to the pronunciation of the words being off.
For example
Original text; I like pancakes, and waffles. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Now, for the sake of argument, let's say that I had made a mistake in the text above, and I would like to correct it. After making the corrections in the notes app, the text is now read as the following below.
I lik e pa nc a kes , and wa f fl es. Br e a kfa st is the m ost impor ta nt mea l o f t h e da y .
It is definitely confusing for sure. Whenever I copy and paste the text, it comes out OK, so I manually had to copy the statement word by word to show you what's wrong. In the notes app, the text above is how it's presented to me after I finish making the corrections after dictation. I can type in the app just fine, but once I dictate something, and manually make any corrections, this is how it appears in the notes app, until I copy and re-paste it there, or somewhere else. Once I manually edit the dictated text, I know longer have any control over what's going to be presented to me on screen. If I erase the word I'm trying to correct, and dictate it again, it comes out fine, but once I am typing in order to make the corrections, the text appears unrecognizable. This only happens to the originally dictated text, but I can type in the document, and there are no issues at all, even if I make a correction to a part of the text that I dictated before.
Notes app.
Iām not having the same problem as you in the notes app however I do get that problem occasionally throughout other apps. Very occasionally and not predictably or in a pattern Iāve been able to identify. My problem with the notes app is that using a Bluetooth keyboard and arrowing around up and down through the note, VO only reads the first line of each paragraph as the start of every line in the paragraph It makes Notes completely unusable which is a shame because its the main app I use to write things down. Do you have that problem with a Bluetooth keyboard?
Drag and drop
The following is interesting. I had my apps in alphabetic order in the first page. YouTube is my last app. Was making changes to audible because it did not want to play an audiobook and needed to delete it. I reinstall it and moved it back to first page. I notice that this time it created a folder. See previous posting about drag and drop. Now YouTube no longer can be in the first page. It will not allow it. The only appp that I added was audible. Now last app is Word. The folder issue is history. Maybe is not a bug. Now drag and drop works well. Nuts.
@Winter Roses
Apologies if someone has already mentioned and/or tried this..
Have you tried to disable/re-enable Dictation? Just curious if you would have better results that way?
Using Bluetooth keyboard with notes app, and disabling dictation
I don't have a Bluetooth keyboard. Therefore, I can't replicate the problem that you're having.
Regarding disabling dictation, I have tried this before, but it didn't work. The problem seems to be with the notes app directly. I might have to try backing up my data, deleting the app, and re-downloading it again from the Apple store. I know that Apple has pages, but I find it strange that the notes app doesn't have grammar check. I know that spellcheck is available though. I don't know if this feature is available, but I find it strange also that there is no character, word, or sentence counter for the notes app.
Connection Issues with BrailleNote Touch Plus
While I have been having connection issues with the BrailleNote Touch Plus in the past (basically trying to reconnect to my iPhone or Mac when it's already connected), it seems to be having the same connection issues that are being felt in other Braille displays. After pairing, VoiceOver shows that the Touch is connected, though the Braille Terminal on the Touch+ is still showing up, which lines up with what others have said in the past.
I think alex and samanthaā¦
I think alex and samantha are in some sort of relationship, now we just gotta know when the wedding is.
SAlex and Samantha
Just updated my phone. So far, so good. The only weirdness is that Alex and Samantha seem to keep switching off. Like, it'll start saying something using Alex, and then Samantha takes over for a little bit. Even that, though, seems to be simmering down a tad. Also, I was kind-a nervous about all the talk of ringtones and stuff, but at least for me, all of my ring tones and text alert tones still seem to be working exactly as they did before the update, so I'm thankful for that. I'll check in again if I encounter anything seriously troubling, but at least so far, no regrets. The watch may end up being a whole different story, but I won't know for a little while yet.
Explanations about Samantha
Hello,
whenever the synthesizer you are using crashes, VoiceOver will switch to Samantha, to avoid you losing speech completely. This basically means that Alex is kind of unstable at the moment and crashes a lot, that's why all this constant switching.
That makes sense
This explanation makes a lot of sense. As much as Samantha irritates me, she's better than no speech. oddly, this has never, ever happened on my watch, and only rarely happens on the apple TV. My phone has about 150 GB free, so I can't imagine why Alex is crashing so much, but if that's the biggest problem I encounter, then I can't complain.
pronunciation issues
I know this is pretty minor, but I was really hoping these pronunciation issues would be fixed. To reproduce, use eloquence, or any of the other macintalk voices such as alex, Bruce, Fred, etc. Then, try words such as adventure, purposes or politics. it's super annoying, and I really hope it gets fixed soon. Additionally, I find that the quick action gesture with braille screen input still seems to act up from time to time.
custom ringtones
perhaps the most disappointing change is the fact we can no longer use ringtones as alert tones. For now, this means that the days of custom text tones are over. Unless of course, they fix it which I do not see happening. RIP.
I hope to God it's just a bug
I'm not updating unless this is fixed! At least not on my main phone. Everybody should write to apple, and suggest (but do it nicely), that they bring this feature back. Can you still at least assign custom ringtones to people? And what about alarm clock sounds?
Alex and Samantha
No issues with them. Not even with iOS 16. Using 13 pro and Tome high premium voice.
Eloquence seems to distort
the higher sample rate version of eloquence seems to distort when it talks. It also still hasn't gotten proper dental work done. I just wish it would sound like the android version did, at least that one had teeth, didn't distort, and had all the vowels and consonants at the correct levels. I hope it gets fixed one day.
possible bugs with Siri and haptic feedback
I updated my iPhone 13 mini today, and noticed 2 things right away. I no longer hear the chime when summoning Siri that lets me know I am being listened to. I do get the chime when I'm finished speaking, but not hearing the initial cue is bothersome.
Also, I have always received haptic feedback when my phone has successfully been unlocked with Face ID, in addition to the unlock sound. In IOS 17, I only receive the sound, no haptic feedback.
Wondering if anyone else is experiencing these issues.