Yes. I am having the same issue. I am also on 17.0.3. And VoiceOver will not describe any photos. I also have image descriptions turned on. I would be curious about if there is a workaround and other feedback about this.
Out of curiosity have you tried disabling/enabling image descriptions? It "could" just be a matter of re-downloading the necessary additional software.
I went into settings and disabled and then re-enabled image descriptions to on and it didn't make any difference. It still didn't describe my photos. So then, I restarted my iPhone 12 mini and I got really excited for a minute, because when I went back into my photos app, it was describing them as before. But after a very short time, it stopped describing them again. This is very disappointing!
Just wondering, how do you normally use your iPhone to detect image descriptions? Do you simply explore by touch onto a photo? Do you flick over to a photo while navigating through various apps and the web? Or do you use the three finger touch gesture on the screen to get your photos to identify?
If I am in the photos app, as I touch on each one, VO would normally just describe what was in the photo. And it would also do that in Facebook. But it's not working at all that way anymore. I do sometimes browse them in Seeing AI. But I haven't tried that lately. I just can't figure out why it worked for a minute after I restarted my phone and then it didn't work after that.
Wow, ok so that subject sounded kinda dirty. 😇
Anyway, try this:
• Explore your way to an image.
• Once on an image, tap the screen once with 3 fingers.
• VO "should" describe the image.
I turned Image description off and on again, and nothing changed.
I tried touching photos with 3 fingers, but all it did was read that it was photo 3091 of 3196.
Usually, when I'm looking for a particular pic, I can go into the album, and touch the thumbnail. It would normally tell me what's in the photo, and the date. Now, I just get the date and the photo number.
Using Seeing AI or Be My AI is fine when you have the photo you want, but it's not useful for finding a photo in an album.
Interestingly, my work phone was able to describe photos just fine until I updated.
Now, it does the same thing. I've reported it to Apple. We'll see what they say.
Last night, I went into settings and turned off image descriptions and then turned it on again. Then, I restarted my phone and Vo is once again describing photos. But I'm not sure how long this behavior will continue. Thanks for all of the feedback on this.
Whenever voiceover stops describing photos, I find the only fix is to restart the phone. The bug seems to be completely random in terms of frequency. Sometimes I have to restart once a day or so, other times I've gone nearly a week without seeing the unwanted behavior.
I've been trying to work out why when using the camera I wasn't getting descriptions of what the camera was seeing. I eventually discovered that voiceover image descriptions was not switched on and when I went to do this, I had to download a further package which was approximately 32 MB. I've tried multiple times to download this package and all I get is downloading and that's it. I've managed to do it on my iPad, but it won't download on my iPhone 13 mini. Running the latest version of iOS 17.
Comments
VO not describing photos.
Yes. I am having the same issue. I am also on 17.0.3. And VoiceOver will not describe any photos. I also have image descriptions turned on. I would be curious about if there is a workaround and other feedback about this.
Curious
Out of curiosity have you tried disabling/enabling image descriptions? It "could" just be a matter of re-downloading the necessary additional software.
HTH.
VO not describing Photos.
No. I have not tried that. But I will. Thanks.
If that doesn't work ...
You could always try running them through Seeing AI or Be My Eyes. I realize it is extra steps, but those are other options as well.
Well, it worked for a minute!
I went into settings and disabled and then re-enabled image descriptions to on and it didn't make any difference. It still didn't describe my photos. So then, I restarted my iPhone 12 mini and I got really excited for a minute, because when I went back into my photos app, it was describing them as before. But after a very short time, it stopped describing them again. This is very disappointing!
Curious, round 2
Just wondering, how do you normally use your iPhone to detect image descriptions? Do you simply explore by touch onto a photo? Do you flick over to a photo while navigating through various apps and the web? Or do you use the three finger touch gesture on the screen to get your photos to identify?
I usually explore by touch on the photo.
If I am in the photos app, as I touch on each one, VO would normally just describe what was in the photo. And it would also do that in Facebook. But it's not working at all that way anymore. I do sometimes browse them in Seeing AI. But I haven't tried that lately. I just can't figure out why it worked for a minute after I restarted my phone and then it didn't work after that.
Try the 3 finger method
Wow, ok so that subject sounded kinda dirty. 😇
Anyway, try this:
• Explore your way to an image.
• Once on an image, tap the screen once with 3 fingers.
• VO "should" describe the image.
HTH.
Tried everything, and nothing worked.
I turned Image description off and on again, and nothing changed.
I tried touching photos with 3 fingers, but all it did was read that it was photo 3091 of 3196.
Usually, when I'm looking for a particular pic, I can go into the album, and touch the thumbnail. It would normally tell me what's in the photo, and the date. Now, I just get the date and the photo number.
Using Seeing AI or Be My AI is fine when you have the photo you want, but it's not useful for finding a photo in an album.
Time for an apple report.
Restart the phone
I had same issue. I force restarted my phone and it works fine.
I think it's an ios 17.0.3 bug
Interestingly, my work phone was able to describe photos just fine until I updated.
Now, it does the same thing. I've reported it to Apple. We'll see what they say.
VO once again describing photos for now.
Last night, I went into settings and turned off image descriptions and then turned it on again. Then, I restarted my phone and Vo is once again describing photos. But I'm not sure how long this behavior will continue. Thanks for all of the feedback on this.
same problem, same solution
Whenever voiceover stops describing photos, I find the only fix is to restart the phone. The bug seems to be completely random in terms of frequency. Sometimes I have to restart once a day or so, other times I've gone nearly a week without seeing the unwanted behavior.
Me too
I've been trying to work out why when using the camera I wasn't getting descriptions of what the camera was seeing. I eventually discovered that voiceover image descriptions was not switched on and when I went to do this, I had to download a further package which was approximately 32 MB. I've tried multiple times to download this package and all I get is downloading and that's it. I've managed to do it on my iPad, but it won't download on my iPhone 13 mini. Running the latest version of iOS 17.