Has anyone noticed this bug? Not sure how to explain it for giving feedback to Apple.

By Lanie Carmelo, 3 February, 2024

Forum
Apple Beta Releases

This is happening on iOS 17.4 beta, but I think I also saw it on iOS 17.3. Pretty regularly, sometimes every few seconds, my phone will say, "App Library, search field." I'm not anywhere near the app library when this happens. The focus also seems to go somewhere else not on the screen, and if I try to swipe, VoiceOver acts like that search field is the only thing it sees. Double tapping when focused on it does nothing. Sometimes focus will jump back to somewhere in the app I'm using after a few seconds, but other times, it seems to be stuck there, and the only way to get out is to tap something on the screen. Exploring the screen with a finger works normally, but sometimes it jumps to that search field so many times that an app will become unusable for a while. Has anyone seen this, and how would you explain it to Apple? It can't really be reproduced, and the explanation I gave was lengthy.

Options

Your Feedback is Important to Improving Accessibility on Apple platforms

Don't assume that Apple is aware of a bug or that your report won't make a difference - submitting bug reports directly to the company helps them reproduce and resolve the issue faster. Your report may provide crucial information. The more reports they receive, the higher the priority they give to fixing the bug.

If you're using a beta version, use the Feedback Assistant on your device to submit feedback and bug reports. If you're using a public release, follow the instructions on this page.

Comments

By Ash Rein on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - 18:16

As always, it’s probably very important for you to try resetting all settings. Not a full factory reset. Just resetting all of the settings. If the problem persists, the way you explained it is good. Lengthy is what they need.

By Lanie Carmelo on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - 18:16

So far, I haven't seen the bug at all, so maybe resetting all settings fixed it. It took me a while to fix all my settings after that, and I didn't see the bug happen at all while I was doing it, so hopefully that means it's gone.

By Ash Rein on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - 18:16

To be honest, a lot of issues tend to be fixed with resetting all settings. Not all. Many issues still still still persist. But every once in a while, it’s a good idea to reset all settings because some of these issues do tend to be based on problems with updating From previous software

By Lanie Carmelo on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 - 18:16

Just checked my email and saw some comments which it looks like we lost when the site was restored. To those who are also having this bug, try resetting all settings. This has fixed it for me. I haven't had it happen since I did that. I hope this helps you like it did for me.

By Peter Holdstock on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 - 18:16

I also have this problem, including sometimes on the lock screen. Sometimes focus moves to the dynamic island unexpectedly sometimes it will say app library and sometimes it will say double tap to open app even though I’m already in an app. Please post if you think the reset of settings option has worked for you and then I will do the same if needed.

By Mlth on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 - 18:16

I can reproduce this as well. This happens for me if I, at any time, have moved to the app library from the home screen previously after a restart of the phone. It's been a bug since iOS 17.0.

By Ash Rein on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 - 18:16

I would recommend that the two posters above mine, read the previous comments for more information and possibly resolving the problem or at least crossing out a meaningful troubleshooting step.

By Blind Alley Cat on Thursday, March 14, 2024 - 18:16

I've seen it quite a bit on my iPad-- any time I hit the 'ESC' key twice to get App Switcher... using Logitech K480 Keyboards...
Once I do, I cannot get out of it with KB... Have to touch screen and I'm never sure 'where' this behavior is showing up.As for duplicating it-- OH YEAH! No problems there... I'll have to see if my iPhone 14Pro does it too...

By TheBllindGuy07 on Thursday, March 14, 2024 - 18:16

Correction.
Resetting the device, period, solved a lot of weird bugs that accumulate over the years. the thing is that resetting an iphone is much more painful on the short term than, say, a laptop. But it's worth doing this once in 1.5 year or so. I had a very annoying bug starting with ios16.2, I was not able to send any message within braille screen input in any app like whatsapp messenger imessage or others on my iphone. When I got my new iphone 14 I innicially synced everything from my old xs, and this bug came with it too. I was like ok this is a new phone so it should be an ios bug too, weird that that noone nobody mentioned this on applevis. Then I was like why not restart from scrach? And this bug was gone.