Strange issue pairing my orbit reader braille display with my iPhone

By rachel, 14 May, 2024

Forum

Braille on Apple Products

Hi there all. Just wondering if anyone might be able to help shed some light on a rather strange issue i've just started noticing while trying to pair my Orbit Reader 20 Braille display with my iPhone SE 2022 which is running iOS 17.4.1 (all will be revealed below as to why, to me, this seems very odd).

I've noticed i never seem to be able to pair more than one Braille display to the phone without causing all manner of confusion, so having unpaired the Brailliant, when i tried to pair my Orbit Reader just now, the device name was recognised in the list of devices, but when i double-tapped on it, instead of a pair button appearing in the next screen, all that's appearing for me is the message "orbit reader, followed by its number, is not supported". This is really strange in view of the fact i have successfully managed to pair these two particular devices in the past 😕

As far as trouble shooting, goes, i have tried switching bluetooth off on both devices, followed by re-starting them both, but the weird "orbit reader not supported" message is still appearing. I might understand this more if the two devices had never been paired successfully before 😕

Just wondered if anyone might be able to suggest why all this random stuff could be happening all of a sudden, and is there anything else i might try to fix this please?

Many thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.
Rachel.

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Comments

pairing your devices

Are you going under accessibility voiceover and braille?

upgrading to iOS 17.5?

Have you upgraded to iOS 17.5?

Yes and no.

Hi. Answer to your first question - yes. Your second question - no. My automatic updates are on but i haven't been notified of 17.5 yet.

Update

As suggested in the previous comment (above) i am now running iOS 17.5 as i write but the same "orbit reader is not supported" still appears. I have had two attempts since updating in the hope that re-starting both devices (as i tried before updating IOS) might have helped.

Isn't there a trick to restarting devices?

Rachael, I am not sure as I'm waiting for my Braille display to come back, I think you have to power off the devices but in a certain manner. I think it's display first, then ipHone, then turn on the display, then phone, or vice versa. I have no earthly idea if this will work or not but I'm hoping it will help a little. Good luck. Have you also tried looking at the manual? I'm sure you have, this is just coming from a half awake me. :)

The manual only answers so much

I've become used to pairing braille displays over the last couple of years since i started owning them, but this is the first time i've noticed anything as weird as this. The user guide simply can't include every scenario that could occur - and certainly not this one. The trouble shooting tricks i previously mentioned are the ones it does include. Thanks anyway, and i hope you're not kept waiting too much longer for your display to be repaired.

Have you tried email lists?

Thanks, it's the free one from NLS. If you try a list, you might have more success. also, did you update your reader at all? I ask only because the update process, though I'm decent with tech, seemed to be kind of a pain in the butt. I'm not sure of any other advice i can offer since i've never used that display. Here's hoping something good comes this way after the junk I'm wading through right now.

Couldn't agree more

Oh I know. Pain in the butt is an understatement. Updating that software is that much of a pain in the butt that even the user manual can't explain how to do it clearly it seems. Didn't take much to get me lost, and that's coming from someone who's ok with these things and is ok at following instructions. I have messaged email lists but had no response as yet. To be honest I was just putting messages out to any appropriate place I could think of.

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