iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 Accessibility: A Summary of VoiceOver and braille issues and improvements

Apple released iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 on Monday, September 16, 2024. This post contains a summary of new bugs impacting VoiceOver and braille support that we have identified during testing of these releases. We have also included details on preexisting bugs that our testing suggests have been fixed in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

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 very possible that they may not reflect your own opinion or use case.

With our small team, it is impossible to test every device, configuration, app, and use case. We do not claim that our bug list is definitive or that our assessments are infallible. Some issues may manifest only under specific conditions. You likely will not experience every bug that we list, and you likely will not agree with every severity rating for the bugs on our list that you do experience. And as is the nature with all software, it is also likely that you will encounter issues that we did not experience during our own testing.

We strongly recommend reading this full post and replies before updating to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. This will help you make an informed decision on whether to install iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 at the current time or to wait for a future release.

To ensure the information here is as complete and accurate as possible, we would appreciate input from those who have installed iOS 18 or iPadOS 18. 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 is 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 VoiceOver and braille users which we believe to be present in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18:

Serious Bugs

At the time of publication, we have not independently identified any bugs in iOS 18 that we would classify as 'serious'. We encourage readers to review all replies to this post, in the event that community experiences differ from our own. We will also be reviewing and replicating bug reports shared on the AppleVis website in the coming days and will update this section accordingly if any serious bugs are identified.

Moderate Bugs

• When using the new 'When Speaking' Audio Ducking option in iOS 18, VoiceOver volume can change randomly. The other Audio Ducking options ('Off' and 'Always') work as expected.
• When rearranging items in the Control Center (a feature new in iOS 18) using the VoiceOver rotor, the "Drop" actions do nothing when selected, with controls remaining in their original locations despite VoiceOver reporting "drop complete." To move a control, once in Edit Mode, double-tap and hold on the control; then move it to where you want it to be.
• When encountering a precipitation chart in the Weather app, there is a delay between swiping left or right and hearing VoiceOver speak the contents of the focused element. In some cases, after swiping several times, VoiceOver focus may move to the "Show map" button near the bottom of the screen. To get past the precipitation chart, set the VoiceOver Rotor to 'Containers' and swipe down to another container, such as hourly forecast.
• There are multiple issues with button labeling in the redesigned iOS 18 Photos app.
• When reviewing notifications on the Lock Screen, VoiceOver always speaks "Collapsed Stack" even when there is only a single notification.
• When focused on a contact or phone number in the 'Recent' tab of the Phone app, selecting the 'Call' option in the VoiceOver Rotor has no effect. We recommend that users utilize the 'Activate' Rotor option, as 'Call' is the default action.

Minor Bugs

• When replying to a message in the Mail App and typing on a Perkins-style keyboard, letters immediately following the Spacebar are sometimes dropped. We recommend that braille display users type emails in another app (such as Notes or Drafts) until this issue is resolved.
• When VoiceOver announcements arrive on a braille display, they Often appear in uncontracted braille, even with contracted braille enabled. To read the announcement history in contracted braille (if enabled), press Space with Dots 1-3-4-5.
• When moving Home Screen icons to non-linear positions, it is not possible to use the VoiceOver Rotor's Drag and Drop method. Users can still move icons to non-linear positions by Hold and Drag.
• In the App Library, the Rotor option to navigate by Container does not work.
• When editing the Lock Screen actions (a feature new in iOS 18) and choosing an app shortcut to be opened, there is no obvious way to exit the screen for choosing an app. To exit the Choose App screen, we recommend that users utilize the Two-Finger Scrub gesture. This will place VoiceOver focus in the previous screen.
• VoiceOver labels on Lock Screen Quick Action Shortcut buttons include the word "Off," even if the quick action is not an on/off toggle.
• When opening the App Switcher from the Home Screen, VoiceOver focus is initially inconsistent and unreliable. After opening the App Switcher from the Home Screen, we recommend that users wait a few seconds to let focus settle before continuing.
• When navigating to the Voices Rotor that is new in iOS 18, the currently selected voice is not automatically announced.
• When searching for contacts using the T9 method from the keypad of the Phone app, VoiceOver does not speak the search results.
• The buttons related to creating widgets in the context menu for Home Screen app icons are not properly labeled.

Other Issues

• While we are unsure if this is specifically related to the use of VoiceOver, one of our team reports that sounds do not play consistently when a notification is received. A Feedback report has been submitted regarding this issue. Even if the issue is unrelated to VoiceOver, we mention it here as sounds play a critical role in the user experience for many blind or visually impaired users.

VoiceOver and Braille Improvements in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18

Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have been resolved or significantly addressed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17:

• There is significant improvement in the issue where Braille Screen Input crashed when going to a new line or deleting by word.
• When braille output is set to Uncontracted and input is set to Contracted, typed contractions are now translated correctly in the Mail and Messages apps.
• The Misspelled Words Rotor option now works as expected when composing a message in the Mail App.
• USB HID braille displays now wake reliably after the screen is unlocked.
• VoiceOver focus behaves as expected when composing an email in the Mail app.

In Closing

Our team has compiled lists of new accessibility bugs for every major iOS and iPadOS release since iOS 7. No software is completely free of bugs. With this in mind, when compared to major releases in recent years, we believe that iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 have introduced fewer issues for VoiceOver and braille users overall.

If you have not already upgraded to iOS 18 or iPadOS 18, 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. Our testing suggests that upgrading to iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 appears low risk for most use cases, but waiting briefly may allow Apple to resolve initial problems reported after the public release.

In the event that you do encounter an issue that is particularly bothersome, there are some troubleshooting steps you can take. Sometimes, 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 18 and iPadOS 18. Our release posts tend to be widely-read and garner many helpful responses, so it is all the more important that readers can easily find relevant details.

Also, please remember that upgrade decisions are personal with each user's situation unique - there is no right or wrong choice. Comments criticizing others' decisions are not constructive and do nothing to add to the discussion; but they do set a negative tone and get in the way of readers finding helpful information. Furthermore, not experiencing an issue yourself does not mean that 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 with these posts is to provide a forum for respectful, constructive, and honest sharing of experiences to inform decisions and empower people.

In closing, we would like to commend Apple's Accessibility team for their prompt response in fixing many of the bugs reported during the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 beta period. Their dedication to addressing the issues raised by our community during the beta cycle shows that Apple continues to prioritize 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.