Is it possible to set a shortcut to turn screen brightness to 0 when Voiceover is toggled on, and up to 60% when it is toggled off? The few times I ever need to turn VO off is so I can have someone snap some pics or videos for me. So, having screen brightness automatically adjust would save me some time as I wouldn't have to go in and adjust it both before turning VO off and after turning it back on. I don't have any experience creating shortcuts, so a step by step would be much appreciated.
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I don't think this is possible
As far as I know, there's no way for Shortcuts to know if an accessibility feature is active or not. If anything it'd have to be an automation trigger, and it definitely isn't one.
The closest you could come would be to create a shortcut to turn voiceover on and one to turn voiceover off and include the screen brightness setting in that, but you'd have to use those shortcuts instead of the built in ways to turn VO on and off.
Darn! I was hoping it would…
Darn! I was hoping it would be possible to use the normal way of turning VO on and off to also have it adjust screen brightness.
Thanks for your reply.
Well, you could speed it up…
Well, you could speed it up by just creating a shortcut for 0% brightness and one for 60% brightness and calling it something memorable. Then you could just ask Siri to do it or even one of those new vocal triggers if you're running the latest iOS. At least that way you wouldn't have to muck around in control centre or something.
How about using Screen curtain?
Would Screen Curtain maybe meet your needs? Just set screen brightness to 60, and use Screen curtain whenever you are using Voiceover. It would be the same as having brightness set to 0.
I just tested, and when you turn off Voiceover, the screen curtain also turns off.
Just a thought.
Screen Curtain
Well doesn't screen curtain do that already?
I wasn't sure if it did that…
I wasn't sure if it did that, or just blurred everything out so it couldn't be read. Those with usable vision I suppose could say one way or another. I already have screen curtain enabled, so if it does indeed make brightness go to 0, then that will do the trick. Screen brightness at 0 is less about privacy for me, and more about battery savings. But if screen curtain does the trick, then problem solved.
Screen Curtain
I have just a little vision, but from what I can see, it turns the screen black. If there's any brightness, it's less than 5 per cent, but probably 0.
I can't say for sure about the battery setting, but you could try it for a day or 2, and see if you get the same results.
I will do that. Thanks. :)
I will do that. Thanks. :)
Camera
Todays camera do not need to have the screen made brightest. The camera is able to make sure that the picture is a good one. You just need to make sure the setting for it are the one you need regarding quality of the photo. I always have my screen setup to adjust to the brightnests outside and when I need a sighted person to take a picture I just turn off VO and no issues.
Agree with Holger
My screen brightness is always set to ambient lighting. I always use screen curtain with voiceover, and if I need someone to take a picture of something for me, I just turn off voiceover and voilà all is good to go.
Ok thanks. Good to know.
Ok thanks. Good to know.
Just ask Siri to set it to a…
Just ask Siri to set it to a percentage before you turn off Voiceover, nice and easy, and no fiddling about with shortcuts.
Then the only thing to worry about is how it adjusts the brightness automatically.
If screen curtain is on, it will stay at the last percent it was at before you turned on screen curtain, and you don't need to see to find that out, just look at the slider in the display settings.
Screen curtain...
Screen curtain doesn't set the brightness to 0, so if that's on but the brightness is still up, it will still drain your battery. I found that out the hard way when I forgot to turn the brightness down from 50 after having a sighted family member doing something on my phone. I wish there was something like you're suggesting because it's always a pain when I want to get my phone ready for someone who can see... turning brightness up, Voiceover off, and then remembering to turn brightness down again.