Is there a dock or other accessory that can take VoiceOver from my iPod Touch or iPhone out of the PA system?

By Josh C., 25 February, 2014

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories
I'm looking for a dock or other accessory that can allow me to connect my iPod Touch or iPhone to a PA system without everybody having to hear VoiceOver. This will be used for music during the breaks at band gigs. I currently can't use my iPod or iPhone for break music because the only way I currently have to connect it to the PA system is through the headphone jack, and I don't want people to have to hear VoiceOver and the music constantly auto-ducking for it. Any suggestions?

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Comments

By Jesse Tregarthen on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

Hello, I don't know about any docks but when I want to play music for somebody and I am not using my phone for anything else at the time but to play music, I simply three finger double tap to turn of speech and then people don't hear interruptions from VO. I am not sure if this would work in your situation but it is a suggestion. Hope this helps, Jesse

By Isaac Hebert (not verified) on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

Some times when I am playing music for other people I just triple tap the home button and turn voiceover completely off.

By Khalfan Bin Dhaher on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

I highly recommend you to use this free third party app to easily access and listen to your music library at any time, and any where. No buttons, no VoiceOver, you can easily control the playing music by tilting your device left or right to go to the next or previous song, tilt up to stop/ pause and down to play a song. This app is called LeanTunes, below is the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leantunes/id409307308?mt=8

By Greg T Kelchner on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

All Of the solutions listed above are great alternatives. I think they would be most effective if you created playlists before hand so you wouldn't need to worry about switching to the next song. Everything would be planned out. The Only way (that I am aware of) to be able to play music on a set of speakers or a PA system and still be able to use VoiceOver without it being heard would be with an Airplay device. The only example of this that I have had experience with is the Apple TV. When the Apple TV is turned on you can go in to the music player on your iOS device and you will see a button labeled Airplay. When you double tap on it you will be presented with the choice to play music from your device or through the Apple TV. If you select the Apple TV all of the music or video content you play will be routed through it and two whatever speakers it is connected too. VoiceOver, however, will only be audible on your iOS device. I have only tried this once and would be happy to find out more information about it for you. I'm not sure if their are third party devices that can do Airplay but I would be happy to find that out for you as well. I have recently become employed at an Apple Store so I have a lot of great resources that I could utilize. Hope this helps and please don't hesitate to ask for more information. Also it should be noted that your ability to do Airplay may depend on how old your iDevice is and what version of the iOS you are running. Again,please feel free to ask for more information. I would be happy to help you find the answers you need. Be well, Greg

By Dave Nason on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hi Josh. Unfortunately you can not separate VoiceOver from other sound output on iOS at this time. It can be done on Mac so fingers crossed it'll be possible at some point in the future but for now you'll have to find some sort of work around such as the suggestions above.

By Josh C. on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

If I understand correctly, airplay only works if you have wi-fi. Most places where I would need to use it don't have wi-fi, so it looks like I'm out of luck until I get a Mac. I have a Sony recorder that I've been using for break music, but I have to make the playlist before hand and record the audio from my computer because the recorder isn't capable of crossfading songs like some third party iPod apps are. It would be nice to have the ability to make playlists on the fly if I needed to.

By Joe on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

Hey Josh. Actually for some airplay devices such as libertone zip the wireless connection would be between your device and it. It is rather expensive

By Josh C. on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:37

Do you mean that some airplay devices work via Bluetooth instead of wi-fi? If it's wi-fi only, could I use a router that isn't connected to the internet? I need an airplay device that either has headphone or line out jacks so that it can be connected to the PA. Then I can connect the headphone jack on my iPod to my little mixing board so that I can have VoiceOver on its own channel.

By Jessica Brown on Monday, November 24, 2014 - 02:37

Hi. I have something I think will work for you, but you will need 2 iOS devices. Do you have access to 2 or do you just have 1? If you have 2 I will explain my idea.