WARNING! Do Not Update Skype On Your iOs device!

By Jakob Rosin, 15 December, 2011

Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Today skype released its new version for iOs, (version 3.6). sadly, its more inaccessible than the previous version. for now, the chat message history is completely inaccessible and it is impossible to use this part of the app. I copy here the response I got from contacting skype support for the first time (it was just after apple vis campaign of the month launch). begin email: Hello Jakob, Thank you for contacting Skype Customer Service. We understand your concerns regarding using Skype with VoiceOver. We appreciate your feedback and will definitely look into it. However, implementing changes and creating new features can take time, which means that the suggestions you make today might not be available in the near future. Please be patient while we work to make Skype even better. Should any further issues arise, please feel free to contact us again. Best regards, A Etman Skype Customer Service --- Original Message --- From: "Jakob Rosin" Received: 11/6/11 1:11:00 AM VET To: contactus@skype.net Subject: Please improve VoiceOver support in your app Hello, As a completely blind user, I rely on Apple’s VoiceOver screen-reading software to interact with my iDevice. As you may be aware, VoiceOver is an integral feature of all iOS devices, and this is why these are so popular among the blind and vision-impaired community. Apple has provided some information as to how VoiceOver works for the end user at www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision.html. I understand that the current version of your app does not have full support for VoiceOver. This is unfortunate, as I (and I suspect many others) would like to be able to use the app. I was hoping, therefore, that your development team would investigate the feasibility of fixing these issues. Apple has provided a guide for developers on how to make their applications accessible at http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/iPhoneAccessibility/Introduction/Introduction.html Additional information for developing apps that are accessible to VoiceOver users can be found on the AppleVis website at www.applevis.com/information-app-developers I would be delighted to assist your developers in any way that I can - beta testing any new versions for example. Kind regards Jakob Rosin ------ Please do not remove your unique tracking number! ------ ********[currently I removed this] email finished I'm now going to contact skype again to inform them that the inaccessibility has improved. I'm not hoping much, as many of us have done it and there are 0 results.

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Comments

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, December 8, 2011 - 16:05

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
I recieved a similar response from them as well. I do believe in the number of people that have participated in the Skype campaign of the month that they did get the message loud and clear. There were certainly plenty of us that helped us out in doing so. It is unfortunate they are not making this a proity. We continue to be a minority of the pie in their eyes. We can only hope that they will honor our responses in the near future. Thanks for the update!

By ming on Thursday, December 8, 2011 - 16:05

it's working fine for me. I can read the chat messages, answer calls, and view and delete the history. however, it will sign out after I log in my computer's version.

By Scott Davert on Sunday, April 8, 2012 - 16:05

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Although they did update the dial pad and chat facilities, they're no more accessible than previously. I've reverted to 3.0.1, which seems to be the most stable and and accessible version of the iOS app.