Skype

Hi David,
regarding the issue of contacts not being announced as offline, they were announced as offline before Skype 5.0, and also when we flick over a contact name again they were announced as online if they were online.
So I am not sure why the offline status isn't announced in Skype 5.0 and above.
Where they are not announced as offline is in the contact list.
You also might like to know that offline status is read fine in the windows Skype version.
Something else I wonder, would it be possible to get some sort of feedback either an announcement from VoiceOver or a sound play to indicate if a contact is typing a reply?

hi. yeah. it's mostly when chat's come in outside the current focus you're really worried about now then.
still, i guess it's less of an issue, then a want fix. mainly cause, well, i guess we could go out to look at the list of chats to see who contacted us. but if a sighted person get's the alerts, it'd be nice to have it work with VoiceOver.

I like the app (which I use solely on my iPhone 5S) but I am almost always unable to answer a call in time when it rings and the phone is locked. This is because I have to unlock with my thumb and then locate the answer button. Is there a quicker way? Could the two-finger double-tap be supported as it is in many other apps for pick/hang up?
Thanks for your help.

hi david.
thanks for your atencion.

david these accessibility improvements that you think work, are only for iphone or iPad too?
please makes this work is also possible for the iPad.
iPad in all these improvements also need to be applied.
all the problems that exist in iPhone, also exist in the iPad.
currently I am using version 4.17 and I'm also with these accessibility issues.
thanks david.
cheers.

Are you updated to skype 5 for ipad if it does exist? All accessibility issues have been fixed or at least they should be.

hi marrie.
I think not.
because until now had no update to Skype 5 for iPad.
The latest is 4.17.
marrie but I think the 5.2 version, still has not solved all the major problems of the chat conversation window.
cheers.

I have two more topics that I would like your feedback on related to how messages would be automatically read.

The first is the order of the person's name, the chat's name, and the message text. For a new message in a chat that is not currently on the screen, all of these pieces of information is often necessary to clarify in what chat the message was received. If the chat is with only one person, the chat's name could probably be replaced with "one to one chat" to distinguish it from that person sending you a message in a group chat that is currently on screen. If you think this is incorrect or overly verbose, I'd love your feedback on it.

Each piece of information has a different purpose and a different importance. The message text is the actual information that you want to know while the person's name and the chat's name is extra context to tell who said it and where. I can see different pros and cons with providing context before or after the message.

For example: let's say that I send you the message "when does your vacation begin?" in the chat "vacation plans". That message could be read in a couple of different ways. Considering previous feedback, a sound would most likely be played before the text is being read in all 3 cases below:

1.
David in "vacation plans": "when does your vacation begin?".

2.
"when does your vacation begin?" said David in "vacation plans".

3.
David: "when does your vacation begin?" in "vacation plans".

It's very difficult for me to properly compare these different ways and assess the importance of the context compared to the message text.

This also relates to the second topic. If a new message is received before the previous message has been fully read, would you prefer that the new message is read right away (meaning that the first message doesn't get read to the end) or would you prefer that the new message is queued up and read after the first message?

When I think of this, the question if messages should be queued up or not depends on if the message text is read before the contextual information. That is why I would really love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this.

Hi David, I love how you are really passionate about getting this right.
Personally I feel that messages in the middle of being spoken shouldn't be interrupted when a new message comes in at all, be it from the current chat or a new chat.

I am not sure if this would be possible, but I am wondering would you be able to have a setting we could enable or disable depending on if we wanted messages from chats not on the screen spoken?
as speaking for myself I would prefer to have an alert sound play maybe with some sort of banner saying a new message had come in, but I am not sure about the notification even certainly some kind of alert sound would be welcome,
But I can see it being very confusing if VoiceOver actually reads the content of new messages that come into other chats not on screen, so that's why I think a range of settings if it is possible would be helpful, maybe in some kind of accessibility section.

I am slightly confused about your examples, when you say a chat title like holiday vacation I have never scene chats listed like that, I have always just scene chats with the persons name.

I am also wondering do you think it would be possible for VoiceOver to give some kind of indication when a reply is being typed?

also, have you had any luck with getting VoiceOver to read a contact as actually being offline when you flick over his name in the contact list?

I did have another idea for a feature, I am not sure if you would call it accessibility related or not, but I wondered about the possibility of being able to set Skype to push you a notification on screen when a contact signs in, as on the windows Skype with jaws we can have jaws announce the names of contacts when they sign in, correct me if I am wrong but I don't think this is currently supported on ios?
perhaps this could be a setting.
It would be good if VoiceOver could tell us something like John smith is online.

hi david. firstly, i'd go with type 1, as that makes sense to me. though others may differ.
secondly, all messages should really be queued up, as for example, in the older version 4x, it tended to interupt. so if a person sent me two messages. one message, followed by a quick one barely a second later with an addition, only the second would be read. which gets annoying. lol. so all messages, be they messages in the current chat, or alerts, should be queued up.

alex, this idea isn't a new one. i think we've all thought of that at one time or other. my idea, would be to have it as a toggle on every contact, off by default, that you can turn on if you wish alerts for that person changing status to online or offline or what ever. that way, if you are a person who has 100 contacts online at any time, you won't be flooded with push notifications. lol.

the settings idea for how you want, / what you want voiceOver to read would be a cool option. because this is the problem, isn't it. each person prefers it a different way, slightly, from everybody else, based on their usage of the app. so a setting category for accessibility, would be very handy, that way, you could put in various reading types, and toggles, and each user can change them depending on how they prefer things to work.

hi david.
Thank you for the dedication you're having for the blind community.
waw great improvement in skype iphone and iPad.
yes david i was referring me on messages announced in the chat.
here in this issue the work that you will do for the iphone is also equal to the iPad.
both versions have the same problems.

all accessibility problems that exist on the iphone, also exist on the iPad.
taking the issues discussed here in the forum, the rest is all accessible.
I personally like the way you're thinking to pin down the work announced in chat messages.
thanks david and good work.
cheers.

Hi David of course I understand you can't comment on if features or will be included or possible releases, its just nice to know your taking our comments on board and actually feeding them back to where they can be discussed, something I think would be far less likely if we were going through regular support channels to suggest features or report bugs.

hi. I was wondering if anybody knew how to delete chat messages off of the Skype for iPhone app. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know. Also, I need to know how to remove contacts from my contact list. Thanks.

to delete messages simpley do a pass through and delete is the only option.

When you say pass through option, what exactly do you mean by that?

Thanks.

Jay

The pass through option means to double tap and hold on an option, so in this case you double tap and hold your finger on the conversation you want to delete,
VoiceOver should make a kind of clunk sound and a menu should pop up with the delete option.

A new version of Skype has just been released, version 5.2.1, the change log isn't that informative, all it says is general improvements.
I have only just launched the app, I can't see anything different on just a first glance, certainly I can say we don't have the quick delete option back on the rotor yet for the conversations list, I haven't been able to test if issues still exist with chat messages reading automatically with VoiceOver. But I guess all these things take time, I imagine that there are things happening behind the scenes and that Skype thinks several versions ahead of the publicly available version.

hi alex, yes nothing is done in the chat messages.

Just found something interesting, for me at least after having installed todays update, chat messages seem to be automatically reading for me with VoiceOver in the conversations actual window.
I have only been able to test this with one chat so far, also I found out while testing this that there is now a typing indicator shown when a contact is typing, but VoiceOver doesn't read this automatically, I only found it buy chance when someone was typing, and I new they were typing as I got the jaws typing sound from my pc so I flicked on the screen on my phone and saw the typing indicator.

When I'm chatting with someone, using the on-screen virtual keyboard, VoiceOver is not able to see the send button.

I have to go back into the recents view, go into the chat again, and then I can press the button. But As soon as I activate the text field, there by bringing up the on-screen virtual keyboard, the send button disappears.
This has been there since skype 5.0, at least for me.

I have Skype on my Mac and my phone aswell, when I signed in on my Mac and changed my status to online, it seemed to change fine but later when I came to look at something on my phone, my status on the iOS app still showed offline. Are the two apps supposed to update changes like that automatically? And what would my status actually been showing to others?

Hi David, I completely agree with your last comment, as you say it might be a good candidate to play a sound, and personally I don't think VoiceOver should ever iinterrupt with new information if it is already in the middle of reading other information, maybe this would be a good candidate for a setting to offer 3 choices, either don't give any indication at all, just play a sound or just have VoiceOver announce that someone is typing.
I do hope eventually the indicators accessibility can be improved, but can definitely see there are higher accessibility priorities for the moment.
Just to be clear, is VoiceOver now reading me chat messages automatically a fix from the last version update or a fluke that I can't rely on? sorry for asking but the last update had a rather vague changelog.

No voice over are not at least for me reading incoming messages when they are received. I ohear the sound though, I think.

Take care.

that's interesting, guess we need clarification on this, I don't find the new sounds in Skype 5 as good as in 4 anyway, I don't see why they got rid of sounds used in the pc client for the ios client. Hopefully David can clarify if the behaviour I am getting is just chance or what the exact position is with chat messages being read buy VoiceOver in this latest version.
I don't know if it makes a difference but the chat where VoiceOver is reading messages automatically for me was started buy someone else I didn't start itoriginally.
I haven't been able to test what I am seeing with different chats.

Is there any way to set the Skype app so that I get notifications when one of my friends newly comes online? If so, how does one do this?

No I don't think there is, thee was discussion about this as a feature in some of the other comments.

Is there a way to keep Skype from automatically defaulting to the earpiece even when the phone is away from one's ear? Is there some way to have it default to speaker phone?

Not currently. I normally just flick until I hear speaker off and tap it. I might have gotten the prompt wrong but there you go.

aah OK thanks for that David, that's great to have clarification on.
So when new versions with accessibility fixes come out can change logs please at least say something like accessibility improvements or VoiceOver enhancements? even better would be if it could give a short bit of information explaining what was fixed or improved. so something like VoiceOver enhancement add delete option to action menu on rotor for VoiceOver users.

A colleague of mine talked about what should happen with regards to reading new messages when you are on an active call (audio or video). What would you expect to happen when someone sends you a message while you are on a call and why?

Reading messages, not reading messages, only playing sounds, reading them after the call, and so on. I can see a pros and cons with pretty much every solution and it's hard to compare them agains each other.

The problem is I don't think your going to be able to please everyone unless you can offer a range of settings. I never use the iPhone app for calls, only for text chats, but if I were on a call I think I would want to hear a sound, but not have the message read to me because if I was speaking or someone was speaking to me I wouldn't really pay full attention to the message and would actually find it destracting. But I can see other people might prefer other solutions which is why I advocate some sort of accessibility menu with settings that can be configured. As for if the message should read automatically once a call ends, I think that should be a setting, as the message might be a highly personal and private one that might not be suitable to be spoken out loud in public.

hello. Whenever I try to make a video call, the app suddenly crushes unexpectedly. I'm not sure what is going on, because I can't find anything wrong with the app itself. Is there a reason why the app should crash whenever a video call is made? It never did this in the past. The app crashed after the newest update was released. thanks again advance for any help.

hi david, heres the thing. you also need to think of skype in the future here. as it is right now, the iOS is not good at having voiceover reading at the same time as having audio going, as the audio gets turned down. but as of iOS 8, it's looking like we will have the toggle for audio ducking. which means, those of us who want to, can have the audio ducking turned off, letting us have audio and voiceover at the same volume. in whitch case, i'd have my messages read out automatically while on a call. but i also think, as many of us have said, i think your best option, is to have a menu where settings such as this can be toggled. as there are to many of us, using skype in to many different ways, to have a single setup suit us all. we need different things, and sometimes, at different times, we need to have different things happen. how i would use it at home, is perhaps different to when i'm out, or in a meeting for example. so i think the menu idea is the one that's going to let you have all the settings, and let the user choose how they want it to work. by default, i'd say have it read automatically. but i guess that's got to be based on the amount of people who want it that way by default.

to those others who have asked if automatic reading is normal, yes, it's normal. i have yet to have it not read a chat while in a chat screen. it seems to be working well. though that's given that i don't use it to the extent some do. so perhaps they find times that it won't read.

Hi Dallas.
Thanks for that information. It is something that we'll have to consider going forward (both audio-ducking and settings). Settings in general is something that we try to avoid if they aren't necessary. One big reason for that is that settings can be hard to find (we sometimes get users asking for a setting that already exists in the app). I can see that these kinds of settings are more about preference and that what is "right" for each user will depend on how they are using the app. It is something that we have to discuss within the team.

To Jay: there is no reason for the app to crash. We have a known crash related to video calls but the fix is not released yet.

What's New in Version 5.4

Start a group audio call from your iPhone.

• Turn a chat, an audio call or a video call into a group audio call with up to four people.
• Add (or remove) people to an existing call.

Accessibility improvements

• New messages are now read out from anywhere in the app and reliability has also been improved.
• Delete recent conversations using the VoiceOver rotor.

General improvements

I can confirm deleting conversations with the rotor works great, I can also confirm that status of contacts is read correctly now when flicking through the list on the people screen, so online and offline contacts are now announced, so you don't have to mess around filtering the list if you don't want to, nice that issue has been squashed. If IM reading reliability is improved then I might be able to lay pre v 5 of the app to rest. Looking forward to hearing other peoples comments on anything else they notice.
I think we should also say thank you to David and the team behind him for all there hard work and engagement with us to date, a real example to app developers.

Agreed. I can't really test anythign now but I've also been writing ont he skype comunity forums and eah They're also very wonderful there to.

Take care to all.

I have noticed the typing indicator doesn't get read buy VoiceOver unless you flick over it still, also the Skype login sound doesn't play when you start the app. I went through the contents of the Skype app and the login sound is still bundled in the app, it just doesn't seem to play when you tap on the app.

The only accessibility changes that weren't mentioned in the release notes are the way that offline contacts are read, and some label changes (for example the phone number label and the country code picker button in the dial pad).

The behaviour of the typing indicator hasn't changed from previous versions. It appears on the screen when someone is typing and you can flick to it, but it doesn't indicate when someone starts or stops typing.

Regarding the sound:

Since version 5.0, that sound only plays as part of the app start up, before the log in buttons appear. If Skype has previously been started and backgrounded (by pressing the home button) and is then reopened, then Skype is resumed and you are taken directly to where you were before without playing the start up animation and sound. If Skype had crashed or was terminated by the user (by double tapping the home button and swiping up with three fingers) while you were logged in, then the next time Skype is started it will log you in and take you to the "recents" list without playing the start up animation and sound.

This is part of a larger goal that you should feel as if you were connected on Skype as long as you are logged in, even when the app isn't running (for example, you can still receive chat messages that will show up in the Notification Center). I'm just a developer so you should not take that wording as an official statement. Anyway, starting Skype without playing the start up animation and sound in this case, tries to behave more as if it was just resumed.

Did that sound previously provide useful feedback (for example, indicating that Skype had fully started and was ready to be used)?

Hi David, I am not clear when the sound actually plays then? as from the sound of things it doesn't play once you have entered your login information for the first time. Am I right in thinking the only time you should hear the sound is when you launch Skype for the very first time on your phone after installing the app. I don't hear the sound at all when I launch Skype, and this is if I have exited the app completely and don't keep it in the task switcher I don't hear it.
I wouldn't say the sound gave particularly useful feedback as VoiceOver announces when your on the my info part of the screen, I was just curious about the sound given that you always heard it on launch before 5.0.
I just did an experiment and started Skype with no internet connection and I wasn't given any error saying that there was no internet connection, so if I didn't know that I had my internet off I wouldn't have had any feedback saying there was a problem. I suppose it was reassuring hearing the sound though before Skype 5. Also its not consistent between pc and ios, as on the pc you get the startup sound whenever you start Skype and it signs in, I suppose I feel it would be nice to have the same behaviour across all platforms.

hi david. as per the sound, i don't mind this way of dealing with it. i'm kinda used to it now. to those who don't yet understand, basically, you will only get the sound the first time you launch the app, or if you have signed out of your account and then shut the app down, and then open it again. if you remained logged in, but shut the app down, you're actually not logging in again, because barring an internet issue, you are actually still logged in.
the reason this isn't quite in sync with the PC versions of skype, is quite simple. because unlike the mobile platform, when you shut the app down, your are disconnecting completely from the skype network.

i also noticed the problem of skype not showing a warning to say that there is no connection running. not a huge problem, but could be something to look into. though this isn't so much an accessibility problem, as a general skype one. though i'd have to check again, maybe the status in the top right of the screen stays as offline, rather then switching to online after few seconds, if you don't have a connection. not sure on that one, would have to test.

There are only a few cases when the sound plays and they don't happen very often. Other than the very first launch, it also plays if you have logged out and Skype terminated after that (either because it crashed, was terminated by the user, Skype was updated to a new version, the user restarted their phone). However, if you are logged in when Skype terminated, it will try and behave as if it resumed in all of these cases and not play the sound.

All the different platforms are working on becoming consistent but it will probably take some time to get the consistency down to the smaller details.

If you start Skype without an internet connection and were previously logged in you can still open the app and read old messages. But you wouldn't be able to log in if you weren't already. Neither of these cases is indicated very clearly and both should probably be improved. Thanks for pointing it out. I don't think it's something we had considered before.