Help! folder naming has gone horribly wrong.

Hi there, :)
That is actually not the correct way to name a folder.
By naming the folder Ocr using that method, VoiceOv erassumes each folder should be called OCR folder.

Here's how to fix.

1. Double tap and hold on each folder
2. Remove the label
3. Hit save when finished.

To delete all, set rotor to edit, swipe down till you hear select all, and double tap. Then from your keyboard hit delete.

Hope this helps.

I am about to go crazy because of this same problem. I have tried the fix given above, but I must be doing something wrong. No matter what I name a folder, several folders get renamed and they all say something before the title that I gave the folder. So when I look around on my phone, several folders are named the same because of this problem. I tried editing the folder names, but one of the steps says to select all, but I am not figuring out how to do that after trying to relabel each folder. Can someone please help explain how to fix this step by step? I am using IOS 26.5 on a iPhone SE 2nd gen.

Try these steps:
• navigate to a folder on any of your home screens.
• with VO focused on the folder, triple tap, and then choose the, "Edit Home Screen", option.
• now that you are in Edit mode, double tap on that folder. If VO focus goes elsewhere, just navigate back to that folder, and double tap on it.
• Inside the folder, while and edit mode, swipe all the way to the left which should take you to an edit field with the current name of the folder. Double tap inside the edit field, then do your rotor gesture until you find the word, 'Edit'. Now swipe up or down until you find, 'Select All', and double tap on it.
• Double tap on, 'Delete', on your keyboard to erase the previous label, and then name it whatever you want. Double tap on done (it will be where enter usually is on the keyboard), and then do your home gesture to get out of edit mode.

HTH. 😊

My problem was myself, I was not getting the triple tap to work correctly, LOL. It took some practicing to get it right. I did a few folders renamed to what I want and it did not rename all of them like it had been doing. I still have a little problem though. I made a folder once and I named it with an Emoji in it, and now when browsing around on my phone, Voice Over constantly announces that folder name with the Emoji when I touch on any of the folders. Even the page selector says that folder name, and the funny thing is that the folder is no longer on my phone, yet it still says it. I have spent so much time trying to figure out how to make this stop with no luck. Any ideas on that issue?

I have never experienced any of this, so I'm not really sure what to tell you, other than to erase all of your folders and start fresh. 🤷

I went through and removed all my folders, starting over, and it did not work, the stuff just keeps repeating, no matter what I do. I really don’t wanna wipe my phone clean, but it might come to it since there’s apparently not a fix for this. There are no folders now, but I still keep hearing the same thing when I touch on any app or using the page selector.

Have you tried resetting your Home Screen layout in Settings > General > Transfer or reset > Reset? That's one thing I'd suggest before factory resetting the iPhone.

HTH

...and if that does not work, you can always try resetting all of your settings. It's not quite as dire as doing a factory reset, but it's definitely time-consuming all the same. It basically resets everything within settings, including application settings, back to their Standard defaults.
Hopefully you will not have to do this, but if you do, it may be what fixes the folder naming issue.

Best of luck. 🙂

Hello Apple Accessibility,

I am following up again regarding Case-ID: 22285823. I now have much stronger evidence that this VoiceOver custom-label problem is actively regenerating and is not limited to one device.

On my iPhone 13 running iOS 26.7, I documented the following sequence today:

• 5:10 PM — Custom Labels showed 141 entries.
• I manually removed the unwanted and duplicate entries.
• 5:21 PM — only 15 entries remained.
• 5:27 PM — without my recreating any labels, the count had returned to 124.
• The count remained at 124 for several hours.
• 8:42 PM — it increased again to 125.

I have attached timestamped screenshots showing this sequence.

The regenerated list contains repeated entries such as “Food Delivery” and “Food Delivery folder.” Some current folder names are duplicated many times. For example, a folder I named “TV and Movies” appeared about eight times in the Custom Labels list, and “Entertainment” also appeared repeatedly.

This appears directly related to the problem I have reported for years, where VoiceOver prepends an unrelated folder name before the correct item name. On my iPhone XR, for example, a folder visibly titled “AI” is spoken by VoiceOver as “Food Delivery, AI.” In my case, the unwanted phrase is spoken BEFORE the correct label.

There are also folder-name inconsistencies on my iPhone 13. Examples I documented today include:

• A folder I named “AI” being presented as “Productivity.”
• A folder I named “Banking” being presented as “Finance.”
• A folder I named “Never Use” being presented as “Extras.”
• Other folders, such as Books, Music, and currently Entertainment, may present correctly, so the behavior is selective and intermittent.

This problem is present across multiple iPhones I own, including an iPhone XR, iPhone SE second generation, iPhone 13, and iPhone 17e. I cannot reliably identify which device or iOS version it originally began on because it has been happening for years and has followed me across device upgrades.

I have also found other VoiceOver users reporting closely related problems.

AppleVis currently has a bug report specifically describing deleted VoiceOver Custom Labels returning after deletion:
https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/custom-labels-which-were-previously-deleted-voiceover-settings-are-coming-back
That report references Apple feedback number FB20239885.

I also found an older AppleVis discussion from 2020, during the iOS 14 era, describing VoiceOver continually speaking a folder name while navigating unrelated items:
https://applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados/voiceover-continually-speaking-name-last-folder-created

This is important because my unwanted folder-name announcements also predate iOS 26. iOS 26 appears to have finally given me a way to see and remove the Custom Labels that may be involved, but the underlying VoiceOver behavior is much older.

The problem is now affecting how I organize and use my iPhone. I am reluctant to create or rename folders because I do not know whether doing so will create more unwanted labels that later duplicate, return, or become attached to unrelated controls. As a blind VoiceOver user, that has left me with pages of loose apps because I no longer trust normal folder organization.

Please escalate this to the appropriate VoiceOver engineering team. I am happy to provide additional screenshots, device information, diagnostic logs, a sysdiagnose, or anything else that would help determine where these labels are being stored, why deleted labels are returning, and why they are being associated with unrelated interface elements.

Thank you for continuing to investigate this.

Sincerely,
Melanie Spears

Case-ID: 22285823

On Tue, 22 Sep 2026 20:25:00 +0000 (GMT), Apple Accessibility <accessibility@apple.com> wrote:
Hello MamaPeach,

We understand you are experiencing an intermittent situation across multiple iPhone models where an unrelated phrase becomes associated with VoiceOver labels, folder descriptions, and copied text, as well as encountering VoiceOver navigation delays in image-heavy views.

We introduced a new menu within VoiceOver settings that may be able to address this issue. If you go to Settings - Accessibility - VoiceOver - Verbosity - Custom Labels, you can review and edit any VoiceOver labels that have been changed on your device. Please give this a try, and let us know if you are able to identify any unexpected labels, and remove them.

Sincerely,

Apple Accessibility

Please include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.

Case-ID: 22285823

On Sep 17, 2026, at 6:44 AM, Melanie Spears <mamapeach67@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Apple Accessibility Team,

I am totally blind and rely on VoiceOver for all use of my iPhones. I

am reporting a long-standing accessibility problem that has followed

me across multiple iPhones and multiple versions of iOS for years.

The problem is difficult to reproduce on demand because it is

intermittent, but it is extremely disruptive.

An unrelated phrase will sometimes become attached to controls,

folders, app elements, or copied text. On several of my devices, the

phrase currently causing the problem is “Food Delivery.” On another

device, I have previously had a different phrase, such as “Card

Games,” behave the same way.

This has occurred on at least these devices:

iPhone SE, second generation

iPhone XR

iPhone 13

iPhone 17e

It also occurred on older iPhones that I no longer use regularly.

The problem appears to follow my Apple account. When I get a new

iPhone and sign in with the same Apple account, the problem reappears.

This has happened across multiple devices and iOS versions. That makes

me suspect that some synced VoiceOver, accessibility, keyboard,

clipboard, or other account-level data may be carrying the problem

from one device to another.

The phrase “Food Delivery” originally came from a folder I

intentionally renamed after grouping two restaurant apps together.

After that, VoiceOver began announcing “Food Delivery” in unrelated

places across the device. Sometimes it appears and sometimes it does

not. The same pattern has happened with other folder names, such as

“Card Games,” on other devices.

Folder naming is also affected. When iOS creates a folder and I rename

it, an unrelated phrase such as “Food Delivery” or “Card Games” may

become attached to the folder name. The VoiceOver label announced for

the folder may not match the name I assigned, and the label associated

with the contents inside the folder may differ from the folder name

shown outside.

The problem is not limited to one application. I have encountered it

in Mail, Safari, DraftPad, Gemini, Suno, prompt-writing applications,

folder names, and other parts of iOS.

Recent examples include:

In the Suno app, multiple unrelated navigation buttons suddenly became

announced by VoiceOver as “Food Delivery button.” One correctly

labeled Search button remained unaffected.

I then closed Suno and reopened it. The unwanted labels disappeared

and the bottom controls were announced as button, Search, button,

button, button. I closed Suno and opened it again, and the “Food

Delivery” labels returned without me changing any settings or

relabeling anything.

In Gemini, VoiceOver announced “Food Delivery” between the Continue

button and the text “Meet Gemini,” even though “Food Delivery” was not

visibly present on the screen.

In Safari Bookmarks, VoiceOver announced “Food Delivery Nav bar.”

The problem can also affect copied text rather than merely VoiceOver

speech. During testing on September 15, 2026, I copied the text:

Urban Reflection in Dramatic Light

When I pasted it into ChatGPT, the actual pasted text became:

Food Delivery Urban Reflection in Dramatic Light

I immediately performed another copy-and-paste test from the same app

with different text, and the unwanted phrase did not appear. This

demonstrates how intermittent the problem is.

The unwanted phrase is therefore not simply something VoiceOver is

speaking. In some circumstances, it is actually inserted into text

that I copy and paste. This has caused problems in email, notes,

prompts, and other text that I intend to send or save.

Because this behavior is unpredictable, I now have to check copied

text before sending emails, saving notes, or using prompts to make

sure “Food Delivery,” “Card Games,” or some other unrelated phrase has

not been inserted.

I have also seen the problem affect VoiceOver custom labels. If I

attempt to edit one affected control, unrelated controls may

subsequently receive the same incorrect phrase.

I have reset VoiceOver settings in the past, but the problem returned.

There is also a navigation problem that may be related. In image-heavy

apps, VoiceOver focus can become stuck on an image. Flicking right

does not move to the next item. I have to lift my finger and

physically explore farther down the screen to find the next image or

control.

This is now affecting multiple apps. Suno has become effectively

unusable for me in the app because I cannot reliably move past

image-heavy areas or reach controls that were accessible earlier.

Earlier the same day, I could flick normally through the bottom tabs

and use the editor independently. Later, the same app loaded

differently and VoiceOver focus became trapped on individual controls

and images.

I have considered resetting the phone completely, but based on past

experience I expect the problem to return as soon as I sign back into

my Apple account.

The most difficult part is that the problem is not consistently

reproducible on demand. The same copy operation or the same app may

work normally one moment and exhibit the problem later.

I would appreciate it if this could be investigated as a VoiceOver and

iOS accessibility issue rather than as an individual application

problem. I am willing to provide screenshots, additional examples,

device information, or perform specific diagnostic tests if that would

help identify the cause.

This issue substantially affects my ability to use my iPhone

independently because I cannot always trust that VoiceOver labels are

describing the correct control, that copied text will remain

unchanged, or that I will be able to move through an app normally.

Thank you for taking the time to investigate this.

Sincerely,

MamaPeach45

Disclaimer: you will not like this solution, and will possibly baulk at it. However, I believe it is the only way to truly fix this.

• First, if you use something like Gmail, or any other web-based email, send yourself an email with a list of your most important applications.

• Go to Settings, your name, iCloud Storage, and delete any iCloud backups you find there.

• Turn off iCloud Backup.

• Go to Settings, General, Transfer or Reset, and do a full factory reset of your devices.

What is likely happening:

iOS is infamous for transferring bugs and glitches from one device to the other via iCloud Backup. Because this issue is not only on your devices, they are in the cloud as well, so what is happening is that when you are deleting say those custom labels, they are restoring themselves from iCloud backup. Possibly they are tied to system services, but there is no way for us (the consumer) to know this for sure.

Resetting voiceover settings is not enough.

Factory resetting the Settings application is not enough.

A full factory reset, only after deleting your current backups and disabling iCloud backup, is the sure-fire way to resolve this.

Will you have to manually re-download all of your apps? Absolutely. Will this be a pain in the ass, you bet. Will you be rid of this bug once and for all, all signs point to 'Yes'.

Best of luck, with whatever you decide. 🙂