iOS 6.1 Accessibility Bug List: the Fixed, the Not Fixed and the New Bugs

We know some of you have been waiting for quite some time for iOS 6.1 to arrive in your hands. That day has finally arrived!

As with any iOS release, we just can't wait to see what new things it has to offer, but mostly to see what has been fixed! As with any release it may not always fix everything you wish it would do and sometimes create new things that weren't expected!

So we have created this posting for that reason. We want to hear what you think of the new iOS 6.1 release. What has been fixed? What hasn't been fixed? What new features if any have you found?

The purpose of This posting is to educate our users on what they can expect before or after they update their devices to iOS 6.1. We want to spread any information we can, so we need your help! Please feel free to leave your Comments below on anything you want to talk about.

In the meantime, while we have been waiting for this new release, some of the AppleVis Editorial Team had already had the chance to see what has been fixed and what has not. We have compiled a list of the issues have been reported in iOS 6. You will see a compiled set of Q&A to read based on our findings. We can only hope that our conclusions are mostly right and that they are helpful to you.

Our testing was done on several devices. However, it should be noted that not all types of devices were used when we did this review. So, please correct us if you don't agree with our findings. This will only help everyone in the community to understand what they can expect!

After doing the three finger double tap on the screen to disable the speech, do the sounds still persist when flicking around on the screen?

Yes. We believe this is a feature rather than a bug.

From time to time, While navigating through the apps on your screen, VoiceOver will lose focus and go back to the last item you had selected. Does this still occur?

No. This appears to have been resolved.

While surfing using Safari, does the focus still jump around quite a bit?

Yes. Sadly, we still see problems mostly with the Headings jumping around.

When you are inside of an app, VoiceOver focus would generally go to a random spot rather than the intended element: For example, it would focus on the back or cancel button rather than going to the text field. Does this still persist?

Still testing.

People that use the Rotor to select different languages will find that each time they either reboot the phone or turn VoiceOver off/on that it won't remember what it was last set to. Does this still persist?

No. It appears that this has been resolved.

Under the Music app some of the buttons were unlabeled. Have they been fixed?

No. We were a bit surprised by this finding.

The process of relabeling of a button would sometime save and other times wouldn't save at all. Does this still persist?

No. This appears to have been resolved; all custom element labels we tried have saved as intended.

Many of the games that contain audio for the music would be choppy and lag. Has this been fixed?

Yes. We have tried a number of games and we were unable to find any lagging or choppiness.

When in the Calendar and the monthly view is selected, does it still only announce 0 events regardless of whether you had any events scheduled or not?

No. This issue appears to have been resolved; we are now able to see the actual number of events.

When the screen is locked, does VoiceOver still not say if the Mute switch is either on or off upon switching?

Yes. We believe that this is a feature and not a bug. However, do note that once the Screen Lock has been unlocked that VoiceOver does still let you know if the Mute switch has been turned on or off.

At times when you have the Screen Curtain turned on, toggling VoiceOver off and then back on would result in VoiceOver forgetting the setting of the Screen Curtain. Has this been resolved in 6.1?

Yes. This appears to have been resolved.

When you are in the Contacts app and you want to go from one letter of the alphabet to another based on the heading, does the Heading still not list things properly? For example, if I’m at the E letter heading, I may be still seeing contacts starting with the letter B.

Sadly, the ability to jump from one letter to another by heading still seems inconsistent.

Does VoiceOver still talk while you are on the phone?

Still testing.

While on the phone at times, it is necessary to enter tones when in menus of call centers. Does the phone call lower its volume so that VoiceOver can be heard when trying to find the correct number to press?

Still testing.

On some of the older devices like the iPhone 4 and the 3gs it at times still had quite a bit of lagging. Do you still see this issue?

No. On our older devices it has appeared that this has been resolved. It feels a bit snappier than before.

We can only hope that some of the questions and our answers provided above have been helpful. If there are more questions that you want to ask before updating to iOS 6.1, please feel free to leave your comments below. We are certain with all of our users, that one of us will find the time to get back with you on an answer!

Maybe, you had questions that we hadn't mentioned and you have already updated to iOS 6.1. Please feel free to share those findings with us as well!

Thanks for helping us out! We hope that with all of our resources as a community, that we will continue to educate and support each other through this journey of iOS.