I've been an Apple user since 2012, and I don't see myself ever going to the other side. However, I've always been curious, so I'd love to hear from people who have!
What were your reasons? What did you find most challenging when switching from VoiceOver to TalkBack? What gestures were the same and what were different?
This should be interesting, I'm looking forward to the responses!
Comments
Differences
Hello,
I used iOS for years, and am now happily on team Android. The gesture set is going to be different. Basic swipes left right up and down perform pretty much the same functions. Two finger swipes are for scrolling. Three finger swipes up and down change the reading control, basically the Talkback equivalent of the rotor. Magic tap is the same. It's really not hard to learn, but in that first few days muscle memory will get ya. If you go back and forth between the two, it's easy to forget which one your using, and you can be left wondering why in the world your gesture didn't do what you expected at all.
Having said all this, while Talkback is very good, there's another screen reader called Talk Forward, which you would have to install after you get the device set up, but once it is on and running, it has the same gesture set from Voiceover, all the goodies from Talkback, and the developer continues to make improvements and fix bugs at a much faster rate than either Apple or Google, and he is just one developer. If you want the customization and other fun geekery of Android, but don't want to mess with Talkback, Talk Forward is your best bet. I loved Talkback, never saw a need for anything else, but after using Talk Forward for over two months, if something ever happened and it was no longer available, I would be pretty sad.
One big thing that a lot of people who switch complain about is talkback lag compared to Voiceover. That has gotten a lot better over the years, can be improved even further with the right tts engine and settings, but Talk Forward reduces latency even further, so it is in my opinion just as fast as Voiceover.
@Alicia
Hi Alicia!
I'll try to answer your questions.
Personally, I'm currently an Android user. I fully switched to Android a little over 3 years ago, after using Apple products for quite a long time—I spent 13 years in the Apple ecosystem.
First of all, let me tell you that not all Androids devices are created equal. Obviously, if you want a better experience, you need to go for a flagship device. You also have to consider that there are many Android manufacturers, and each adds customization layers that often damage or completely ruin accessibility—Chinese brands, for example. I've used many brands, ranging from Motorola, LG, and HTC, until I finally found where I feel happiest and most comfortable: using a Google Pixel.
Any operating system requires a learning curve. There isn't a better or worse OS—both Android and iOS have their pros and cons. In reality, there is no perfect operating system. VoiceOver has a lot of issues, yes, but on the flip side, TalkBack isn't perfect either.
The main reason I switched to Android was that VoiceOver had—and still has—quite a few issues. The second reason is that Android's accessibility has improved significantly over the last few years. Today, accessibility isn't a deciding factor when choosing a phone, which is great for our visually impaired community.
And lastly, regarding gestures: you have to keep in mind that switching to a new operating system means starting a new learning process. The same applies when moving to a different screen reader; things won't be identical.
Ultimately, differences in gestures don't matter because you simply need to learn them—it's just a learning curve. Not everything should be the same, either. If it were, the exact same issues VoiceOver has would just carry over to TalkBack.
@MarkSarch link
I'm curious, what issues did you have with VoiceOver that made you switch?
Amusing & Confusing
If you want a relatively smooth transition, here are my recommendations:
1. Buy a Pixel device, preferably 9 or later.
2. By the Vocalizer TTS for Android from the Google Play store.
3. Install the TalkForward screen reader, either from the Google Play store, or from the developers website.
Reasons:
From everything I have read online, the Google Pixel is considered the iPhone of the Android product lineup. This even comes from fully sighted users.
Having heard several demos online of vocalizer TTS for Android, I feel it is safe to say that iPhone users would feel right at home using this TTS on their new Android device. Samantha, for example, sounds just as good, if not better than Samantha sounds on the latest iPhones.
Finally, TF is shaping up to be an amazing screen reader. Essentially, it is a beefed up clone of VoiceOver for Android. With a few extra caveats not found in iOS.
While TalkBack has come a very long way in the past decade, using a screen reader that has VoiceOver-like gestures, along with a very familiar sounding TTS, might just be what you need to ease the transition of switching from iOS to Android.
HTH. 🙂