Panning with Orbit Reader Braille display IOS 16.5

By Chris, 21 May, 2023

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hi, all. I am finding the following bug since updating to IOS 16.5. I'm testing this on my iPhone 12 Pro with an Orbit Reader 20-Plus.

In Voice Dream Reader: While panning through a book, I eventually run out of text and have to swipe up with three fingers to read more with the panning buttons.

With Kindle: The panning buttons do not work at all, rendering Braille support useless!

Pages documents: I can scroll through a document just fine with no issues with the panning buttons.

I would love to find a fix for this. The latest Apple updates have really done a number on Braille support! If anyone can duplicate this, please inundate Apple with bug reports, feedback, call and offer to screen share. I don't care that these are third party apps. I can duplicate the issue on Kindle and Voice Dream when these apps used to work. And, I'm having similar issues with my Brailliant BI 40X. I'd love to be wrong and find an easy fix, but that remains to be seen.

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Comments

By Scottish Iain on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

This is a potentially nasty one as it can freeze the panning right and left buttons. When this happens, turn VoiceOver off and on again and the panning buttons will start working again. To stop this happening in the Kindle and Books apps, you need to turn off automatic page turning when panning in the Braille area of VoiceOver settings.

By jcwissel on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

Same problem justed started with my Orbit 20. Turning off and on Voice Over fixed the issue.

By AppleGirl1985 on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

My iPad has the latest iOS software, and my Braille display panning buttons stay frozen even though I have tried several times, turning voice over off and on. I'll try turning off the auto-page turn in the Braille settings under voice over. I have not updated my iPhone 6S, and my Braille display works fine with it, including in the Kindle app (I currently don't use Apple Books).

By Dolores on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

I'm having the same problem and I feel your frustration. Hoping the next update will fix this, I have an Orbit Reader 40 and I'm experiencing the same issue with the panning buttons. I'm going to write to Apple Accessibility about this, it's the second time Braille support has been compromised due to an IOS update. Thank you to all who've shared workarounds for this issue.

By Siobhan on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

I just looked at Orbit research and they have a few firmware updates that might help with your issue. Just a thought. I'm not saying apple isn't the problem but it might help. Youhave to select yoru version then download the firmware. Hope I helped.

By gailisaiah on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 14:10

I'm thinking about purchasing the Orbit Reader. I have the BN Touch Plus at work and want one for home. To Chris and others that have this braille display, would you recommend it. Not only for use with my phone but also for files and reading. Thanks in advance!