Voice Over Accessibility of Magic trackpad on Apple Magic Keyboard For iPad

By AppleLady, 7 April, 2021

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hello all,
I have been researching accessories for the iPad Air 4th Generation (2020). Of course, one of the first accessories I considered was the new Apple Magic keyboard with track pad for the iPad. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get my hands on one of these keyboards, so I have done lots of research on the internet. So, other than the $299 price, I thought it sounded like a pretty decent keyboard... And, IF the trackpad works with VoiceOver the same way as it does on a Mac, then that would be worth the cost.
Then, I realized that I was making a HUGE assumption. I assumed that since the trackpad works well with VoiceOver on Macs, it should be similar on iPads, right? Wrong!
I called Apple's Accessibility line and spoke with a specialist. Immediately, it became clear that the specialist didn't know the answer either, but they were willing to pair a Magic trackpad with the iPad Air running VoiceOver to find out.
Unfortunately, the trackpad does not work with VoiceOver gestures. The Apple Accessibility specialist theorized that it is because iPads do not have a trackpad commander for VoiceOver. So, this question has been answered and I have crossed the Magic keyboard off my list of possible iPad accessories.
To sum up, I wanted to post this because during my web research (even here on AppleVis) I was unable to find information saying whether or not the new Apple Magic Keyboard with trackpad is accessible with VoiceOver. And, since I ultimately learned that it is not, I wanted to make sure that other VoiceOver users could find this information, and hopefully avoid purchasing a very expensive keyboard with an inaccessible trackpad.

Options

Comments

By Alan on Monday, April 12, 2021 - 20:03

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like it does in a Mac.
You can move the mouse cursor, basically like a Mac with the voiceover trackpad commands turned off.
You can, with some practice, move the cursor here and ther, but it's not a friendly experience at all. Sometimes you would need to drag a finger to move the cursor outside of the status bar, because sometimes the cursor jumps around and voiceover focus follows it.
Also, check the logitech slim combo keyboard. It incorporates a trackpad as well but it's much more affordable.
In any case, as I said, it's not useful right know. Who knows, I hope Apple may make it fully compatible with voiceover gestures.