It seems that not only does 2.5.3 have problems, but it is now impossible to continue using earlier versions that did work, as the login will now fail on those versions.
So, I've had enough. Audibooks are important to most visually impaired people, and they are excluding us, which, for those of us in the UK, is illegal.
I would like to get a handle on the size of this problem, as I have not personally updated to these troublesome versions. Alarm bells caused me to continue with version 2.4.2, until now that the login is failing. I am therefore unable to continue using Audible, unless I update to 2.5.3. What I want to know is how useable is that version, and what specifically will I not able to do.
I'd also very much like to know how many of you have reported these issues to Audible customer services, because the lady I chatted with today, said she'd not come across this issue, and that Audible thinks that 2.5.3 has sorted out all the accessibility problems. I need to tell them otherwise, but I need to talk with some facts.
Please let me know everything!
Comments
I can tell you for sure...
Hi. I'm currently running iOS 8.4 on an iPhone 6 and this latest update has solved most of the accessibility issues. There are times when, for whatever unknown reason I'm unable to see the contents of my library, but closing the app from the app switcher and re-opening it seems to solve the issue. 9 times out of 10 it works just fine and you will have very few problems. I was in pretty active discussions with Audible here in the US and I stressed to them how important accessibility is by requesting that the app developers actually use VoiceOver in the beta testing stages so that they can find out what's causing these issues, and squash them before a new release is out. I have 4 audible books on my phone at this time, and have no problem navigating through them, setting the sleep timer, changing the speed of the book, changing other options such as how far back the apprewinds i.e. 10 seconds, 30 seconds...all that is completely accessible. All I can tell you is what I've seen and that's my experience which is pretty positive. Other folks were having problems but they hadn't updated to iOS 8 so I couldn't duplicate them on my phone here. Either way, that's what's happening at least with me. It is safe to upgrade.
audible
What about deleting a book that you downloaded to your iPhone? Before I could not do so and I had not done it. I have a audio book that I finished listening and would like to delete.
Thank you...just one more question...
...on top of the previous poster's question about deleting.
What about bookmarks and resuming your place in a book?
I have over sisty books and
I have over sisty books and have about 18 pages of listings, but not able to view all of them. When I scrole down to page two VO acts as if it's blank. I've refreshed the library and closed the app and restarted. I've sent the developers a email but will have to find the time to call as well. This does need to be fixed.
What version?
Imani and Holger...What version of IOS and the Audible app are you both running?
Oh, and which idevice are you using?
Which type?
Current audible app, iOS 8.4, iOS 6.
Okay, here's how I've dealt with some issues...
Firstly, I'm on 8.4, using Audible version 2.5.3, and my device is an iPhone 6+.
Yes, I get the blank list problem. I've tried playing with voiceover, but only shutting down the app in app switcher and restarting it works. Mostly it's the list of books on the device that's blank, but occasionally it's the cloud list that's blank too. The restart fix always seems to work and it only takes a few seconds. Not perfect, but how many apps are?
I have 16 books on my device, and a three finger swipe up will reveal page 2 of that list, with all books visible.
Deleting does work on my combination of IOS, Audible app, and device. Here's a step by step guide, in case it's a user issue:
1. Ensure your 'Device' book list is selected.
2. Click 'Delete' at the top of page. No need to select the book you want to delete first.
3. Now locate the book.
4. When you hear the name of the book you want to delete, swipe twice to the right, and you will hear the 'Delete' button. It is also one swipe to the left of the author name. Double tap on that 'Delete' button and you will instantly delete it. Warning: There are no requests for confirmation that you want to delete it. The double tap will delete it straight away, so make sure you're on the right book!
4. Once you've finished deleting books, you need to locate the 'Delete' button at the top of the page and double tap it in order to take the page out of delete mode.
BIG WARNING:
Make sure that you click the correct 'Delete' button! When you've finished deleting books, locate the correct 'Delete' button that is one swipe to the right of 'Recent' up at the top of the page. I say this because there is no audible difference between the 'Delete' mode button, and the 'Delete' book button. If you click on the wrong one, you could find yourself deleting another book that you wanted to keep!
Hope that helps!
Bookmarks, resume, and book position information.
I'd still like to hear from anyone using the Audible app and whether all bookmark, resume, and general book position information, were maintained after the app was updated? Please confirm IOS, app version, and device being used again.
Type
Audible 2.5.3. IOS 8.4 phone 6 I uninstalled & reinstalled last night. This morning it showed me all of my books that i have. I haven't tried to delete any at this point. Bookmark & resume of book placement works well for me.
I am also using Audible 2.5.3
I am also using Audible 2.5.3 with IOS 8.4 on an IPhone 5S. I have 66 pages of books in my library. I was having trouble getting VO to read my content after the first page of content. Flicking with my finger would get the app to stop reading after the first four titles or so. In fact, I was having that problem regularly and took to searching for the title using the search feature. For the first time this evening, I was able to actually see them all. Thank you for the suggestion of closing the app and restarting. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it will work henceforth.
I am still having the scrolling problem
I am using the latest app version and IOS 8.4 on a 5S. After the first page of books, I can't see anything else. It's very annoying and the only way round it is to use the library search feature. Closing and restarting the app hasn't worked for me. Nor has the uninstall and reinstall idea Audible were recommending previously. I'm getting pretty fed up with this app I have to say. It used to work fine.
refreshing
I was able to delete my book, but it took a while because it kept refreshing. How can this be stop. I prefer doing it manually.
refreshing issue
I wonder if the folks having this constant refreshing issue are still using iOS 7? A while back someone reported that issue but they were still in iOS 7 land at the time. I can tell you that in iOS 8.4 there's no constant refreshing i.e. I'm able to navigate my library just fine without the screen refreshing constantly. So it might be time to make the jump to iOS 8 to solve that issue, if that's indeed what's happening.
Observations...
If you read all the comments on this thread, you will see that those that have given their IOS version are all using 8.4, including Holger, who is still having the refresh problem.
I am using Audible app version 2.5.3, am on IOS 8.4, and am using a 6+, and I can verify that, since updating to this version, three times out of the four times I've opened the app, the device library page was completely blank. I have enough usable vision to see a blank page! I closed the app in app switcher, and restarted it. Lo and behold, the device library page was suddenly populated!
No Trouble Here with Audible
I am using IOS 8.4 with the latest version of the Audible app, and everything seems to be working OK here. I don't like to have a lot of apps open, and this may explain what's going on. Also, I like to have only a few titles on my phone because it's easier to keep track of a few titles as oppose to a lot. Thanks.
refreshing
No. I do not know about all, but I am using iOS 8.4 and current audible.
Cloud library
I too like only having a few titles on my phone at any one time. I think I've only got two on there currently. However, surely I should be able to navigate the Cloud library properly? AS it is, after the first page of titles, I have nothing but blank pages even though Voiceover says "Page 2 of 31" and so on. I have no idea what to do about this and while it's hardly the end of the world, it's not entirely satisfactory either. For the avoidance of doubt I am using a 5S with IOS 8.4. i think I said this in my previous contribution but apologies if not.
Problem not acknowledged by Audible
Hello, I started a thread here a few weeks back regarding the Audible app, specifically 2.5.3, and the problem that I was having accessing the list of titles both in the cloud and on the device. It appears that a good proportion of people are having similar problems, where they cannot see their full list of titles. My problem was as described by several other people, namely that I could only have VO speak about six titles in the cloud, when I switched to the device I got an empty list; when I used a filter I got an empty list. Doing the varies VO refresh tricks didn't solve the problem..
I reported it to audible who told me that the problem had been solved (sic) despite the fact that they plainly did not understand the problem. They suggested the usual "log out. Delete the app, reinstall " which of course did nothing. I told them on several occasions that this had not solved the problem, and they plainly did not understand the problem. Worse, they did not understand that they did not understand the problem.
Tu say that it works OK-ish for some people who only have a few titles is not really good enough from audible. I pay them eight pounds a month for this service, and have spent over five hundred pounds over the years, and the app they produce does not allow me access to all those titles. And that is only because I am a VO user.
I do not advocate the ranting at developers whose apps are not as accessible as they could be. But in the case of audible, they do seem singularly unwilling to acknowledge the fact that there is a problem with their app, even though it is only a problem encountered by some of their VO users.
TBH I feel like I have reported this problem to them so many times now that they are not going to take much more notice of me. But if anyone else would like to report the error to them, then hopefully they might actually recognise that they do have a problem.
It's working ok
I'm running everything current on an iPad Mini and iPhone 5S.
Every so often when I switch devices, the book doesn't sync. Other than that the only issue I'm having is the need to turn off sounds when listening to books because the app constantly clicks.
I don't love this latest version, but it's not at all broken for me.
Audible doesn't seem to care too much about its blind customers though, since most of their emails contain only images. Drives me bonkers.
clearly this is still significant then
Clearly this still is a live issue, then. yet the thread has taken a very desperate turn for those of us experiencing this: where we are at is that we have a problem that Audible thinks it has solved and, worst of all, that it refuses to be convinced it has not solved. So unlikely anything will be done about it. What's to do, folks?
Scrolling issue really bad in latest version.
In the latest version released early August, the scrolling behavior is dreadful for me. Nearly impossible to view all titles properly. Used to happen once in a while, but now is ridiculous. Makes using the app a very unpleasant experience indeed.
IOS Audible app not reliable
I am running ios 8.4 with the latest Audible app (early August 2015). I, too, am very disappointed. I have shared myconcerns with Audible. Most of the time, my book list is empty. Occasionally, I see perhaps one page of titles, usually not. Moving between Device and Cloud usually results in empty lists. Although I can *page* through pages and pages of my books, I do not see them listed.
A long time ago, the Audible app was pretty accessible. I would think that when it comes to audio-based books, blind women and men would comprise a reasonable subset of their users and accessibility would get more attention.
RE: IOS Audible app not reliable
Audible was just updated and the whole problem of books not showing up has been resolved for me, finally. If you haven't yet updated, do so and see if that fixes your outstanding issues with the Audible app.
HTH
audible app
I just downloaded the recent audible app and have no longer issues with it. I went to all books and I could see all my audiobooks by sliding right. The refresh it seem to be history. Crossing my finger that it will not come back. Using iOS 8.4, iPhone 6, and current audible that cane out this week.
Not yet available in UK store.
Glad to hear the app is working well for both of you. As for an update, I'm running version 2.54 on 8.4 released on 3 august with no sign of an update, and still awful on my end unfortunately. Perhaps new update will show up soon.
2.5.4 better but not perfect
I've updated to the latest version 2.5.4, and it is an improvement, for me at least. That said, there are still remnants of the original scrolling problems. I can read lots more titles in the list, but there are still some titles that are not showing up. They are quite old titles, but it would still be nice to see them there.
One other thing that has improved is the layout; each title is on one line now with a menu button under it.
All in all, quite an improvement. There is still a little bit of work to fully fix it, and we can hope that Audible will realise it and get round to it.
But for now, anyone who was having problems should probably give it a go (at your own risk though!! )
Toggling VO.
Most of you may be aware of this workaround, but if not, I'll post it. I've found the best method to deal with this annoying behavior, if you have multiple pages of books, is to toggle VO off and on once you've changed pages. Seems to be the quickest way to get things working again. So once you've advanced a page by using a 3 finger swipe right, toggle VO and instead of showing the tabs at the bottom of the app as usual, VO now sees the appropriate content and this seems to be reliable. One step that you'd ideally not want to endure, but for the moment, the best way of getting where you want to go apparently.
Darren, I'm a little confused
Darren, I'm a little confused, to say the least. You say that you advance the pages by swiping 3 fingers to the 'right'?
I don't know if I'm losing the plot here, but I swipe UP or DOWN with three fingers to go to a next page or back a page. If I three finger swipe right, all I get is a sound alert for no further content! It just makes me wonder if this is a clue to why a few people are still having problems. I don't know what combination of device, settings, app version, it takes to allow you to three finger to the left and right in this app, but that could be the key to the problem. When you say 'right' was that a typo?
Sent this to Audible on 27th July...
I have copied and pasted this from the Audible Customer Care acknowledgment email they sent to me, showing what I sent to them. The rest of the email just said they'd be passing on the problem to their tech team.
When I started this thread, it was to gather as much up to date info as possible, so that they couldn't turn round and say they'd already fixed the issues, or that people were probably not using the the latest app update. You all came through loud and clear, including describing your mulitiple contacts directly with Audible.
Below my message to Audible, I have also included a second more detailed acknowledgement from Audible, that seemed to more personalised to the issue I'd raised than the first one, which makes me feel they might have taken me seriously.
Maybe it had some effect because, for me and some others on here, the problem seems to have been solved. I especially love the way it reads the title, author, narrator, and length, all in one sentance. This makes going through the list a breeze, and that alone tells me they maybe getting to grips with voice over. Haven't tried deleting or searching yet, but 'm trusting that from the sounds of others on here, that this is okay too. Anyway, here's what I sent to them:
Start of message to Audible.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Drop-Down 1: Issues with updated app
Drop-Down 2:
Drop-Down 3:
Customer Comments/Questions:
I am providing a link to a thread from the most popular Apple visual impairment forum on the web. It seems that you have either not understood, or are ignoring a lot of people who have very real problems with your app, v 2.5.3 on the latest IOS update.
These people, including myself, all pay you a subscription every month, so you have a duty to sort these issues out. I myself have the problem where more often than not, when I log into the app, I find no titles. I have to restart the app in order to see my titles. Others have this problem too. Others also find that Voice Over won't read all the titles they have in their library.
I would suggest that you register on this forum and provide an official response, preferably on this particular thread as people are subscribed to this thread. A lot of these people have already contacted yourselves on multiple occasions, so it would be frustrating if you were to suggest they contact you again. Some of these people will have contacted your US site, and some will have contacted the UK site and other markets. All are having problems with your latest update. Please could you respect your visually impaired customers and take them seriously.
Apple VIs Forum
Audible app thread: http://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ios-app-discussion/audible-appare-people-using-it-and-still-having-problem
End of message to Audible.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start of Audible's second acknowledgement of the email I'd sent to them
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi
My name is Drew, your Audible UK support and I'm willing to assist.
Due to the issue you are currently experiencing, it will require additional research and investigation by a Support Specialists who will review this request and care for it accordingly. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but please be on the lookout for a follow-up email from us regarding this issue. For your reference, the case ID of your issue is 0055819652.
We thank you for your patience and understanding. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. Simply reply to this email or drop a line at customercare@audible.co.uk. You may also call us on our customer care line at 0800 496 2455 (or), +44 (0) 203 356 6218. We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Here at Audible, we value your concern. Have a wonderful one!
Sincerely,
Drew M
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Audible's second acknowledgement.
Please feel free to give any feedback on any of this!
all working
well, I have had a little look at the new app. Only a cursory one as am at work, but the update does seem to have fixed the problem. By the by, I also swipe up and down to change pages, not left and right. Well done Logan for getting Audible on the case with this one. your email was very well written, and polite which is sometimes missing from some communications I have read on similar matters, and we would appear to have a result.
v2.5.5 available now. Has anyone updated to it?
Okay, so there's a new version out today (or yesterday maybe). Has anyone updated to v2.5.5 of the Audible app? Have those, who still had outstanding problems following the release of 2.5.4, noticed if their problem has been resolved?
And finally, and almost more importantly, has it opened up any new problems?
In the 'What's new' info attached to this update, it specifically mentions the solving of 'blank pages', so maybe this will be the version that ends all previous problems...until they muck it up all over again in a future version. With any luck, at least the existing team of developers will have an understanding of voice over, but, as we all know, there's a high turn over of IT staff, so we'll probably have to start all over again at some point...lets just enjoy the peace while it lasts...smiles
2.5.5 still has a problem
Version 2.5.5 on iPhone running 8.4 still has problem with scrolling through pages of books and not hearing them with VoiceOver. On occasion, it works as desired, but more frequently than not, you have to use that trick of turning VO off and then on. Fortunately, that seems to work, although it is not a fix, just a way to live with the problem.
I have not noticed anything else that is a current concern. I agree that the new layout is nice, making it much easier to look at what titles you have in your library.
Hopefully, 2.5.6 will address the scrolling of pages and being able to read them with VoiceOver.
new audible
It refreshes and this is a pain. The previous did not do so. It took two tries to delete an audio book because of refreshing.
Just Clarifications...
Bill: Because Darren mentioned something that was strange, and as yet hasn't responded to my request for clarification, I'd like to ask you about the same thing. He mentioned, and it could have been a typo on his part, that when he wants to go to the next page, he swipes to the right. I, and most others on here I think, don't do this...we do a three finger swipe up to go to the next page, and three fingers down to go back a page. What do you do?
Holger: Please forgive me if this sounds like a really silly question, but could you explain what you mean by 'refreshing'? The only thing I can think of is that for some reason your focus keeps shifting to the top of the page or something, but I don't have this problem, so I don't know.
Does anyone else have this 'refresh' problem, and is anyone else still getting the blank page problem?
Never had the refreshing issue
I've never had the issue of refreshing, but I remember a while back ago, someone mentioned that when they had this issue they were using iOS 7. More and more, these apps really are optimized for iOS 8, and very soon, iOS 9. I'm not saying that having that version of the os is the problem, and I'm not even saying that upgrading to iOS 8 will solve the problem. What I am saying, though, is I, as well as many others, don't have this issue. I'm one of these rare people who don't put many many books on my iPhone. If I'm lucky i'll only have maybe 2 or 3 or maybe even 4, which is probably why I've never encountered this scrolling/refreshing thing. Also, if I want to download a book from my library, I use the search function and can usually find what I'm looking for farely quickly.
Footnote to scrolling
In response to earlier query...
I suspect the earlier post suggesting scrolling right was just a simple oops in writing up the feedback. Three finger right and left swipes do work under circumstances of wider pages, I believe, but the Audible app scrolls pages with three finger up or down swipes. Up and down scrolling of pages can also be done from a BT keyboard with Option UpArrow or Option-Down-arrow.
On a different question, I have not recently had a problem with refreshing getting in the way with the Audible app. Perhaps I am simply used to working around it, or perhaps it really is not a problem for my configuration.
Thanks Bill, but what does
Thanks Bill, but what does this 'refreshing' thing mean? What actually happens?
unbelievable!
I'm afraid after this latest update, the scrolling problem is back for me, with a vengeance! I do not know what is going on, really I don't. It appeared to work under the previous version, but it is well and truly broken again for me folks.
Okay, Audible are watching
Okay, Audible are watching this thread, and they may be a little confused as to what's not working on which version, so, to help Audible understand as far as possible, can we get an updated report on where we're all at?
Give your answers quoting the question numbers below:
1. When people say 'scrolling', can we assume we are referring to going to the next page of books in a list? If not please explain.
2. Can those that have a 'refreshing' problem please explain what is meant by this?
3. Which version did 'scrolling' work okay on? Give yes or no answer for following versions:
a) 2.5.3
b) 2.5.4
c) 2.5.5
3. Did you have a 'refresh' problem on the following, again, say yes or no for each version:
a) 2.5.3
b) 2.5.4
c) 2.5.5
5. Which IOS version are you running?
I know this is laborious, but I can't see any other way of collating the various issues so Audible can see the problems. With patience and tenacity from the good people on here, hopefully we can get this sorted.
Swiping in Audible.
Apologies all. Haven't been on the site for a few days. Life getting in the way. Of course I meant to swipe up or down to change pages in the app. Brain not working properly evidently. In the latest update, I believe the scrolling issue still persists. I've tweeted them, but Logan's efforts seem to have been much more productive. It would be really nice if they'd fix this, though the previous workaround I described, toggling VO and swiping up rather than right, seems to work relatively well, if monumentally inconvenient. Apologies again for inaccurate information and for eliciting possible confusion in everyone.
Answers to questions.
1. When people say 'scrolling', can we assume we are referring to going to the next page of books in a list? If not please explain.
Yes, the problems concern the ability to advance or select between multiple pages in a list of books.
2. I haven't experienced an issue with refreshing, not to the point that I notice the behavior, though VO does make the refreshing sound when deleting books.
3. Did you have a 'refresh' problem on the following, again, say yes or no for each version:
a) 2.5.3 No.
b) 2.5.4 yes.
c) 2.5.5 Yes.
d) 2.5.6 Yes.
5. Which IOS version are you running?
IOS8.4.
Audible's 3rd tier support phoned me...
Just had a call from a friendly and knowledgeable guy from Audible in the US. He's very keen to get these issues resolved, but, following all the info people have submitted on here, what with the 'scrolling' issue being resolved one minute, and not the next, they need to treat all these cases individually. There are just too many different possible scenarios, involving how you have filters set, how many books you have, and so on.
He has asked that each of you submit an email, either via the Audible site, or via the 'Feedback' button in the Audible app settings, in the app itself. Now, I know you will probably say you've done this all before, but, and I think this is very important, I think the awareness of this issue at Audilbe has increased, and it is clear from the recent updates that Audible do want to sort these problems out...but they can only do this individually, as we all use our apps in different ways, even if the resulting problems are the same. They have to recreate the exact scenario of the problem in order to solve it.
Send the email and explain as fully as possible what the problem is, and how you arrive at it. If it's the scrolling issue, tell them which list of books you're trying to access more pages of...whether it's all that you have on your device, or all books in your Audible library. Tell them which filter you've got showing at the top. Tell them the gesture you use to do this. If it's the refresh problem, tell them what this is and how it gets in the way. Is it just the sound of the refresh that annoys you, or how does it get in the way of deleting books.
When you submit this email or feedback, you should receive a reply giving you an ID number for your individual case. If they send a fix, try it out and tell them if it works or not. If they say they can't help at any point in your communication with them, then there's one thing you can ask them to do, which the guy just now said they must do, and that's to ask them to escalate your problem to the next tier of support. If for any reason they don't or won't escalate it, or you don't get a response to an email, request to speak to a supervisor. If that supervisor still doesn't resolve the issue or refuses to escalate the problem...take a not of the supervisor's name, and post a message on here.
When you've submitted your email and you get your case ID number in the acknowledgement they send back, there's one more thing you can do which could help them. There's a way of sending a bug/log file, from within the app, to their server. You need to quote the case ID number, and it could prove useful in assisting them with your problem.
Here's the steps to submitting that bug report, once you've got your case number:
1. Launch the Audible for iPhone application.
2. Tap on 'More' at the bottom of the screen (for iPad devices, tap the Settings tab), and then tap on Settings.
3. Under the 'Contact Us' section, tap on 'More Email Options'.
4. Tap on Send Bug Report, and include Case ID number in the report's correspondence.
The guy I just spoke with sounds determined to sort all this out...so please be tenacious and bear with them. Keep this thread posted with how you get on!
2.5.5.
After sustained exploration and investigation with the latest version, 2.5.5, I'm pleased to report the app seems to be significantly improved for me. Using the all titles filter, all of my content does appear when swiping. The app has been inconsistent and reverted to previous behavior eventually in older versions, so I'll post again if things change for me.