Hi Applevis community.
I am writing to report (and hopefully find others experiencing) a long - standing, critical bug that has persisted across several iOS versions, including the latest iOS 26.3.2 on my iPhone 17 Pro.The Issue:
As a blind user and native Hebrew speaker, I've encountered a severe issue whenever a Braille display (in my case, a Brailliant BI 40X) is connected via Bluetooth. If the system language is set to Hebrew, attempting to enter " VoiceOver Settings" causes an immediate crash and a respring loop. VoiceOver restarts, attempts to render the menu again, and crashes in an infinite loop until Bluetooth is manually toggled off on the display.
Key Observations:
1. RTL Specific: This seems to be tied to the Hebrew localization. Switching the system language to English often resolves the crash.
2. Persistent: I have reported this to Apple Accessibility multiple times over the years. Each time, I am told it is "under investigation," but no fix has been implemented.
3. Display Agnostic: I have experienced this with multiple Braille displays, suggesting the fault lies in the iOS Braille driver/localization rendering.
4. Text Trigger: Occasionally, specific words or phrases appearing in a text field will trigger this same crash/loop if Braille is active.
It is incredibly frustrating that a core accessibility feature is rendered inaccessible by the very system meant to support it. Has anyone else using RTL languages encountered this? Any workarounds other than switching the entire phone to English?
Please note: This post was drafted with the assistance of Gemini to ensure clarity. If anything remains unclear, I would be happy to provide further explanations.
By Lielle Ben simon, 8 March, 2026
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
RTL
I am native speaker of an RTL, and I am not going through this. as far as I know there are various variants of Hebrew braille codes, have you tried any other braille code? COuld you explain the third point?
Yes,
Thank you for your input. To answer your questions:
Regarding the Braille codes, yes, I have experimented with different variants and tables, but the crash persists regardless of the code used. This leads me to believe the issue is deeper within the VoiceOver localization engine rather than the translation table itself.
To clarify the third point: I have tested this with several different Braille displays from different manufacturers (not just the Brailliant). Every time the system language is Hebrew and I attempt to access the VoiceOver settings, the same crash/respring loop occurs. This confirms that the problem is not a specific hardware fault with one device, but a systematic failure in how iOS handles Braille rendering for the Hebrew UI.
The fact that it is a 'respring loop' suggests a critical memory or rendering error within the VoiceOver process itself when encountering certain Hebrew strings in the settings menu."