Qk notes
Before diving deeper into this post, there are a few things I must say.
- This post covers features only. No bugs will be discussed in this post. As you may know, iOS 13 is still in the beta testing stages of its release. Bugs are bound to be present, and features may not work as promised.
- I'm not going to go in-depth about the features discussed here, as iOS 13 is still in the works. Things are probably going to move.
VoiceOver
Voice Control
As AnnonyMouse and Dean discussed in the AppleVis Extra, the Voice Control feature has got everyone excited. It seems that most of it, as Sarah Herlinger discussed, will be based off of VoiceOver labels. You'll just have to wait and try it out once the official release is out.
Now you can change where VoiceOverand its sounds play, the left, right, or the center.
This is useful for people who want to distinguish VoiceOver from other sounds.
Customize Sounds
Sometimes you may get so savvy with VoiceOver, it may be time to adjust the sounds you hear. You can now turn off the sounds you don't want to hear, like volume adjustment, and keep on others.
The VoiceOver sounds, especially with navigation, seem dryer and tighter, giving it a nice solid sound.
Some of the Mac sounds, like unname command, have cnme to iOS 13 as well.
Commands
VoiceOver can now be customized to your liking. You can now change touch gestures, keyboard shortcuts, etc and customize VoiceOver to your own liking.
Activities
This feature can be useful if you want to, for example, read an AppleVis blog anytime you open the app you use for it, like Safari. When you use Activities, you can set how you want VoiceOver to behave when an app or action is performed. For example, maybe if you open Safari, you want VoiceOver to switch to Daniel as your voice.
Punctuation
Before, you only had a limited customization of punctuation. Now, that's going to change. You can now customize VoiceOver's punctuation and make VoiceOver your own on your device.
Braille
List items
When viewing lists, your braille display will now show the number out of how long the list is. For example, 5/15.
In-page links
Braille displays once again display In-page links. I'm not absolutely sure if it was a bug, but I'd assume not because they could of fixed it ages ago. Still, if it is, AppleVis has the right to remove this line from the post.
Conclusion
There's probably a lot more features, and I'll try to implement them. However, I'm very cautious to do so, as some features may be bug fixes or improvements.
If you have any questions, please comment, although do take in mind knowing that my answers will be very limited. As you have probably figured out by now, Sm a beta tester, and don't want to spread false leads.
HTH!
Comments
voice control
If I recall and I do, Sarah stated that voice control is different from voiceover. They had not tested both together and she could not state anything about both working together.
So far
So far, they do. Yes, VC and VO are two different things, but telling Voice Control to select something will work in conjunction with VO, with exception that it doesn't read secondary labels.
For example, if you have a button labeled game start icon grey, and a label that's not necessarily a button but still reacts to a double-tap, labeled just Start, Voice Control expects you to say game start icon grey.
However, like I said above, this is still an early release, Vc's behavior is subject to change.
Great
I hope that new voice for siri comes out well so I can replace what I use.
so with voice control can it
so with voice control can it be used to activate buttons and controls that don't respond to VoiceOver double taps? I can think of a few apps where buttons don't respond with VoiceOver, if it can't then not sure how much use voice control will be to me, of course I will have to try it with the particular app I am thinking of I suppose, but thought I would ask in case anyone has experience of this.
I do like the fact that VoiceOver sounds can now be customised, I can see myself getting rid of the navigation click sound that you get when you move from item to item but leaving most of the others enabled.
limited movement
Remember that voice control suppose to be for those who have issues with mobility. If blind people can use is a boness.
Voice Control behavior
Like everyone else said, we are still only on the first public beta, so things may or may not change radically before the official release, but here goes: Unfortunately, from what Sarah Herlinger said in the Applevis extra potcast, the answer to Alex's question seems to be no. They both use the same accessibility infrastructure. In other words, if VoiceOver can't see something or can't reliably activate it, then Voice Control won't be able to either, as that particular UI element is an example of the developer badly implementing the accessibility API support that's already there. But VC may be a bigger incentive for developers to care more about accessibility than VoiceOver, as it seems to be more widely discussed even in mainstream media now than VoiceOver ever was, and there might be more motorically impaired people out there than visually impaired ones. Who knows, though. Certainly not me, I'm not very educated about motor disabilities.
I can't test VC myself as it only supports English for now, and I have my phone set to Czech. For the brief period I had it on, though, I seemed to have this issue where VoiceOver speech seemed to be interpreted by Voice Control. It was inserting weird English words and phrases into my text every time I was trying to type with Braille screen input or even the standard on-screen keyboard. Turning VC off fixed the problem for me.
The good thing about VC seems to be that you can customize its commands quite extensively. It seems not to be possible to completely remove or reword the commands that are already built in, but you can add your own ones, and there are really tons of them already included, with most of them having multiple activation phrases and/or wordings available. You can drill down to each individual command and have its usage explained in great detail.
Lukas
Heck Yeah!
I've wanted a feature to customize the VO sounds for a while. Hearing them all constantly gets annoying but I find some of them useful so I'm definitely looking forward to that!
Voice Control
Like everyone said, this is only the first public beta, so things may change throughout the beta cycle before the final release. I've tried it myself and it worked so far so good. I don't use it all the time, though, but I do as often as I can.
typing
I'm always looking for faster ways to type.
FlickType is great and all, but the prodiction didn't always get it write for me so I found myself being slowed down.
Braille screen input is so far the best method for me, but the problem with BSI is, what happens if you happen to forget a certain symbol, an underscore or a percent sign, granted it's rare to use those symbols in everyday text.
You can't ask Siri how to write a percent sign in braille, nor can you ask any of the other ai assistants.
And then we come to what they're now calling, type path.
How does type path work with voice over?
I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but it looks like BSI is still the clear winner when it comes to typing, at least for most of us.
voices?
do we get the other realspeak that are bundled with JAWS at work for me, but not on the phone? like the malcom UK english, ricci india etc?
Replies
To Lukas:
Yes, I did notice that, from for the ske of AppleVis' rules I didnstt post that bit of info, just the features.
To alex: I'm not sure, we'll just have to wait and see. Because so far all the apps on my phone have selectable elements.
To Zoe:
Hahaha, I'm glad you like the new feature.
jcdjmacj
I'm glad you're dning good with it so far.
kool_turk:
From what Sve noticed, QuickPath isn't for VoiceOver, yet. Touch Typing and QuickPath seem very similar though, since all you're doing in QuickPath is dragging from one letter to the next with the exception that you don't release your finger from the screen.
Will:
So far, Apple has not impemented any voices. But as said above several times, this is still an early release.
VoiceOver Sounds
When talking about VO sounds, are you refering to the clicking sounds one hears when moving between apps on the Home screens? If that is the case? I'm looking forward to the changes. Also? Can the new Siri voice be used together with VO like all the other available Siri voices?
sounds
Yes, they are the sounds you hear when, for example, you activate an element with a doule-tap, adjusting volume, flicking from one element to the next, etc. In fact, I've turned off the clicking, x'sr annoying. So now I just have the navigate left and right sounds, and all the others.
And yes, the new Siri voice is available with VoiceOver, and x'stone is really smooth and natural.
siri
Are there many voices for Siri? Currently for US there is only one male and female voice. It will be nice if we have more.
Braille tables in rotor
Another feature I’d like to address, is the fact that you can now switch Braille Tables directly from VoiceOver Rotor. So once you add, for example, a Greek table, use the rotor gesture until you find Braille tables, and flick up or down.
So far
So far, no. It seems Siri English is the only modified voice, but it’s probably subject to change. I’ve sent several bugs via Feedback app already, so hopefully within a week the next beta comes out and we’ll see if the voices were added or not. Who knows….
Looking Forward To Everything
I don't usually post in beta threads, and I'm not enrolled in Apple's beta program. But all these things sound really cool. I keep telling my neighbor across the hall that Voice Control just might be a Godsend for him but I don't think he believes me, lol. He has an Android and an iPad, and he has a bit of difficulty typing. I won't say why but he's had difficulty ever since we first met, which was in 2006. I heard the new voice when they put her onstage at this year's WWDC keynote, and she sounded very good. A bit like another voice assistant which I have but won't mention here. I must say though, all this coverage in the media about the fall updates is really making me hungry! Lol but I guess I'll just have to wait like everyone else who isn't enrolled in the beta program. No big deal. I'm sure that it'll all be awesome, given Apple's track record when it comes to accessibility and other things.
Impressed
All I have to say is that I am really impressed with this beta. Voiceover definitely became a very advanced screen reader. You can customise it just the way you want. Just to give an example when it comes to customising gestures: Since I do a lot of web browsing on my phone, I was able to set 3 finger swipe right and left for next and previous heading, up and down for previous and next link so I no longer have to go through the rotor which can take some time. Additionally, you can set 2 finger swipes for scrolling which made me really happy since it's so much easier. Of course, if you do set for example 2 finger swipes for scrolling you have to set the shortcuts for read from top or read from next item to something else if you want to use them. I personally don't use it all that often. For those who used a physical keyboard, you can pretty much set a gesture for anything you do on a keyboard. Open notification center, control center and so on. This alone really makes it worth updating for me. Sorry if this breaks the rules in any way, however this is not a walkthrough of how to use the new features, just going a bit deeper into it since hearing just that you can remap gestures does not make it sound that great while in reality it's an aawesome thing. Even I know when I myself heard the interview with Apple accessibility I thought we would just be able to remap things already possible, not add totally new commands.
Apple share sheet
Forgot to mention this, but Apple share sheet has been completely redesigned. All your apps are now accessible via the More button, so no more adding or removing apps, or switching them on/off.
Also, if you've chatted recently with someone, it'll suggest them in the share sheet so you can quickly send them a message. I'm not quite sure if it works with other apps besides iMessage, but if it does ι'll post another comment confirming my findings.
More info about share sheet
Apologies for double posting, but forgot to say that not all your apps will go under the More section, just the ones that are in Favorites. You can insert and remove the apps you want and the more tab simply allows you to access all the other apps without needing to add it to the sheet. Hope my meaning is clear now.
Love it!
I'm loving this beta of iOS 13. I have to figure out how to create an activity. I love the fact that you can change voiceOver gestures.Oh and someone told me that VC works better with headphones on, especially if you have VO on.
question
hi
I'm new to IOS, 10 days to be 2 months old.
I'm loving this site since it has helped me a a lot. due to which I decided to create an account. I hope I can post comments over here.
I wanted to ask that I read on apple's website that ciri voice for Indian english is coming and Iphone will support all 22 Indian languages of India. is it their?
thank you.
siri on airpods separate language selection?
Is it possible to select the language siri uses to read messages allowed and respond with on the airpods? I mean separate from setting the siri language itself?
I thing no
I thing that no. Because that for iPhone there isn’t text to speach in india and this was in hebrew language. in the past, Untill that was text to speach in Hebrew siri can’t speak in hebrew.
Siri and AirPods
i’m not absolutely sure, but I would guess that the default Siri voice being used will be used in your AirPods. This means if you’re probably using English UK, then it’s likely to select English UK when you use your AirPods. i’m not absolutely sure because I don’t have AirPods myself, but I’d assume this is what is going to take place
Also, if device supports it,
Also, if device supports it, most VoiceOver sounds are accompanied by taptics now. They also can be customised in the sound / taptics settings. For example, I disabled most nav clicks and left only the taptics, sound is only for high priority events, e.g popups and alerts.
Looking forward to it
I hope they continue to do things with the haptick engine. Personally I'd get rid of the vibrating motor, and just use the haptick. I find it is much easier to feel even in a thick case like the otter box defender that i have.
reading in braille
hi have they improved reading in ios 13 in braille? if i currently use kindle and books pages still do not turn and i have press a key is this correct?
really excited for voiceover
really excited for voiceover :D
about indian voice
yes khushi ,there is a new indian voice which works and sound very good in siri. and no till now this indian voice is not available for voice over which is disappointing for me, hopes this changes in future. and as you are new i can tell you that appleVis web site is best for blind user for learning all apple product.
App downloads
Hi guys,
Back with a confirmation. As Apple mentioned in their Worldwide Developer Conference, app downloads do seem to be much faster. I'm not sure if it depends on the app size firsthand, but it looks like what Apple said was true.
queries in braille
hi all, in brb, can we view grade 1, or 2, on a per language basis? trying out the betan giving thoughts as know not permitted, but liking the features ,
thank you
@Bhavik Vyas
thank you so much for telling me. It's great to know that Apple has not left India behind and have added a new voice for those who live in India. I do hope it comes for voice over as well since I'm currently using the U.S voice for that but would love to have my own country's voice.
also, I'm enjoying this site, it's amazing.
thank you to the author of this blog post.
the voice
the female voice not sound indian to me, the male fab!
what sound you turned off?
Hi,
this question is for @TUNMI13 What sound did you turned off for VoiceOver? I'm a little confused.
navigation clicks
The sounds I'm referring to are the ones you hear when you flick left and right. Not the the blips, but the clicking sound, more like a 'tick tick' while navigating.
thanks
OK. thanks. and the rest of the sounds you leave unchanged?
customizing voice over
I'm pretty sure, you can customize voice over. You can turn off things like that annoying sound you hear when you double tap. I've heard haptick feedback is used, which I personally like, so I don't know if I am right about that. I'll just wait and see when it's released.
a question
hi,
so today i installed the beta and there is something with word completion and stuff while typing, but i can't figure it out. Can anyone tell me how it works? And i think the feedback app is broken. It only says dimmed so i can't submit feedback to apple either, i'm signed in.
word completion
i think this is showing you words as you type hasn't it always done this? happening braille screen input.
re: word completion
@will, no, not the predictions, it says if you hold your finger on the screen it gives you words but it doesn't speak. Also I think thy broke the moving apps with the rotor feature, i am not able to move apps with it anymore, the options don't show up.
new gestures
I am testing ios 13 on an old iphone, really impressed so far. there are new gestures, some of them asigned by default to actions like copy and paste, however, I cannot perform them, perhaps because I am doing something wrong. they are gestures like: double tap with three fingers, hold and slide up, (or down, or whatever. I tried performing a double tap with three fingers, holding the fingers on the screen and then sliding all three fingers up, or only a finger, but they do not work. Any luck? Thanks!
report
Thanks for doing the beta test so we can get it soon. Do not forget to make a report. Have fun. I keep track of what is news via youtube videos. I like it so far from what I am hearing.
Excellent so far
I'm already on Beta 4 and so far it's excellent.
Language detection can be turned off
Under VoiceOver, speech, language detection for the default speech can be turned off. Manny webpages in Swedish are marked as English. Thus you have to add a language setting for your own language as a rotor selection.
Thank you!
Hi Tunmi13, Thanks for this information. Lots to look forward to in iOS 13. I appreciate you taking time to tell us!
Rotor
In rotor, you can now add a slide to type option which quickly toggles the slide to type feature with VO, which is by the way perfectly accessible since words are announced as they are suggested.
beta 6
Beta 6 is out. It came out yesterday. Looks good from I hear in youtube. Is coming soon from all the beta that are coming out. We are now in 6 and next week may be 7. Apple looks like is releasing them once a week. May the apple be with you.
Another feature
Also what I forgot to mention, in voiceover settings there is now a section for typing, which does include typing mode as well as a new setting for choosing the delay for the alternative characters to appear when holding your key on the keyboard, or for slide to type to activate. So if you had difficulty where it would activate to soon for you, you can now change that.
Slide tto ype
I really like slide to type in the newest beta, as you start the word voice-over repeatedly reads the predicted word so you know when it’s got the correct word and if it Predicts the word correctly before you finished going to each of the correct letters, you can just let go and it will input the full word. Even with slide to type turned on. I’d like to know if there is a way to change to other predictions once you’ve moved your finger over all of the characters similar to how they swipe down when using FlickType works. you can still use touch typing in the normal way without having to turn slide to type off first so there is no real reason not to have it on unless you find yourself Accidentally going into the slide to type mode.