Possible Bug: Unable to determine which camera is being used in Messages app using VoiceOver

By peter, 22 March, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Problem: In the Messages app when using VoiceOver, it is not possible to tell whether the front facing camera or the rear facing camera is being used when sending a photo.

Steps to reproduce:

1. With VoiceOver running, Open the Messages app
2. Enter a contact in the “To:” edit field.
3. Flick right to bring focus to the “Attach Media button”.
4. As instructed, double tap and hold this button to bring up the attach media options.
5. Flick to get to the Viewfinder
6. Flick right once to get to the “Camera Toggle” button.
7. problem: When double tapping the “Camera Toggle” button, VoiceOver does not announce whether the front facing or rear facing camera is being used. In addition there is no click or sound to indicate that this button has been activated.

--Pete
8.

Options

Comments

By KE7ZUM on Saturday, March 14, 2015 - 16:55

I think I reported this to apple when iOs 8 was first released. It is the front camera that shows up by default so a sighed person tells me.

Hope that somewhat helps.

By peter on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

Thanks - It is helpful to know which camera is active initially. This seems like it should be an easy bug to fix. Let's see what happens.

--pete

By LaBoheme on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

it is a bug alright, but double tap and hold the attach media button does not really bring up the attachment function, it is a selfy function.
1) if you double tap and hold and slide your finger up, you take a selfy and the picture is sent immediately.
2) if you just double tap and hold, you bring u the camera, but once you take a picture, the picture will be sent immediately as well, so be very careful where you point your camera.
3) when you double tap and hold the attach button, you bring up the camera, but there is no way to attach files from other source such as your photo library, so it is not really an attachment function.
4) if you want good old attachment function, just double tap the attachment button but don't hold. pictures taken this way will not be sent immediately without your confirmation.

By AppleVis on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

We have tried to replicate this behaviour on various devices using different versions of iOS, and have still to find a combination in which the active camera isn’t correctly reported by VoiceOver. This suggests that this might be one of those problems which only effects some people - possibly because it requires either a specific combination of settings or a certain use case to trigger it.

By peter on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

In the Messaging app there are two actions that one can take when focus is on the "Attach Media" button:

1. Double tap to bring up a list of options. If one does this, another button appears for taking a photo. Double tapping on the take photo button, VoiceOver does correctly tell the user which camera is being used.

2. Double tap and hold. This is a quick way to take a picture and then automatically send it. If one performs this action, then VoiceOver does not indicate which camera is being used. a "Toggle Camera" button appears, but there is no indication with VoiceOver which camera is being used even after toggling the camera.

I hope this helps in reproducing the bug.

--Pete

Peter, those are the steps that we have used to try and reproduce this problem. As we said, so far VoiceOver has always provided feedback on which camera is active. That’s not to say that there isn’t a problem, just that it doesn’t appear to be effecting everybody.

By peter on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

Okay - I just wanted to make sure my directions were clear since this is 100% reproducible on my iPhone.

FYI, I am using an iPhone 6 with iOS 8.2 (but also observed the problem in the last iOS version).

Thanks anyway for the feedback. The double tap without the double tap and hold is probably the way to go for folks who do experience this issue if they want feedback on which camera is being used for the photo.

--Pete

It also happens with video as well.

  1. start a new iMessage, or go to one to attach a video
  2. Double tap and hold.
  3. Swipe down to video. Now try and change the camera. Voice over will not tell you the camera type such as front or back.

I hope that also helps.

By AppleVis on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 16:55

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Well, after a little more testing, we can reproduce this. As you say, it works as expected if you double-tap on the Attach Media button, but tapping and holding is indeed a different matter.