Serious problem with Voiceover and recent calls using flick.

I can't reproduce this in 16.1 and when I swiped to locate the person in recent it always called the intended person every time also in 16.0.3 and 16.0.2.
Sorry, but I don't know why you have this problem though.

Wasn't there a bug like this in 15? I wouldn't know because I don't use that section of the phone app, most of the time I just go into contacts and select call, or use the keypad if it's someone I haven't communicated yet. But I agree, that is serious! What an embarrassment having to listen to someone on the line being confused that you called them...Oh my gosh! I would go crazy if that happened to me, not just every rarely or once in a while like is true but on a regular basis!

Sure, you can put an audio recording if you want, and also, copy us the response to the email, please! I'm interested in seeing what Apple has to say! Good luck!—Apple could be hard to deal with sometimes.

Basically after every update, or device change, the problem appears to be vanished, but one never knows when it comes back to strike! Have been emailing Apple Accessibility since IOS 15. Have also given feedback during Beta use of IOS 16.0. I definitely had this issue till yesterday with IOS 16.3. Have just updated, and like I said, it behaves OK for some time ..

Extremely embarrassing!

I first noticed this in iOS 15. The first time I reported it, they said the engineers were working on trying to figure out the cause. The second time, they just said they'd pass my information along to the proper department. So I completely stopped using recent calls and have started either calling people using my contact list, or Siri. If you absolutely need to call someone using your recent calls list, delete all the other calls first and leave that one number. I do that if it's a number that isn't in my contacts and I don't feel like dialing it manually.

Tap and hold, or tripple tap, the person you want to call from the Recent Call list. There you may varify whether the right entry is on the screen and initiate the call from there, if a wrong entry has popped up, go back and do the exercise again till you get the right entry. Hth.

When you go into Recents and hit Edit, you can then swipe down on each individual call to delete it. I'm going to try the triple tap though, I didn't know that was an option.

Yes! I've been struggling with this bug for almost a year. I happened to call random people several times, sometimes it's not very pleasant.
Once I wanted to call a friend of mine, but he answered the pizzeria I had ordered the day before. No, I didn't order another pizza!
I could tell a lot of anecdotes about this, but the trick suggested to press three times to check the contact to call is brilliant!

I have this problem too

This has been an issue for me for as long as I can remember. I also have a problem where if I swipe on a call to delete it, it doesn't delete the one I'm on. I think it deletes another one in the list, but I can't verify at the moment since everything's cleared out.
But yes, it's somewhat annoying, and I think it should be addressed. But since there are several workarounds for this, I don't think it's a huge priority at the moment.

Have Encountered this issue in both these devices.

Apple doesn't care. it has been around since iOS 15. I reported in the betas submitted it through Apple accessibility and no luck. Accessibility has seems to be not as important at Apple.

I'm using an iphone 13. I wonder if it's just a certain moddle thing, I've never had this issue.

I did have an issue where the screen would turn on if i touched it and turning off that feature did nothing but i think that was just a faulty IPhone.

I am fortunate enough to have a android I switched back to the Android because of this bug. It is unfortunate we pay so much for these devices and accessibility doesn't matter anymore.

It's pretty much word for word what I got about 10 months ago. I can confirm the bug on an iPhone 12 Pro, and now an iPhone 14.

Reading the response, I feel you may be getting the wrong impression. Yes, I've gottenthe "We'll make sure this reaches the appropriate party" before, and I find it rather frustrating at most, though we may be misunderstanding it. I wouldn't just assume they don't care. Apple most certainly cares about accessibility. To prove it to you, take a look at this:
https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios-ipados-fixed
To see all the serious bugs (that received varying amounts of complaints) that were eventually fixed. Why stop now? I don't know. And why add accessibility features every update if Apple doesn't care? Wow! I prefer to be on the road of optimism, assuming apple will fix these bugs eventually, but in the meantime, these "Apple doesn't care" comments, aren't helping, or are downright rude, and are a nasty sight when generally looking at the comments. Thank you.

They're a bit slow at fixing things but I'd not go back to android. I've tried samsung too but even though I could do all I wanted to, I prefer IOS. it's simple and just works.

Plus I prefer the youtube app on IOS to android.

It might be good to take a recording of this behavior to send to Apple. Maybe have it rehearsed too, so you don't end up embarrassing yourself. Good luck!

I understand that Applevis has listed the issue as focus jump issue. However, The phone bug discussed in this thread and earlier in other similar threads is a specific way in which the focus jump issue is exhibiting itself, and in this particular form, the bug is severe. Consider, it is one thing to have opened some other app on the homescreen instead of the app you want to open it is quite another thing to accidentally call someone in an awkward time. So I was wondering if the call-specific issue is logged as a separate bug, or the entry on focus jump could be categorised as a severe bug instead of a moderate one. Here is the Entry I am talking about:

https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-focus-may-spontaneously-jump-another-ui-element-most-typically-soon-after

I used to agree it just worked. I can no longer say this when you can't do basic everyday functions such as make a phone call. If this were effecting a sighted user it would've been fixed yesterday. This is not acceptable. It is less of a bug because we are blind? I think not!

First and foremost, it started with iOS 15. Second, it affects VoiceOver in many areas. For instance, it affects VoiceOver in the Call tab of What'sApp as the wrong person might be called there, too. It also affects track playback in the Music app as double-tapping a track from an album might result in another track being selected and played. The Phone app issue is, of course, the most prominent case. Third, unfortunately I should also conclude that many bugs like this one aren't taken seriously by Apple although they hamper one's use of iOS. If VoiceOver is built into the OS and when we don't have alternative screen readers, it's incumbent on Apple to assign a higher priority to moderate to serious bugs like this one. Finally, stuff like this makes me evaluate Android's accessibility from time to time and, who knows, maybe Android 13 can deliver the final blow.

I get this reply for everything I report. And I'm not sure, given the number of unresolved bugs, if a robot is sending them or if someone is paying attention to the emails I send or the bug reports I send via the Feedback app. VoiceOver has a very good number of focus, language-related, Eloquence-oriented and Braille issues, and, as things stand right now, I won't report more bugs unless at least a couple of these are fixed in 16.2. I've also reported many Siri bugs - I mean stuff that worked with iOS 15 and no longer function with iOS 16, but Siri's maladies don't belong to this topic.

Whenever I get the focus bug, I just touch the screen and it appears to resolve itself.

Another work around you could do is get into the habit of using the rotor and go to more info.

I think the triple tap takes you to the same place.

Someone in another thread suggested the more info thing, which makes sense.

Luckily for me, I'm in the habit of keeping that list clear, so have never run into that problem.

Thanks to everyone who suggested the More Info solution, but it's more of a hack rather than a fix. It takes time to do it, and doesn't help in places like the Music app. It's really saddening to be forced to resort to such hacks for basic tasks like calling people on an expensive, 21st-century handset like iPhone 13/14 Pro Max - something the oldest Symbian-powered Nokia handsets could easily achieve with TALKS&ZOOMS.

It may work. Occasionally, though, More Info also activate wrong UI resulting in accidental call.

All said and done, I agree that the bug must be fixed rather than we being compelled to rely on such workaround for not one, but two IOSes! ,

It is hard to be optimistic when this was first reported in iOS 15 when it started. It was again reported in the beta of 16 and has continued to be reported. Keep in mind I gave them a pass in 15. I realized it may be a deep issue that couldn't be fixed immediately. we are at 16.1 and have a few 16 releases and no fix. If this were happening to sighted users it would have been fixed in 15. It may have even had a special fix just for this. I go by a companies actions or lack of them. As Amir said when you could do these basic functions with a old Symbian phone and Nuance talks . You can't do these things reliably on a 21st century phone. that is bad

As much as I appreciate my iPhone, I feel Dennis is right. If this were an issue affecting sighted people, it would have been fixed. Most of us use these devices for so much more than making and receiving calls. But when it comes down to it, they're phones. Their core function is to make and receive calls. I know there are work-arounds, but that isn't the point. When part of the device's core functionality isn't working properly and it has been allowed to continue this way for over a year, I consider it a lack of interest in fixing it on their part.

There are plenty of bugs that affect sighted users too that I have, that I consider serious and haven't been fixed yet, although some VO bugs have been fixed. I'm sure Apple is putting plenty of work into fixing these bugs. Maybe it's not there top priority (and I wouldn't want it to be) but it's a priority! There used to be a lot of posts about Apple caring about Accessibility but those have faded away and the complaints have taken over. That will be it for me. I see my oppinion of Aapple is not greatly valued here. I hope you all have a nice day and that you find a workaround for these bugs.

You can claim all day "accessibility is a core value" but when you leave these critical bugs unresolved for so long is it really a "core value"? I say not. again I go by actions. Keep in mind iOS is on version 16 android is on version 13 where will it be in 3 years? We don't know But if the core things work on Android which they do such as making calls that might be a good reason to look at it.

@AccessWarrior3000 Allow me to humbly disagree. Sighted users don't suffer from bugs which are as basic or fundamental as something that affects activating items via touch. This is tantamount to saying the following to a sighted user: be prepared to call the wrong person or play the wrong music track because what you select via your touch might be different from what is called or played. Of course, there are bugs which affect everyone - both sighted and visually impaired, such as notifications sometimes not being displayed or certain Bluetooth malfunctions, but, special use cases aside, they are nowhere as critical as this one. Let me stress the fact that it's impossible to get a bug-free experience regardless of one's choice of OS, but part of the duty of an Accessibility department is to prioritize bugs or make a more modest effort, behind the scenes, to get them fixed. If an Accessibility department can't get a serious issue like this one fixed in 2 years, then I see little to no reason for its existence other than getting good publicity.

I'm glad for the more detailed explanation, of how people are feeling. I would not say this is so much "not caring" as it is "not being it's top priority in the moment", but it's good to understand the real point given here. Thank you.

I just checked my own feedback report on this issue, which I originally sent on July 20, 2021, FB9369440. It claims no one has reported a similar issue recently, so I wonder what is going on there, if all of the people commenting on this thread have also reported their similar experience. Very frustrating.

Has this been fixed in the first beta of 16.2? I also reported it both last year and during the betas so apple saying it hasn't been reported is crap.

I just tested. Of course no fix. I'm not even going to report to Apple anymore until such time as they fix issues and prove they take accessibility seriously!