Stay away from latest iOS Shazam update!

By Jessica Brown, 27 August, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi. Shazam was updated a few days ago. It says it makes VoiceOver better, but it is actually way worss! VoiceOver no longer reads any of the tabs along the bottom and it also does not read any of the other buttons either. It reads one button, the shazam button so you can tag a song but that's it. You can no longer look at your previously tagged songs or do anything else with the app. Do not update!

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Comments

By Kevan on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 07:19

I sadly updated the app yesterday, and can only tag songs, only thing that reads with VoiceOver is the "Touch to Shazam" button. I just tried it and am very disappointed. There seems to be one other item on the screen, you can get to by swiping left from the button, but it says nothing. When I tap that it just says "page 1 of 12", and I can't do anything else with that particular icon or whatever it is.

We should all contact the developers with the option in the appstore, and let them know. The more people who do this the better chance they'll fix it. I also encourage people who use VoiceOver not to upgrade the app. Yes, the update description does say it is supposed to work better with VoiceOver, but this is false.

By Shazam Support on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 07:19

It has come to our attention that our recent update to improve VoiceOver has had a negative impact on navigating other functionality. We apologize to those affected, and we are working on a fix for our next update. As always, we appreciate your feedback. If you have any suggestions on how we could improve VoiceOver support within the app, please send them to support@shazam.com.

By Kevan on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 07:19

I had to erase it, because the email says it shouldn't be shared without their prior consent. I didn't see that before pasting it in here.

By Kevan on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 07:19

The email did say not to share it, but can't I at least summarize it in my own words? Paraphrasing is okay isn't it? If anyone wants more info, contact me privately on here.

Basically what they told me is they turned off the VoiceOver functionality for everything other than the option to Shazam, on purpose. They did say they were working on an update in the future to fix VoiceOver support. They also said that while some people were able to use the app no problem with VoiceOver, others weren't, and that wasn't the feeling they wanted for their customers. They'd rather have it perfect, than half perfect. Until it's perfect we get nothing.

Big mistake, in my opinion. This is worse of an experience than before, when it partially worked.

I just think that an app that partially works is much better than one that barely worked at all, wouldn't you agree?

I hope their promised update comes soon.

By Victor Tsaran on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 07:19

In reply to by Kevan

I too was surprised to see how badly the accessibility was broken in the latest update. I was about to send out a tweet but then noticed the comment from a Shazam developer on this forum. Great to see them engage in this way.
Looking forward to the update.

By Firebird on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 07:19

Hello!

I also got a reply. Seems that they are working on the issue, so we have to wait.
At least, the most important feature can be used.

Best regards,
Firebird

By Shazam Support on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 07:19

Hi All,

Thanks for your patience as we worked to make a number of improvements to v9.0 of Shazam—among them a fix for VoiceOver that was affecting some users. (And a huge thanks to those of you who brought it to our attention!) With this update, you should be able to once again access the tab bar and news feed. We’ve also updated some of the Accessibility labels to make navigation easier. To start Shazaming, use the two-finger Magic Tap, or navigate to the Shazam button on the tab bar.

As always, if you encounter any issues or have any suggestions on how we can improve VoiceOver support, please email us at support@shazam.com.

Thanks again :)

Shazam

By Jessica Brown on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 07:19

Hi. There was an update today to bring iOS 9 compatibility and bring back VoiceOver support. It still works on iOS 8 as well. I know this because I have not updated to iOS 9 yet.