Tripple clicking the side button didn't enable Voiceover when setting up an Iphone 12.

By david, 25 October, 2020

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello. I don't know if anyone has experienced this before with other Iphones but this is a first for me. I received my Iphone 12 last friday and powered it on to set it up. While I can't read the screen, I could tell that the phone had booted up. Once that happened I tripple clicked the side button but voiceover didn't enable. I had to get assistance setting up the phone. Once I was loged in and the icloud backup was downloaded, the phone came up talking and I was able to use it. i did have to enable the accessability shortcut manually so now tripple clicking does work. I'm wondering though if anyone has experienced this with other models or if this is iphone 12 spesific. The phone came with Ios 14.1 already installed so it didn't need to update. Thanks.

Options

Comments

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, October 24, 2020 - 20:43

Hi. Go to settings>accessibility and navigate to the bottom to the item called accessibility shortcut. Double tap. Set the shortcut for VoiceOver to get the triple click on the power key to toggle VoiceOver on and off.

By nohansa nuh on Saturday, October 24, 2020 - 20:43

mayby the volume turn all the way doun

By Daniel Parker on Saturday, October 24, 2020 - 20:43

I don't know newer iPhones, but I'm pretty sure the triple-click never works out of the box. You always need sighted assistance to set VO up the very first time, and after that you're good. I could be wrong though.

By captianbubble on Saturday, October 24, 2020 - 20:43

The triple-click for clicking the side button while setting up worked for me when I got my iPhone 11 Pro set up. Did they change it with the new iPhone 12 ‘s?

By david on Saturday, October 24, 2020 - 20:43

All the iphones I've had sinse my 4s up until my 10r had tripple clicking in order to set up the phone useing voice over. I wrote my message though because I wasn't sure if this is a bug introduced in the 12 or if it's an issue that's come up in other models at randum.

You have to connect to WiFi to turn on Siri with your voice.

Pushing the power button didn't activate Siri, and hey Siri wasn't on either, right? Sigh. It's funny, but all it takes is a moment's thought for the big money makers to save us little people from grief. I guess some days it really pays to have a sighted person around who's happy to help.

By Samuel J on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - 20:43

I would definitely be interested in knowing about someone else’s experience setting up an iPhone 12, because if this is indeed the case, then it’s a significant regression. Based on another blog post on this site about reviewing the iPhone 12 Pro, it doesn’t sound like the user experience this issue. However, if anyone else has purchased an iPhone 12, please do share your experience of setting it up.

By Holger Fiallo on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - 20:43

I had same issue. Siri kept telling me VO was on yet no voice. A sighted person check my setting, accessibility, VO and it was on. I had to use rotor to go language and select a voice. Not happy with it. Waiting for it to be activated. Is taking long.

By Alan on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - 20:43

Hey.
I have just set up my iPhone 12, and I had no issues activating voiceover by tripple clicking the side button, so, don't panic.
What happend to you, then?
Possibly you unlocked your new device, started the setup process, then locked the screen and tried turning voiceover on, maybe you didn't noticed you were on the configuration screen yet.
In some cases, not sure why, tripple clicking the side button doesn't work after the first attempt to set up the device. If you don't turn VoiceOver on the first time, it could not work.
So, basically, be careful and activate voiceover on as soon as possible.

By Patrick Hurst on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - 20:43

I received my new iPhone 12PRO on Monday and could surprisingly get it up and running all by myself. As for the tripple-pressing of the side button, it did what it was expected to, even though I had to flick around the screen to set my language preference and start the configuration process!

By PaulMartz on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

Triple clicking the side button does not enable voiceOver for a new iPad Pro out of the box. If I can trust what's left of my eyesight, it opens an inscrutable menu, as if it expects me to visually select from multiple accessibility options. SIRI, of course, doesn't work on a device out of the box because, as others have said, there's no internet connection.

I'm currently waiting for my sighted spouse to get off the phone to give me a hand with this. Very disappointing.

By PaulMartz on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

After a few tries, it appears to have been volume as the issue. My remaining eyesight was not really seeing an accessibility menu. No problems here. I'm up and running.

By kool_turk on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

Strange, because I had no problems setting up my iPhone 12.

I don't remember if the volume was down or not, but mine definitely was working out of the box.

By nohansa nuh on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

hy, no problem for me turn on the VO on my m1 ipad pro

By KE7ZUM on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

when I set up my iPhone 12 pro last year, I just pressed the button and vo came on. no issues there. I hope your device was not deffective.

By Troy on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

Also remember if you have ITunes you can connect your phone to your computer and go under configure accessibility and check the use voiceover checkbox. I find I have to do this sometimes when resetting my phone.

By tunmi13 on Thursday, February 24, 2022 - 20:43

When I received my 12, tripple clicking the side button enabled VoiceOver just fine. But as Troy stated, if you have a computer running either Windows or macOS, you are able to connect the iPhone to the computer, then launch iTunes.
Now I have Windows, and I'm not sure if the macOS variant of iTunes has the same layout, so I will attempt to be as specific as possible.
1. Find your device. On Windows this is usually a section with a bunch of checkboxes. Click space to bring up the iPhone.
2. Scroll down and you should find something like Configure Accessibility. From there you can toggle several accessibility enhancements.
Then disconnect your iPhone (best to use the Eject button to avoid corruption of data) and continue setup.