Voiceover With 3D Touch On iPhone 6S/6S+

By Charlie, 10 September, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi. On reading about the new 3D Touch facilities, on the new iPhone 6S/6S+, I was wondering how Voiceover will work with this? Assuming that nothing was outlined at the launch event on this topic, does anyone have further information at the current time, or do we need to await Applevis members getting their hands on the new devices and testing out the new features, from a Voiceover Perspective? I am due to renew my contract in October and am trying to work out whether to go with the 6S+ or the currently available 6+.

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Comments

By Daniel on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until members of the community get their hands on the devices.

By Misty Dawn on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

As usual, blind / disabled people are left wondering about these things...

By Bingo Little on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

@MistyDawn I think that's a little unfair. There's quite a bit for sighted people to wonder about too. The event last night wasn't just about Voiceover, after all, and it's not as if you will have to wait too long. I'm very excited about the possibilities there are to be honest. Don't ask me to imagine any of them as I am no scientist, but even I can see there is great potential there.

By KE7ZUM on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

I don't believe in speculating. In fact I've already gotten away from it. I'd say right now stop the speculationg and remove this thread, as we'll find out when the phone drops in a few weeks.

Take care.

By Misty Dawn on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

But, thing is, sighted people don't have to worry about whether they can or cannot even use a feature. I dunno...

In any case, all the beta-ers on here probably at least have some idea about this? Maybe? If so, though, they probably can't say much anyway until the release. LOL Still, it would be nice to know if it is at least usable.

By Michael Hansen on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

charlie,

At this point, we don't yet have specific details as to how VoiceOver support for 3D Touch will be implemented on the iPhone 6S / iPhone 6S Plus.

What we do know from past experience is that the Apple Watch is accessible, the new Apple TV is accessible, so there is a very high likelihood that 3D Touch on the iPhone will be accessible as well.

By Bingo Little on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

@MistyDawn but isn't half the fun wondering about these things? Maybe it's just a simple pleasure, but I do enjoy wondering what will happen quite a lot. Life would be rathre dull if we knew everything all of the time, wiht no scope for a bit of speculation, rumour and imagination, wouldn't it? I know sighted people don't have to worry about whether a thing will be usable or not, and were this another manufacturer I'd not be so sanguine about it either, but Apple have always served us well in this regard. For the poster who said no to speculation, a massive thumbs down to that. Speculation is fun, ideas are great, whether all, some, or none of them come to fruition. I had this great idea about telling the time on the Apple Watch, for example....Oy Bingo do stop mentioning that!

By Bingo Little on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

For the purpose of future disciplinary action aimed at preventing any further repetition of my fine idea, I promise on my honour not to repeat it again. Meanwhile, let's speculate on what they might do with 3D touch. I assume games will become much more multi-faceted, for a start.

By techluver on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

My friend and I were talking about force touch possibilities (i'm getting the unit as soon as preorder), and I was thinking: wouldn't this be amazing for audiogames? Press your finger lightly to have your car move, harder the faster? Or things like that.

By Paul on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

If you are in the market for a new iPhone, I would suggest getting the newest. Whether or not VoiceOver will offer equivalent functionality with the peek and pop gestures at release is a moot point as the gestures are interpreted by software that gets updated a couple of times each year. However, even without the peek and pop gesture functionality demonstrated, the new iPhone has a higher resolution camera, which may allow OCR and bar code reading apps to operate more effectively and possibly with a higher degree of accuracy, assuming they take advantage of the higher resolution.

By Karok on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

hello whilst it is fantastic that apple are including us as blind users in 3d touch, won't it be a lot more steps? isn't just flicking through the emails and opening them easier than having to hold finger down, find a menu click to preview then tap then not interested in that one then back to inbox then find one want bring up a menu then open it? obviously we will have to see how it works in principle

By Misty Dawn on Saturday, September 26, 2015 - 01:36

Glad to hear that 3D is compatible with VoiceOver.

I guess we should've expected as much, to be honest.

I suppose I've just become so jaded about most other companies and their limited success and concern for accessibility that I almost always end up supposing that Apple will be the same and it rarely, if ever, is, which is an awesome and great surprise! For them, accessibility seems almost a given these days, which is amazing!

By zdenek on Saturday, December 26, 2015 - 01:36

Hello listers: after the iphone 6s came out with the 3d touch technology I decided not to upgrade from my iphone 6. My reasoning was that it will take a while to develope applications for 3d touch. Now when 3 months has passed I would like to know your opinion about the technology. Here are my 3 basic questions: 1. what is from the blind users point of view difference between iphone 6 and 6s, is it worth to upgrade why and why not? 2. what are your experiences with 3d touch is it a great improvement for us blind people? 3. are there any applications that already implemented 3d touch and is it worth while to get it? For instance how does 3d touch help you with your daily tasks with third party applications? Many thanks for your answers. Zdenek

To answer your first question, the iPhone 6 and 6S look and feel the same when compared side-by-side. However, the iPhone 6 S has A much faster processor and 3D touch. There isn't much of a difference from a blind perspective. I have been using the iPhone 6s since March and it's worth upgrading. To answer your second question, I use 3D touch almost every day to check my mail and check the weather. The built-in apps that come with your phone all have 3-D touch and more apps are being developed to support 3D touch. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me via the contact form on my profile. I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.