VoiceOver and FaceBook in IOS6

By peter, 25 September, 2012

Forum
iOS and iPadOS
I am disappointed that voiceOver will not read the names of my Friends in the Friends list using the FaceBook app in IOS6. VoiceOver reads the letter of the alphabet under which each name is filed, but only produces a click when I pass my finger over the name or flick past the name which sighted people can see. If I do double click on what seems to be an invisible field using voiceOver, a page will open with all of the Friend's appropriate info. However, it is impossible to find the Friend without taking a guess. Anyway, hopefully Apple can fix this some time soon so that the visually impaired can easily find their friends too!

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Comments

By Bryan Jones on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

This issue was introduced with the release of FB IOS App v5. This is noted by several folks in the comments section of the Facebook App review on this site.

By MarkSarch on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

Hi Peter I'm agree too How ever I have found other alternative, this app named Facely HD in myself opinion works better Should you try it,

By patrick kelly on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

I would use facely if their buttons were labled across the whole app. Over half is not. Has anyone contacted them?

By Dave Nason on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
As the previous commenters said, FB is the issue, not iOS6. If you're looking for an alternative, Voicebook VO is worth a look. Personally I went back to the previous version of the Facebook app, which I know is slower but overall much better with VoiceOver in my opinion.

By Bahzad on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

You could also try an app called Focus for Facebook, Which is what I use on my phone. Unfortunately, I heard that they will no longer update the application and that some of the statuses won't be shown. Regardless of those issues, I still find it to be effective. I'm able to read many statuses, and I'm quite content.

By rdfreak on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 14:36

I find this issue most annoying as I can no longer tag friends at all. I can certainly varify that it's the update to the FB app as this was before IOS 6 was even released.

I wrote about this issue to Facebook before the release of iOS6 thinking, foolishly I suppose, that they might actually address this issue in their next update. Well, of course, this did not happen. I also wrote them about another issue, that being that when you are under the Chat button, it won't read the names of all the people who are online and available for chat. It reads the first several, then, upon some random flick, either clicks to indicate no more text or wraps around back to the top of the list of chat buddies. Very annoying.

You could also try using a browser like atomic web and going to the Facebook mobile page http://M.Facebook.com. This seems to work pretty well and I'm able to do many of the things that I can't do either with focus or the Facebook app.

Hi Peter, If you want to tag your friends in a status, go to choose friends, flick to the edit field, and type in your friends name. Flick right, now Vo won't read the persons name but usually its the first name that will pop up. Double tap, and Vo will then say selected and your friends name. Hth.