VoiceOver "flickers" in photos app in iOS 15.1

By John Lipsey, 22 November, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I'm not sure of a better way to describe this.
I open up Photos on my iPhone 11 running iOS 15.1. I then attempt to search through my photos as usual. If I swipe right to get to the list of photos, VoiceOver will suddenly flicker. By this I mean it just stops for a second, then announces "screen curtain on" and puts me back at the top of the photos app.
Has anybody else encountered this? Is there any way at all for me to look through my photos so I can share one these days? This is beyond frustrating. I almost never look at photos, and if I wasn't trying to show a picture of my niece to a coworker I may have Never even noticed this bug, but now that I know it's there it's frustrating.
Thanks in advance for any insight anybody has into this.

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Comments

By Jason SW on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

This is what happens when VoiceOver crashes, at least for me. You may want to report this to Apple.

By Mabbs92 on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

Hi John! yes, I happen to have this issue as well. I am not able to brows through any of my photos because of it. I do believe it is a bug...a very large, smelly one at that. Hope they fix it soon!
- Mary Abby :)

By OldBear on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

It happens. Only thing you can do is brows through them with your finger. Plus, if you're trying to select a photo, it could end up selecting several before it throws you back up to the top, and you won't know, like if you're going to share a picture.
I think other apps have done similar jumps from the very first of 15, but Apple hasn't addressed it yet.

By Karina Velazquez on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

Hi, I have this issue since iOS 15 with an iphone 12. it is a mess. it is like the direct touch is on but it doesn't even appear in the rottor, hate it cause I can't share any photos.

By Malcolm13 on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

The only suggestion I have is to make sure Screen Recognition is off for the Photos App. In my experience it plays havoc with Photos.

By OldBear on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - 16:37

I have an iPhone 7, so no screen recognition, but I have turned off image description in my rotor for the photo app. It makes no difference in the focus of voice over jumping to the top of the screen. It's as if the app is resetting something every few seconds.
Sometimes the app doesn't respond to double taps, though makes the sound for it. Keeping your finger in the position of a thumbnail and using split double taps and lifting your finger momentarily off when the focus jumps to return focus back to the thumbnail help somewhat. Also,working with an individual photo at a time, instead of trying to select multiple photos makes things easier.
Looks like another of those Apple bugs where only a select few have it.

By Aidan JK on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 16:37

I am also having this issue, both browsing the photos and whilst trying to select. Seems to select photos at random as well. Makes it pretty much impossible.
I could select photos without difficulty from within the Messenger app so I have a workaround for most of the time but can’t think what workaround there might be if, say, emailing photos. Since you have to use the Photos app, I don’t think there would be one.