VO Not Working on Login Since Updating to Ventura 13.1

By Wayne A, 4 January, 2023

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Since updating to Mac OS 13.1, VoiceOver no longer works at login even though I have it turned on in System Settings>Lock Screen>Accessibility. When I restart my Mac, VoiceOver announces "Authentication in progress" and then locks up. I have to turn VO off and on to use it at login.
I have a 2020 MacBook Air M1. I know of at least one other person who is experiencing this, and it has been reported to Apple Accessibility.
Also, sometimes VO seems to have focus issues with System Settings. For example, when jumping from the table to the scroll area, VO sometimes locks on the first item. You can easily get around this by pressing tab sometimes to move to the next option.
These are minor items but a little annoying.

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Comments

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - 06:37

This has been a problem for years. I've had to deal with slight variations of it on my m1 mac mini since day 1 across 3 different major versions of macOS. They know about it. Best suggestion I can make is to restart Voiceover and keep pestering accessibility@apple.com or maybe try tcook@apple.com to see if maybe somebody will listen

By Tyler on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - 06:37

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Do you have FileVault turned on? I have an M2 MacBook Air with FileVault on and am not experiencing this issue.

By Wayne A on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - 06:37

No. I do not have file vault turned on. I have my lock screen configured to show a list of users when I start my Mac.

By Wayne A on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - 06:37

Hi everyone
I think I found the issue. When the Mac restarts, there is no item under the Voiceover or Keyboard cursors. Note that, at login, the Function keys revert to their default hardware configuration, meaning that you have to press the FN key to invoke their VO actions. By pressing, FN VO F5, VO indicated that the mouse pointer was in the login window. Therefore, by clicking the mouse button (VO Shift Spacebar), I was placed in the login screen and could proceed as expected.
Thanks

By KE8UPE on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - 06:37

Hi,
I have an m2 MacBook Air & am also experiencing the same exact issue with login. I’m not 100% sure if I’m using FileVault though. I will have to check that, and report back.

By Marta on Friday, February 10, 2023 - 06:37

I speak English so I can't complain as much when Samantha was talking instead of my regular voice. But I was annoyed. I finally figured out what to do. Go to Accessability, then go all the way to "Voice Control" and then turn off Mac Book Air Microphone.
When I start my computer it is using my regular voice.
Marta