iPhone Accessibility Tip: How to Hear What's on Your Screen With VoiceOver - PCMag

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Apple offers a variety of accessibility options on the iPhone and iPad, including VoiceOver, which can read aloud elements on the screen for those who are blind or have poor vision. With VoiceOver enabled, you can hear a description of everything on your screen, hear your own words spoken aloud as you type, and navigate your device through audible cues that respond to where and how you place your fingers.

VoiceOver supports more than 30 languages—including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish—and works with all built-in apps as well as a variety of third-party ones.

VoiceOver in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14

VoiceOver has long been available for iPhone and iPad, but the latest version of Apple’s operating system adds some new and improved capabilities. VoiceOver can now read descriptions of images, app controls, and other items even if the developer hasn’t provided that information. The tool can also provide audible feedback to indicate that it’s on and working.

To take advantage of the latest benefits of VoiceOver, update your device to iPadOS/iOS 14 or higher. To do this, go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll be told that your software is up to date or be prompted to download and install the latest update.

turn on voiceover in accessibility settings

To enable VoiceOver, go to Settings > Accessibility. Turn on the switch for VoiceOver. Alternatively, you can give the job to Siri. Say “Hey Siri, turn on VoiceOver” and the feature kicks off and announces itself.

VoiceOver Controls

Using VoiceOver can be tricky at first. Any time you tap on the screen, VoiceOver reads aloud the name or description of the object you tapped. To activate an object on the screen, you must first tap it. You can then use the object through another gesture, but that gesture will vary based on the type of object. For example, you would double-tap a link to activate it and swipe up or down a slider button to move it.

To get used to VoiceOver, your first task should be to take a practice session to learn what different gestures do in VoiceOver mode. Tap the link for VoiceOver Practice, then double-tap it. At the next screen, experiment with different gestures.

Tapping the screen once indicates a touch gesture, which tells you aloud the item you tapped. Tapping the screen once and then swiping to the right moves to the next item. Swiping down the screen with two fingers reads everything on the screen. And swiping down the screen with three fingers scrolls up your current screen.

Try all the different gestures using one, two, and three fingers. When finished, tap Done in the upper-right corner to select it and then double-tap it to return to the previous screen.

VoiceOver Settings

Your next task might be to adjust the speaking rate if you find it too fast or too slow. To do this, tap the setting for Speaking Rate to select it. Then swipe up on the slider circle to increase the speed or swipe down on it to decrease the speed.

You can then review and adjust some of the other settings. Tap Speech once to select it, then double-tap it to review and revise it. You can now change the voice type, pronunciations, and pitch. When done, return to the VoiceOver screen.

If you use a Bluetooth wireless braille display, you can control it through the Braille setting. In the VoiceOver Recognition setting, you can enable the tool to read image descriptions, read a description of apps that have no accessibility information, and read text found in images.

The setting for Verbosity controls how VoiceOver handles punctuation, capital letters, embedded links, and other types of content. The Audio setting determines the sounds that occur in response to different actions, such as a screen change or a text edit.

To swipe down to the next area of settings, tap anywhere on the screen, then swipe up the screen with three fingers. The setting for Commands lets you create your own touch gestures and keyboard shortcuts for a wide variety of commands and actions. The Activities setting allows you to modify the options for speech, audio, verbosity, and other features.

The settings for Rotor and Rotor Actions deal with an onscreen circle, or rotor, that you can rotate to select different settings by twisting two fingers on the screen. Under Typing, you can determine the methods used to type on the screen.

Among the remaining settings, the switch for Always Speak Notifications can read new notifications aloud to you. The setting for Navigate Images reads image information aloud as you navigate them. Activate the switch next to Large Cursor to display a large cursor around the item currently selected, and turn on Caption Panel to see a caption at the bottom of the screen describing the current item selected.

Navigating With VoiceOver

After you’ve changed the settings for VoiceOver, you’ll likely want to open a different app or screen. Navigating with VoiceOver enabled on a device without a physical Home button can be challenging but doable. To go to your home screen, swipe one finger up from the bottom of the screen until you hear two rising tones or feel a vibration, then lift your finger.

You can open the App Switcher by swiping one finger up from the bottom of the screen until you hear three tones or feel two vibrations, then lift your finger. You may need to try these gestures a few times until you get the hang of them.

Open an app by tapping its icon, then double-tapping it. Tap an icon, image, or text on the screen to hear it read aloud or described. You can enter text by double-tapping the area where you want the insertion point to appear. Tap to select the keyboard character you want to insert, then tap it twice more to actually insert it. If you prefer to dictate your text, select the microphone icon and double-tap it to begin dictation.

How to Turn Off VoiceOver

If you ever want to turn off VoiceOver, go back to Settings > Accessibility and flip the VoiceOver switch off. Or say “Hey Siri, turn off VoiceOver,” and the feature will be deactivated.