VoiceOver and Braille Bugs In iOS 13

This article was written and published by AppleVis.

OS 13 will be released to the public on 19 September, 2019. This post contains details of the VoiceOver and braille bugs which we believe to have been introduced in iOS 13; as well as details of the pre-existing bugs which we believe have been resolved.

As is our routine practice, each new bug has been given a severity rating; these ratings are based upon what we believe to be the implications for accessing and using features and functionality and the level of impact on the overall user experience. However, as these ratings are subjective, it is very possible that they may not reflect your own opinion or use case.

Regrettably, there are a significant number of new bugs for VoiceOver and braille users in iOS 13. There is also one extremely serious issue for low vision users who rely on a light on dark display. Consequently, we strongly recommend that you read through this post and any comments before updating—as this will allow you to make an informed decision on whether to install iOS 13 when it becomes available; or whether to wait for the release of iOS 13.1 on 30 September, which we believe should resolve many of these issues. If you do decide not to upgrade to iOS 13 at this time, we recommend disabling Automatic Updates in Settings> General> Software Update> Automatic Updates.

As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible for us to test all devices, configurations, applications, and use cases. Some of the bugs listed below will be specific to a certain device, configuration or use case. Consequently, it is entirely likely that you will not encounter all of what we list; and it is also probable that you will encounter bugs or regressions that we did not identify during our testing.

As highlighted by Michelle Perkins, Senior Assistive Technology Specialist and Trainer at New England Low Vision and Blindness, “these are the most concerning and the things that the people I work with use…

• Smart Invert and Classic Invert do not behave reliably or consistently. Specifically, our testing indicates that anybody seeking to use a combination of display settings that results in light text on a dark background is likely to find that their device’s display will spontaneously and randomly switch between light on dark and dark on light during normal use of their device. We believe this behavior to be so prevalent and significant that we recommend that anybody who relies on color inversion to make their iOS device accessible does not update to iOS 13 at this time.
• When composing an email or note using a braille display keyboard, after 5 or 6 sentences, braille stops responding to input. This also applies to editing an already composed email or note.
• On occasion, the volume of VoiceOver sound effects and other system sounds (such as notifications) will be significantly louder than that of VoiceOver speech. The presentation of this issue is inconsistent, and it is most noticeable and of particular concern when using headphones.

This is very important for our Braille and Low vision users.”

This article was written and published by AppleVis.  You can find the rest of the information along with a discussion group of how to correct by visiting this link – https://www.applevis.com/blog/accessibility-bugs-introduced-and-resolved-ios-13-blind-and-low-vision-users..