If you're looking to enable screen reading on your iPhone, you don't have to go very far. Since 2009, Apple has included a built-in screen reader called VoiceOver as part of its accessibility features to help those with visual impairments.
A helpful accessibility feature has multiple use cases. VoiceOver essentially works by describing aloud everything that appears on your iPhone's screen.
Over the years, Apple has expanded the feature to include more detailed descriptions of people, objects, text, and other graphics. It also uses gestures and haptics to help users explore their iPhones without ever having to look at the screen itself.
While this feature was developed to help blind and low-vision users, VoiceOver can also be helpful in other use cases. For instance, you can use VoiceOver with the Kindle app if you prefer listening to your books. The feature can also be valuable for people who have limited mobility. To enable VoiceOver:
- Head to Settings
- Tap Accessibility
- Under the Vision heading, select VoiceOver
- Tap the VoiceOver toggle to enable
Keep in mind that VoiceOver uses different gestures to control your iPhone than the standard ones. For instance, you have to double-tap an object to interact with it. A single tap won't do anything but select an app, link, or menu button. And once you've turned VoiceOver on, you must use this new set of gestures. There's a piece of a learning curve, so take some time to practice before you dive in.
Thankfully, Apple includes an option to practice the gestures on your iPhone. Once you've turned VoiceOver on, you'll see a new option directly beneath the toggle called VoiceOver Practice. Tap it, and then double-tap the screen to start. While you're practicing, VoiceOver will describe what you're doing and what each specific gesture does. When you're finished, tap Done to select, and then double-tap to exit.
Turn Voiceover On And Off
There are alternative methods that let you turn VoiceOver on or off. One easy way is to pull up Siri and use the commands "Turn on VoiceOver" or "Turn off VoiceOver." You can also make it so that triple-clicking the side button or home button (depending on your iPhone model) toggles the feature on or off. To do so, head to Settings > Accessibility and then scroll down to Accessibility Shortcut. Then, from the list of accessibility features, tap VoiceOver.
Customizing Voiceover
It is the minimum you need to get started, but VoiceOver is a highly customizable feature. In the VoiceOver settings, you can tweak speaking rate, pick between several different voice profiles, and manage outputs to braille displays.
You can also personalize a set called "verbosity," which determines how much speech feedback you hear (i.e., whether punctuation is read aloud, how links are handled, etc.). And if you're concerned about privacy, you can also enable Screen Curtain to hide your screen when using headphones.
VoiceOver is a screen reader created for Apple Inc.'s macOS, tvOS, iOS, watchOS, and iPod operating systems. By employing VoiceOver, the user can access their iOS or Macintosh device based on spoken depictions and, in the circumstance of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is conceived to increase accessibility for blind and low-vision users and users with dyslexia.
The keyboard shortcut to start VoiceOver is Command-F5.
macOS: VoiceOver was first raised in Mac OS X 10.4, and the target was users who had difficulty reading due to vision impairment, particularly the blind. A preview was also made available for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and was named "Spoken Interface Preview."
VoiceOver regales the user interface as a hierarchy of elements navigated by various keystrokes. Features also are "interacted" with—for example, interacting with a text box lets read its text and, if possible, edit it; interacting with a scroll bar will enable it to be moved using the keyboard.
VoiceOver also contains support for multiple Braille displays. In addition, VoiceOver has features for those that cannot utilize the mouse, such as keyboard-based navigation.
Several special multitouch features are also available for MacBooks or Magic Trackpads users. For example, the trackpad will respond to gestures like iOS's version of VoiceOver. A typical example is using the trackpad to explore the visual layout of elements on the screen - sliding one finger close to the trackpad will select details, and tapping twice will activate them.
In Mac OS X 10.5, Apple counted the "Alex" voice, which suggested improved speech quality and a more human-like sound. Previously, the votes were directly descended from those used in Apple's "Speech Manager," which originated in the early 1990s. Also, Alex's voice has natural breathing, unlike all other agents in Apple.
In Mac OS X 10.7, Apple showed the download of RealSpeak voices from Nuance for help with VoiceOver.
Accessibility Inspector: Accessibility Inspector is made to confirm the accessibility of OS X applications. It displays information about the GUI component that is currently beneath the cursor.
iPod Shuffle: After its triumph on Macs, Apple added VoiceOver to the iPod Shuffle. It assists users of the iPod Shuffle in controlling the playback of songs by having titles read out. With the 2010 revision of the iPod Shuffle, users can also have VoiceOver read-out playlists. However, unlike VoiceOver on OS X, where VoiceOver is marketed as an accessibility feature, on the iPod Shuffle, VoiceOver is planned to be used by everyone, disabled or not.
iOS: A few months after that, with the release of the iPhone 3GS, VoiceOver was added to iOS. When the iPod Touch was upgraded to correspond to the hardware of the iPhone 3GS (in the iPod touch's third generation), it also earned VoiceOver capability. The iPad, since its intro, has also had VoiceOver ability.
VoiceOver interacts with the user on iOS on iOS by employing various "gestures," additional motions one drives with one or more fingers on the display. Numerous gestures are location-sensitive—for instance, sliding one's finger around the screen will display the visual scopes of the screen as the finger hands over them.
It enables blind users to examine the actual on-screen layout of an application. A user can double-tap—equivalent to double-clicking a mouse—to activate a selected element, just as if a sighted user had clicked the item.
VoiceOver can also be switched off the display, leaving the touch screen exposed to touch, saving battery power. Apple calls this segment "Screen Curtain." It is also functional on Mac computers driving OS X.
VoiceOver for iOS is activated by employing the "Settings" application. It can be discovered in the Accessibility division. The device can also be configured so that VoiceOver can be toggled by a triple-click of the Home or side button. The user can also request Siri to enable or disable VoiceOver.
iPod Nano: In September 2010, Apple pitched this feature on the iPod nano line. It employs many of the same gestures as the iOS version.
Leave a Comment