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VoiceOver for iOS

VoiceOver is a gesture based screen reader that is built into iOS devices. You can turn VoiceOver on by asking Siri "Turn On VoiceOver".

Your application is a series of text, buttons and links which will navigated using VoiceOver Gestures rather than relying on your eyesight to swipe and tap visual elements. Use the gesture reference below:

Actions

  • Select an item - Tap
  • Activate the selected item - Double tap
  • Double-tap the selected item - Triple-tap
  • Drag a slider - Tap the slider to select it, then swipe up or down with one finger; or double-tap and hold the slider until you hear three rising tones, then drag the slider
  • Start or stop the current action - Two-finger double-tap. (for example, play or pause music or a video, take a photo in Camera, start or stop a recording, start or stop the stopwatch)
  • Dismiss an alert or return to the previous screen - Two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”)
  • Edit an item’s label to make it easier to find - Two-finger double-tap and hold
  • Select the next item - Swipe right
  • Select the previous item - Swipe left
  • Move into a group of items - Two-finger swipe right
  • Move out of a group of items - Two-finger swipe left
  • Select the first item on the screen - Four-finger tap near the top of the screen
  • Select the last item on the screen - Four-finger tap near the bottom of the screen
  • Speak the entire screen from the top - Two-finger swipe up
  • Speak the entire screen from the selected item - Two-finger swipe down
  • Pause or continue speaking - Two-finger tap
  • Speak additional information - Three-finger tap (Such as the position within a list)

Scrolling

  • Scroll up one page - Three-finger swipe down
  • Scroll down one page - Three-finger swipe up
  • Scroll left one page - Three-finger swipe right
  • Scroll right one page - Three-finger swipe left

VoiceOver Rotor

The VoiceOver Rotor is a key component for iOS accessibility that is often overlooked. It allows user to change VoiceOver to focus on specific content types.

To use the rotor on iOS rotate 2 fingers as if you are turning a dial.