VoiceOver

If you use Magic Keyboard with iPhone, you can use keyboard shortcuts to activate VoiceOver commands.

You can also use VoiceOver Help to learn the keyboard layout and the actions associated with various key combinations. It speaks keys and keyboard commands as you type them, without performing the associated action. And Quick Nav lets you use the arrow keys.

Here’s how to use VoiceOver on iPhone with an Apple external keyboard.

Choose the VoiceOver modifier

The modifier is a key or set of keys you press with one or more other keys to enter VoiceOver commands. You can set the modifier to be the Caps Lock key or the Control and Option keys pressed at the same time.

1. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver, tap Typing, and then tap Modifier Keys.
2. Choose the modifier for VoiceOver commands: the Caps Lock key or the Control and Option keys.

This modifier is abbreviated as “VO” below.

VoiceOver keyboard commands

You can control VoiceOver using key combinations.

(VO = modifier keys)

Quick Nav using the arrow keys

Turn on Quick Nav to control VoiceOver using the arrow keys.

Single-key Quick Nav for web browsing

To navigate a webpage quickly, turn on Quick Nav (VO-Q), then press keys on the keyboard to navigate to specific item types, such as headings or links. To move to the previous item, hold the Shift key as you press a key for the item type.

Text editing

Use these commands (with Quick Nav turned off) to work with text. VoiceOver reads the text as you move the insertion point.

With handwriting mode in VoiceOver, you can enter text by writing characters on the screen with your finger. In addition to typing or dictation, use handwriting mode to enter your iPhone passcode silently or to open apps from the Home Screen.

To use it, you set the rotor to Handwriting. You can also use it to move quickly through a long list.

Here’s how to write with your finger in VoiceOver on iPhone.

Use handwriting mode

1. Set the rotor to Handwriting.

   If Handwriting isn’t in the rotor, go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor, then add it.

2. To choose a character type (lowercase, numbers, uppercase, or punctuation), swipe up or down with three fingers.

   To hear the selected character type, tap with three fingers.

3. Trace a character on the screen with your finger.

   You can also do any of the following:

   • Enter an alternate character (a character with an accent, for example): Write the character and then swipe up or down with two fingers until you hear the character you want.
   • Enter a space: Swipe right with two fingers.
   • Go to a new line: Swipe right with three fingers.
   • Delete the previous character: Swipe left with two fingers.
4. To exit handwriting mode, do a two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”), or set the rotor to a different setting.

Enter your passcode silently with handwriting mode

1. On the passcode screen, set the rotor to Handwriting.
2. Write the characters of your passcode with your finger.

Select an item on the Home Screen

1. On the Home Screen, set the rotor to Handwriting.
2. Start writing the name of the item with your finger.

If there are multiple matches, continue to spell the name until it’s unique, or swipe up or down with two fingers to choose from the current matches.

Quickly navigate a long list

1. Select the index to the right of the list (for example, next to your Contacts list or in the VoiceOver Item Chooser).
2. Set the rotor to Handwriting and then use your finger to write the letter you want to go to.