VoiceOver

You can use the onscreen VoiceOver rotor to change how VoiceOver works. You can adjust the VoiceOver volume or speaking rate, move from one item to the next on the screen, select special input methods such as Braille Screen Input or Handwriting, and more.

When you use Magic Keyboard to control VoiceOver, use the rotor to adjust settings such as volume, speech rate, use of pitch or phonetics, typing echo, and reading of punctuation. On the screen, you use the rotor by rotating two fingers as if you’re turning a dial.

Use the VoiceOver rotor

1. When VoiceOver is turned on, rotate two fingers on your screen as if you’re turning a dial. If you prefer to use one finger on each hand, simultaneously drag up with one finger and drag down with the other.

   VoiceOver speaks the rotor setting. Keep rotating your fingers to hear more settings. Stop rotating your fingers when you hear the setting you want.

2. Swipe your finger up or down on the screen to use the setting.

   The available rotor settings and their effects depend on what you’re doing. For example, if you choose Headings when you’re browsing a webpage, swipe down or up to move the VoiceOver cursor to the next or previous heading.

Customize the VoiceOver rotor

1. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, and then tap VoiceOver.
2. Do any of the following:
   • Add or reorder the rotor settings: Tap Rotor. Then choose the settings you want, or drag the Reorder button to reorder settings.
   • Add another voice to the rotor:
   • Have VoiceOver confirm rotor actions: Tap Verbosity, then turn on Speak Confirmation.

With Braille Screen Input in VoiceOver, you can use your fingers to type braille directly on the iPhone screen, without a physical braille keyboard. You can also use Braille Screen Input to enter braille commands for navigating and controlling your iPhone.

You can use it in tabletop mode, with iPhone flat in front of you, or in screen away mode, with the screen facing away from you. Gestures let you enter a space, delete the previous character, move to a new line, or cycle through spelling suggestions.

Enter braille on the screen

1. With VoiceOver turned on, do one of the following to start Braille Screen Input:
   • Use a gesture: Place one finger from each hand at the top and bottom edges of the screen and double-tap. If the gesture doesn’t work, open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver, and then tap Braille. Tap Braille Screen Input and turn on Use Activation Gestures.
   • Use the rotor: When you’re in a text input area, set the rotor to Braille Screen Input. If Braille Screen Input isn’t in the rotor, go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor. Tap Rotor Items, then select Braille Screen Input.
2. Place iPhone in one of the following positions:
   • Tabletop mode: Lay iPhone flat in front of you.
   • Screen away mode: Hold iPhone in landscape orientation with the screen facing away from you. Your fingers wrap around the sides of iPhone to tap the screen.
3. Enter braille characters by tapping the screen with one or more fingers at the same time.

   Tip: To hear where each dot is located, touch and hold, then drag your finger around the screen. To move the entry dots to match your natural finger positions, tap and lift your right three fingers all at once to position dots 4, 5, and 6, followed immediately by your left three fingers for dots 1, 2, and 3.

   You can also use gestures to perform actions such as the following:

   Action	Gesture
   Enter a space	Swipe right with one finger; in screen away mode, swipe to your right
   Delete the previous character	Swipe left with one finger
   Move to a new line	Swipe right with two fingers
   Cycle through spelling suggestions	Swipe up or down with one finger
   Enter a carriage return, or send a message (in Messages)	Swipe up with three fingers
   Cycle through modes (like Braille Entry Mode and Command Mode)	Swipe left or right with three fingers
   Translate immediately	(if you’re typing contracted braille) Swipe down with two fingers
   Switch to the next braille table	Swipe up with two fingers

4. To exit Braille Screen Input, slide two fingers in opposite directions, or do a two-finger scrub (draw the letter “z” by quickly moving two fingers back and forth three times).

Quick tip: To view and edit the commands and gestures you can perform with Braille Screen Input turned on, go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Commands > Braille Screen Input.

Type on the screen to enter braille commands

Braille Screen Input Command Mode lets you control iPhone by typing braille commands on the screen, using the same commands you’d use with a refreshable braille display.

1. With VoiceOver turned on, place one finger from each hand at the top and bottom edges of the screen and double-tap to start Braille Screen Input.
2. Switch to Command Mode by swiping left or right with three fingers.
3. Type braille commands directly on the screen.

Change Braille Screen Input settings

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Accessibility, then tap VoiceOver.
3. Tap Braille, then tap Braille Screen Input.
4. Set any of the following:
   • Use Activation Gestures: To start Braille Screen Input, place one finger from each hand at the top and bottom edges of the screen and double-tap. If this option is off, use the rotor to start Braille Screen Input.
   • Start Automatically when Editing Text: Have Braille Screen Input start automatically when you enter a text input area.
   • Keep Active until Dismissed: After you launch an app or choose an item in Braille Entry Mode, automatically switch to Command Mode and keep it active.
   • Customize Commands: Go to the command you want to customize and tap Assign New Braille Keys.
   • Learn Dot Positions: Have Braille Screen Input calibrate the positions of dots as you enter them. Reverse Dot Positions: For six-dot braille, swap the positions of dots 1 and 3, and dots 4 and 6.
   • Visual Text Feedback: As you type in braille, display a text translation of what you’re typing.
   • Typing Feedback: Get sound or haptic feedback as you enter text with Braille Screen Input.
   • Single Hand Mode Style: Choose one of the following options to type in Portrait orientation:
     • Right Hand or Left Hand: Type a column of dots and swipe right to enter an empty column. Double-tap to enter one braille cell. (Dots 1 and 4, dots 2 and 5, and dots 3 and 6 are oriented from left to right.) Right Hand is turned on by default.
     • Slate and Stylus: Your screen acts as a braille cell with 6 dots. (Dots 1, 2, and 3 are on the right side, and dots 4, 5, 6 are on the left side.)
     • Reversed Slated and Stylus: Your screen acts as a braille cell with 6 dots. (Dots 1, 2, and 3 are on the left side, and dots 4, 5, 6 are on the right side.)
   • Mode Announcements: When you switch Braille Screen Input modes, have VoiceOver speak, play sounds, or both.
   • Choose a Braille table: Select a braille format.

With VoiceOver, you can connect a Bluetooth® wireless refreshable braille display and use it to control and navigate iPhone and read what’s on the screen. The braille you type on the display is automatically translated into text, and the display shows what you’re typing in context. You can read and type using contracted or uncontracted braille, with support for many international braille tables.

You can also output closed captions in braille during media playback, and use a 2D braille display.

Connect a braille display and learn commands to control iPhone

1. Turn on the braille display.
2. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Bluetooth, turn on Bluetooth, and then choose the display.
3. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver and tap Braille. Then choose the display.
4. To see the braille commands for controlling iPhone, tap More Info and tap Braille Commands.

Change the braille display settings

1. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver, and then tap Braille.
2. Set any of the following:

Output closed captions in braille during media playback

1. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap VoiceOver, and then tap Verbosity.
2. Choose Braille or Speech and Braille.

Use a 2D braille display

On a supported 2D braille display, you can switch between different output modes with the rotor, like a mode for displaying images or one for reading text on multiple lines.

1. Connect your braille display to iPhone.
2. With VoiceOver turned on, use the Braille Text Mode rotor to switch between output modes.

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.