Quick reference guide for voiceover on iOS

Last modified: November 26, 2012 at 7:39 p.m. EST

On the web at: http://support.sas.com/misc/accessibility/education/ios/quickref.html

Ed Summers
Manager, Accessibility and Applied Assistive Technology
ed.summers@sas.com

Diane Brauner
Teacher of the Visually Impaired and Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist
diane.brauner@sas.com

Table of contents

Introduction

This quick reference defines gestures, keyboard commands, and refreshable braille commands for voiceover on iOS. The information in this document is current as of iOS version 6.01. In an attempt to create a comprehensive list, we have collected material from the iOS users guide and many other sources on the web.

The primary audience of this document is students with visual impairments, teachers of the visually impaired, and other education professionals that serve students with visual impairments. However, we hope the document will be useful to all interested parties.

Please email comments or corrections to accessibility@sas.com .

Using Voiceover with a bluetooth keyboard

An iOS device becomes much more useful for reading, writing, and research when you pair it with a bluetooth keyboard. If you buy a bluetooth keyboard for your iOS device, make sure the keyboard has arrow keys so you can use the "quick nav" feature with Voiceover. We recommend the Apple wireless keyboard .

The quick nav voiceover feature allows you to navigate very quickly using the arrow keys on a bluetooth keyboard. The user interaction is somewhat similar to the JAWS virtual PC cursor, i.e. you can quickly navigate HTML content by specific types of HTML elements such as headings, links, etc. The quick nav feature is also tightly integrated with the rotor feature and they complement each other very nicely. You will find more information about the quick nav and rotor features throughout this document.

Press the left arrow and right arrow on your bluetooth keyboard to toggle quick nav on and off.

Notes:

  1. Many voiceover keyboard commands require that the control key and the option key are pressed at the same time. This document uses the common shorthand "VO" to denote that the control and option keys should be pressed at the same time.
  2. Apple keyboards are different than Windows keyboards. Apple keyboards contain an option key and a cmd key. Apple keyboards do not contain the alt key or the Windows key. However, if you are using a Windows keyboard you can substitute the alt key for the option key and the Windows key for the cmd key.

Using Voiceover with a refreshable braille display

There are many refreshable braille displays that are supported by Voiceover on iOS devices . The refreshable braille commands in this guide were tested using the Rfreshabraille 18 from American Printing House for the Blind . Note that the Refreshabraille 18 has a joystick that works very well with Voiceover including the rotor feature.

Basic commands

The commands defined in this section are universal. They can be used in almost any context including the home screen, the app switcher, the status bar, Mail, Safari, Pages, etc.

Action Gesture Keyboard with quick nav on Keyboard with quick nav off Braille
Turn quick nav on or off / Not available Left arrow + right arrow Left arrow + right arrow Not available
Move focus to any item on the screen Touch the item with one finger Not available Not available Not available
Move focus to the next item One finger swipe right anywhere on the screen Right arrow VO + right arrow 4 + spacebar OR joystick right
Move focus to the previous item One finger swipe left anywhere on the screen Left arrow VO + left arrow 1 + spacebar OR joystick left
Activate the item that has focus One finger double tap anywhere on the screen Up arrow + down arrow VO + spacebar 3 + 6 + spacebar OR joystick in
Cancel or go back to previous screen Two finger scrub back and forth from side to side Escape Escape 1 + 2 + spacebar
Move focus to next text field Not available Tab Tab 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + spacebar
Move focus to previous text field Not available Shift + tab Shift + tab Not available
Read all starting from the top of the screen Two finger swipe up VO + B VO + B 2 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Pause or resume reading at current position Two finger single tap Control Control 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + spacebar
Read all from current position Two finger swipe down VO + A VO + A 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 + spacebar
Move focus to first item on the screen Four finger single tap near top of screen Control + up arrow Not available 1 + 2 + 3 + spacebar
Move focus to the last item on the screen Four finger single tap near the bottom of the screen Control + down arrow Not available 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Move focus to the first item in the next container on the screen Not available Control + right arrow Not available 4 + 7 + spacebar
Move focus to the first item in the previous container on the screen Not available Control + left arrow Not available 1 + 7 + spacebar
Scroll down to the next page Three finger swipe up Option + down arrow Not available 1 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Scroll up to the previous page Three finger swipe down Option + up arrow Not available 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Scroll right to the next page Three finger swipe left Option + right arrow Not available 1 + 3 + 5 + spacebar
Scroll left to the previous page Three finger swipe right Option + left arrow Not available 2 + 4 + 6 + spacebar
Find text on the screen or in the current app Not available VO + F VO + F Not available
Find next occurrence of text Not available VO + G VO + G Not available
Find previous occurrence of text Not available VO + shift + G VO + shift + G Not available

Rotor commands

Action Gesture Keyboard with quick nav on Keyboard with quick nav off Braille
Select the next item in the rotor Two finger twist clockwise Up arrow + right arrow Not available 5 + 6 + spacebar
Select the previous item in the rotor Two finger twist counter-clockwise Up arrow + left arrow Not available 2 + 3 + spacebar
Perform action or adjust value defined by current rotor setting Single finger swipe up or down Up arrow or down arrow VO + up arrow or VO + down arrow 3 + spacebar or 6 + spacebar
Select next value in speech rotor Not available VO + cmd + right arrow VO + cmd + right arrow Not available
Select previous value in speech rotor Not available VO + cmd + left arrow VO + cmd + left arrow Not available
Adjust value of selected item in speech rotor Not available VO + cmd + up arrow or VO + cmd + down arrow VO + cmd + up arrow or VO + cmd + down arrow Not available

Miscellaneous commands

Action Gesture Keyboard with quick nav on Keyboard with quick nav off Braille
Turn on Voiceover help Not available VO + K VO + K 1 + 3 + spacebar
Turn off Voiceover help Not available Escape Escape 1 + 2 + spacebar
Open the item chooser Two finger triple tap VO + I VO + I 2 + 4 + spacebar
Get more information about the item that has focus Three finger single tap Not available Not available 3 + 4 + spacebar
Apply a custom label to the item that has focus Two finger double tap and hold the second tap VO + / VO + / 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + spacebar
Mute voiceover Three finger triple tap if Zoom feature is on, otherwise three finger double tap VO + S VO + S 1 + 3 + 4 + spacebar
Turn the voiceover screen curtain on or off Three finger quadruple tap if Zoom feature is on, otherwise three finger triple tap VO + shift + S VO + shift + S 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Move focus to the status bar Not available VO + M VO + M 2 + 3 + 4 + spacebar
Answer phone call, hang up phone call, or pause/resume multimedia playback Two finger double tap VO + - VO + - TBD
Take a screenshot Press the home button and the power button at the same time

Managing apps

Action Gesture Keyboard with quick nav on Keyboard with quick nav off Braille
When an app is open, switch directly to the next open app Four finger swipe left (multi-tasking gestures must be enabled in Settings > General) Cmd + tab Cmd + tab TBD
When an app is open, switch directly to the previous open app Four finger swipe right (multi-tasking gestures must be enabled in Settings > General) Cmd + shift + tab Cmd + shift + tab TBD
Go to the home screen Five finger pinch (multi-tasking gestures must be enabled in Settings > General) VO + H VO + H 1 + 2 + 5 + spacebar
Scroll left and right through the pages of the home screen See scrolling commands defined in the Basic commands section of this document.
Search entire device including contents of apps Go to the home screen. Scroll left past the first page of the home screen to the search screen.
Open the app switcher Four finger swipe up (multi-tasking gestures must be enabled in Settings > General) VO + H twice quickly VO + H twice quickly 1 + 2 + 5 + spacebar twice quickly
Scroll left and right through the pages of the app switcher See scrolling commands defined in the Basic commands section of this document.
Close the app switcher Four finger swipe down (multi-tasking gestures must be enabled in Settings > General) VO + H twice in a row VO + H twice in a row 1 + 2 + 5 + spacebar
Enter "jiggle mode" so you can move or remove apps from the home screen or app switcher Single finger double tap and hold on second tap VO + shift + M Not available TBD
Exit "jiggle mode" Press the home button VO + H Not available TBD

Interacting with HTML content in Safari and other apps

HTML is used to format web pages. It is also commonly used to format content in other iOS apps. For example, emails are commonly formatted using HTML. Use the commands defined in this section to navigate HTML content in any app.

Navigating HTML content using gestures

  1. Use the two finger twist gesture to select an item on the rotor such as headings, links, form controls, etc.
  2. Use the single finger swipe up or down gesture to move focus to the previous or next instance of the item type selected in the rotor, respectively.

Navigating HTML content using a bluetooth keyboard

  1. Press the left arrow and right arrow on the keyboard at the same time to ensure that quick nav is on.
  2. Press the up arrow and the left arrow at the same time or press the up arrow and the right arrow at the same time to select an item on the rotor such as headings, links, form controls, etc.
  3. Press the up arrow to move focus to the previous item of the type selected in the rotor or press the down arrow to move to the next item of the type selected in the rotor.

When quick nav is on you can also move the focus around HTML content using the following commands:

Navigating HTML content using a refreshable braille display

  1. Press dots 5+6+spacebar at the same time or press dots 2+3+spacebar at the same time to select an item on the rotor such as headings, links, form controls, etc.
  2. Press dot 3+spacebar or press the joystick up to move focus to the previous item of the type selected in the rotor.
  3. Press dot 6+spacebar at the same time or press the joystick down to move to the next item of the type selected in the rotor.

Reading text

This section defines commands that can be used to read text in a read-only context, i.e. text that is not in an editable text field. Examples of read-only text include the labels on the apps on the home screen, the name of the sender of an email message, text in a web page, etc.

Reading text using gestures or a bluetooth keyboard

Action Gesture Keyboard with quick nav on Keyboard with quick nav off
Read next phrase One finger swipe right Right arrow VO + right arrow
Read previous phrase One finger swipe left Left arrow VO + left arrow
Read all starting from the top of the screen Two finger swipe up VO + B VO + B
Pause or resume reading at current position Two finger single tap Control Control
Read all from current position Two finger swipe down VO + A VO + A
Read by character, word, or line Set the rotor to "characters", "words", or "lines" and use next or previous rotor commands. See rotor commands defined in the Rotor commands section of this document.

Reading text using a refreshable braille display

Voiceover breaks text into phrases. A phrase may consist of a single word, multiple words, a single sentence, multiple sentences, a single paragraph, or multiple paragraphs. The size of each phrase depends on how the text was authored.

When reading text using a refreshable braille display, you will generally navigate by phrase. The contents of a phrase may not fit on the braille display so it is necessary to pan to the right to read the entire phrase. See commands for panning in the table below.

When Voiceover encounters interactive elements it will first read the visible text that is associated with the element, state the type of the element, and then announce how to interact with the element. For example, when Voiceover encounters a button on a web page it will read the text associated with the element, state it is a button, and then announce that you may double tap to activate the button. Announcements are displayed on the braille display very briefly to alert the user to their existence. The user can enter "announcement mode" to read recent announcements one at a time. This feature is very handy for deaf-blind users or blind users that have turned Voiceover speech off. See commands for announcements in the table below.

Action Braille
Read next phrase 4 + spacebar or joystick right
Read previous phrase 1 + spacebar or joystick left
Pan right within phrase (reads next phrase if at end of current phrase) 5 + spacebar
Pan left within phrase (reads previous phrase if at beginning of current phrase) 2 + spacebar
Read all starting from the top of the screen 2 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Pause or resume reading at current position 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + spacebar
Read all from current position 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 + spacebar
Toggle contractions on or off 1 + 2 + 4 + 5 + spacebar
Switch between 6 dot braille and 8 dot braille 2 + 3 + 6 + spacebar
Enter or exit announcement mode to view announcements 1 + 3 + 4 + 5 + spacebar
When viewing announcements, read previous announcement 1 + spacebar
When viewing announcements, read next announcement 4 + spacebar

Copying text from a read-only source

This section defines how to copy text from a read-only source such as a web page, etc.

Copying read-only text using gestures

  1. One finger swipe left or right to navigate to the phrase that contains the desired text or the beginning of a large block of desired text.
  2. Single finger double tap and hold the second tap until you hear three beeps.
  3. Adjust the rotor to the unit of text that will be used to select the desired text: "characters", "words", or "lines".
  4. Use the pinch gesture to increase or decrease the amount of selected text. Voiceover will speak text as it is added or removed to the selection.
  5. Adjust the rotor to the "edit" item. If the "edit" item is not present in the rotor that means no text has been selected.
  6. One finger swipe up or down until you hear "copy".
  7. Single finger double tap anywhere on the screen to copy the selected text into the buffer. Voiceover will announce the entire block of text that was copied to the buffer.
  8. Move focus to an editable text field and single finger double tap to edit it. If you do not have a bluetooth keyboard connected then the on-screen keyboard will appear. You can ignore it or close it by activating the "Hide keyboard" button at the bottom right of the on-screen keyboard.
  9. Move the insertion point to the desired location in the text field by dragging a single finger around within the text. You can also adjust the rotor to "characters", "words", or "lines" and then move the insertion point using single finger swipe up or down.
  10. Adjust the rotor to the "edit" item.
  11. Single finger swipe up or down until you hear "paste".
  12. Double tap anywhere on the screen to paste the text from the buffer into the text field. Voiceover will read the entire block of text that was pasted into the text field.

Copying read-only text using a bluetooth keyboard

  1. Press the left arrow and right arrow simultaneously to ensure quick nav is on.
  2. Press left arrow or right arrow to navigate to the phrase that contains the desired text or the beginning of a large block of desired text.
  3. Press VO+shift+M. You should hear three beeps.
  4. Adjust the rotor to the unit of text that will be used to select the desired text: "characters", "words", or "lines".
  5. Use the pinch gesture to increase or decrease the amount of selected text. Voiceover will speak text as it is added or removed to the selection. Note that it appears there is no way to use the keyboard to do this so you must use the pinch gesture.
  6. Press cmd+C to copy the selected text into the buffer. Voiceover will announce the entire block of text that was copied to the buffer.
  7. Move focus to an editable text field and press up arrow and down arrow at the same time to disable quick nav so you can edit the text in the text field
  8. Move the insertion point to the desired location in the text field using the commands defined in the Entering and editing text section of this document.
  9. Press cmd+V to paste the text from the buffer into the text field. Voiceover will read the entire block of text that was pasted into the text field.

Copying read-only text using a refreshable braille display

  1. Press 1+spacebar or 4+spacebar to navigate to the phrase that contains the desired text or the beginning of a large block of desired text.
  2. Press 2+3+spacebar or 5+6+spacebar to adjust the rotor to the unit of text that will be used to select the desired text: "characters", "words", or "lines".
  3. Press 2+5+6+spacebar to select the first unit of text that you specified using the rotor. Note that Voiceover speaks the selected text and the selected text is identified on the braille display by dots 7 and 8.
  4. Press 2+5+6+spacebar to increase the amount of text that is selected. Change the unit of text to be selected by adjusting the rotor using 2+3+spacebar or 5+6+spacebar. Note that each time you increase the amount of text selected Voiceover speaks the text that was added to the selection and the entire block of selected text is identified on the braille display by dots 7 and 8.
  5. Press 2+3+5+spacebar to decrease the amount of text that is selected. Note that each time you decrease the amount of text selected Voiceover speaks the text that was added to the selection and the entire block of selected text is identified on the braille display by dots 7 and 8.
  6. Press 1+4+spacebar to copy the selected text into the buffer. Voiceover will announce the entire block of text that was copied to the buffer.
  7. Move focus to an editable text field.
  8. Move the insertion point to the desired location in the text field using the commands defined in the Entering and editing text section of this document.
  9. Press 1+2+3+6+spacebar to paste the text from the buffer into the text field. Voiceover will read the entire block of text that was pasted into the text field.

Entering and editing text

This section defines commands that are used to enter and edit text in an editable text field such as a search field, the address bar in Safari, the Notes app, the Pages, app, etc.

Entering and editing text using the on-screen keyboard

This section defines how to enter and edit text using the on-screen keyboard. The on-screen keyboard is slow and cumbersome compared to a bluetooth keyboard or a refreshable braille display. Therefore, we recommend using the keyboard or braille display when possible.

  1. Move focus to an editable text field and single finger double tap to edit it. The on-screen keyboard should appear if you do not have a bluetooth keyboard connected to your device.
  2. Move the insertion point to the desired location in the text field by dragging a single finger around within the text. You can also adjust the rotor to "characters", "words", or "lines" and then move the insertion point using single finger swipe up or down.
  3. If you need to copy and paste text within the text field, use the process defined in the Copying read-only text using gestures section of this document.

Entering and editing text using a bluetooth keyboard

The most effective and efficient way to edit text with a bluetooth keyboard is to disable quick nav. This section assumes that you will turn off quick nav when entering and editing text within an editable text field. Press the left arrow and right arrow at the same time to turn quick nav on or off.

Navigating text using a bluetooth keyboard

Action Keyboard with quick nav off
Read next character Right arrow
Read previous character Left arrow
Read next word Option + right arrow
Read previous word Option + left arrow
Read next line Down arrow
Read previous line Up arrow
Read next paragraph Option + down arrow
Read previous paragraph Option + up arrow
Move insertion point to the beginning of the current line Cmd + left arrow
Move insertion point to the end of the current line Cmd + right arrow
Move insertion point to the top of the text field Cmd + up arrow
Move insertion point to the bottom of the text field Cmd + down arrow

Manipulating text using a bluetooth keyboard

Action Keyboard with quick nav off
Select text to be copied, cut, or deleted Press shift and any of the commands defined in the navigating text using a bluetooth keyboard section of this document
Select all Cmd + A
Delete selected text Delete
Copy selected text Cmd + C
Cut selected text Cmd + X
Paste text Cmd + V
Undo Cmd + Z
Redo Cmd + shift + Z

Entering and editing text using a refreshable braille display

Navigating text using a refreshable braille display

Action Braille
Move cursor to a specific character Press the cursor routing button under that character on the braille display
Pan to the right 5 + spacebar
Pan to the left 2 + spacebar
Read the next unit of text defined by the rotor 6 + spacebar
Read the previous unit of text defined by the rotor 3 + spacebar
Page down 1 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Page up 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Move cursor to beginning or end of text field or document 3 + 6 + spacebar or joystick in

Manipulating text using a refreshable braille display

Action Braille
Tab 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + spacebar
Delete 1 + 4 + 5 + spacebar or 7 + spacebar
Enter 1 + 5 + spacebar or 8 + spacebar
Select an additional unit of text to be copied, cut, or deleted (where unit of text is defined by the rotor) 2 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Unselect a unit of selected text (where unit of text is defined by the rotor) 2 + 3 + 5 + spacebar
Select all 2 + 3 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Delete selected text 1 + 4 + 5 + spacebar or 7 + spacebar
Copy selected text 1 + 4 + spacebar
Cut selected text 1 + 3 + 4 + 6 + spacebar
Paste text 1 + 2 + 3 + 6 + spacebar
Undo 1 + 3 + 5 + 6 + spacebar
Redo 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + spacebar
Show or hide on-screen keyboard 1 + 4 + 6 + spacebar