Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Help with VoiceOver and dictate (self.Blind)
submitted by Fredchasing475
I’m trying to learn voiceover and am having trouble how to start dictating text when voiceover is on. I’m able to tap the dictation icon on the onscreen keyboard, and a voiceover prompt tells me to double tap to start and to double tap with two fingers to stop dictation. But when I double tap the dictation icon dictation does not start. I try double tap at the insertion point and still nothing. I must be doing something wrong. Dictation starts fine with voiceover off. Any hints? I tried googling and couldn’t find any help.
FYI, I’ve got RP, and still have quite a bit of vision left. It’s just now getting to the point where I have difficulty reading on screen (paper is much harder), so I’m trying to learn voiceover before the inevitable.
Edit: Wow, this makes it weirder: this problem only occurs on my iPad mini. I don’t have it with my iPhone. So maybe there’s some setting that I fouled up?
Edit 2: OK I think I’ve identified what’s causing the problem, I just now can’t figure out how to stop it. The cause is this: I turn on voiceover by pressing and holding down the home button on my iPad. That brings up Siri, and I just ask her to turn on voiceover. So far so good, except Siri doesn’t go away (that little weird Siri icon persists in the lower right hand corner of the screen and she keeps listening). And that, apparently, is what’s interfering with the double tap invoking dictation. The only way I can think of to make Siri go away) is to press the home button again (just tapping anywhere else on the screen doesn’t seem to do it.) But that kicks me out of the app that I was trying to dictate in and brings me back to the home screen. Of course I can then re-open the app and then double tap the dictation button and everything works fine and I’m still in VoiceOver and Siri’s closed but there’s got to be a simpler way
FYI, I’ve got RP, and still have quite a bit of vision left. It’s just now getting to the point where I have difficulty reading on screen (paper is much harder), so I’m trying to learn voiceover before the inevitable.
Edit: Wow, this makes it weirder: this problem only occurs on my iPad mini. I don’t have it with my iPhone. So maybe there’s some setting that I fouled up?
Edit 2: OK I think I’ve identified what’s causing the problem, I just now can’t figure out how to stop it. The cause is this: I turn on voiceover by pressing and holding down the home button on my iPad. That brings up Siri, and I just ask her to turn on voiceover. So far so good, except Siri doesn’t go away (that little weird Siri icon persists in the lower right hand corner of the screen and she keeps listening). And that, apparently, is what’s interfering with the double tap invoking dictation. The only way I can think of to make Siri go away) is to press the home button again (just tapping anywhere else on the screen doesn’t seem to do it.) But that kicks me out of the app that I was trying to dictate in and brings me back to the home screen. Of course I can then re-open the app and then double tap the dictation button and everything works fine and I’m still in VoiceOver and Siri’s closed but there’s got to be a simpler way
gunfart 3 points 1y ago
Instead of locating the dictation button, you can simply double tap with two fingers to start and stop dictation once you are in an editable field. It makes it so much easier.
Fredchasing475 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Sorry, I probably should’ve mentioned I tried that too and it doesn’t trigger dictation on the iPad either. But again, that works just fine on the iPhone. So I’m still thinking there’s some setting that I’ve screwed up
gunfart 2 points 1y ago
It should certainly work as long as you are in a text box. If you are not in a text box or a field that is editable, magic tap will function differently, such as starting or stopping music. As long as you are in an active text box, two finger double tap will always invoke dictation. You do not need to modify any settings, this is right out of the box.
I have two iPhones and an iPad, each device works the same across the board. Just make sure you are in a text field.
I have two iPhones and an iPad, each device works the same across the board. Just make sure you are in a text field.
Fredchasing475 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
And you start VoiceOver with Siri? Because Aon all of my devices it doesn’t matter what field I’m in. As long as I start voiceover by asking Siri, Siri stays active and blocks dictation unless I somehow manually close Siri. It’s not like every other action — where Siri automatically closes after she does whatever I’ve asked (open music app; tell me what time it is; turn noise reduction on my headphones; etc.) and the Siri icon will appear disappear indicating that Siri is closed.
gunfart 1 points 1y ago
i apologize but i don't quite understand what you're saying or getting at. i've always turned voiceover on or off by tripple tapping the home button (this has to be enabled within the accessibility settings) and have had no issues with it. i rarely use siri for things on my phone unless i'm quickly responding to a text, playing something on spotify, or quickly searching the web for something. other than those three functions, siri is pretty useless and i can get better results by doing whatever it is i need to do on the phone instead of asking.
it's also one of my minor pet peeves when people rely so heavily on siri for literally everything on their phones, like asking for the time (seriously? just press the lock button lol) or hearing someone trying to answer a phone call using siri... because that doesn't work at all
it's also one of my minor pet peeves when people rely so heavily on siri for literally everything on their phones, like asking for the time (seriously? just press the lock button lol) or hearing someone trying to answer a phone call using siri... because that doesn't work at all
vwlsmssng 2 points 1y ago
The person I help with VoiceOver uses dictation all the time without problem on their iphone.
Fredchasing475 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
As I said, I don’t have any problems with it my phone either. But I sure can’t get it to start on my iPad.
Fredchasing475 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
I had the accessibility shortcut (triple clicking the power button) assigned to something else, which is why I was using Siri to start voiceover. I have now rearranged my workflow so that VoiceOver is assigned to the accessibility shortcut, and like you, no problem now. (Except it’s now more inconvenient to start the thing that was assigned to that button.) so thx for the idea.
But if you did try to start voiceover with Siri you’d see the issue right away. I’m now pretty sure it’s a bug, since it happens all idevices, and Siri does not interfere with dictation in any other context. I’m going to follow up with Apple this coming week.
(FWIW I do find Siri useful for a lot of stuff. E.g., if have to turn on voiceover from settings it’s five or six steps to get there; or if I want to add something to my groceries list and I’m in the middle of cooking and my hands are wet, I can just tell Siri rather than drying my hands off, finding my phone, etc.; or I can start a specific playlist on Apple Music, and set shuffle to on, all with just two words (Well, four words if you include “hey Siri”), rather than finding the music app, opening it, going to the playlist list, finding the playlist, etc.)
But if you did try to start voiceover with Siri you’d see the issue right away. I’m now pretty sure it’s a bug, since it happens all idevices, and Siri does not interfere with dictation in any other context. I’m going to follow up with Apple this coming week.
(FWIW I do find Siri useful for a lot of stuff. E.g., if have to turn on voiceover from settings it’s five or six steps to get there; or if I want to add something to my groceries list and I’m in the middle of cooking and my hands are wet, I can just tell Siri rather than drying my hands off, finding my phone, etc.; or I can start a specific playlist on Apple Music, and set shuffle to on, all with just two words (Well, four words if you include “hey Siri”), rather than finding the music app, opening it, going to the playlist list, finding the playlist, etc.)
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