Hi everyone, now that the NDA is lifted, here are some things I think
you might like to be aware of in iOS 9.
I am enthusiastic about iOS 9. It is significantly more responsive
than its predecessor, and there are many new features that I'm sure
you'll enjoy. Unfortunately, there are also some VoiceOver bugs in
iOS 9 that range from minor annoyances to potentially critical,
depending on how you use your device and whether you find yourself
affected. Here are just a few that you might like to take into
consideration before deciding whether to wait for a bug fix release
before installing iOS 9. Remember that a few days following iOS 9's
release, it will not be possible to downgrade again, so you should
consider the upgrade to iOS 9 a one-way trip, and proceed with
caution if anything below concerns you.
1. Audio routing bug. This is potentially the most significant
accessibility bug I can recall ever to slip through an iOS release,
due to the number of people who may be affected. Not everyone will
be, and at present, even after extensive testing with a range of
people owning different devices, I have no information about why it
affects some users, but not others. It is not device specific, for
example it is happening to me on my iPhone 6 Plus, but I know iPhone
6 Plus users where the problem isn't so severe. Nor does it seem to
be affected by any setting. If you're lucky, it won't happen to you,
but the only way I am aware of to determine this is to upgrade.
This bug may affect you when you have earbuds or headphones connected
to the headphone socket of your iPhone. The primary way the audio
routing bug manifests itself is when you receive an incoming phone or
FaceTime call. You can usually hear if you're going to be affected by
the bug because your ring-tone will fade in and out, rather like the
way VOiceOver causes system audio to fade in and out when audio
ducking is enabled. At this point, if you press the power button to
silence the ringer and then flick through the screen, you will find
that not only has VOiceOver become unresponsive, but the entire phone
has as well.
If you don't press the power button while the phone is ringing, but
instead opt to flick through the iPHone's screen to locate the Answer
button or review caller ID information, VoiceOver may not speak at all.
Finally, if you attempt to answer the incoming call with a two-finger
double-tap, you may not be able to, since VoiceOver has effectively
locked up.
The bottom line is that if you have earbuds connected, you may not be
able to answer a call.
Some people have also reported similar problems answering calls when
their phone is set to silent.
If you rely on your phone for business or safety, this could be a
deal breaker in terms of upgrading at this point.
What makes this bug so fascinating is that not only is it completely
absent for some people, but of those who experience it, not all
symptoms are present for all users. For example, some people
experience the issues I have described when they press the power
button to mute the ringer, but not when the phone is ringing. Others
can answer a call by pressing the button on their EarPods, while
others cannot.
If you upgrade and are affected by this, here are a few things to try.
(A) If you have the more moderate version of this bug, avoid pressing
the power button when you receive an incoming call.
(B) Turning off audio ducking seems to help a little for some users.
(C) If you can't answer a call with a two-finger double-tap, try
pressing the button on your EarPods or similar device if you have
such a device connected.
(D) If all else fails, you can disconnect any device from the
headphone jack, answer the call with a two-finger double-tap, then
reconnect the device to the headphone jack.
(E) Given the critical nature of this bug, if you've upgraded and now
find yourself afflicted by it, enrol in the iOS beta program so you
can receive early copies of any fixes Apple is working on. But keep
in mind that since you will be running beta software, you may well be
swapping one set of bugs for another.
2. Bluetooth keyboard support unreliable. Sometimes, users may input
double letters when typing. This is a bug that was introduced in the
iOS 8 cycle, and can easily be worked around by toggling VoiceOver
off and on.
However, a new bug now exists where at times, no text is entered into
a field at all when VO is active. Toggling VO doesn't help, nor does
switching the keyboard off and on. The only immediate remedy is to
turn Vo off, and keep typing without it. If you turn VO back on
again, the arrow keys don't work when you're trying to navigate your
text, and you can't edit it.
3. In the Today view of Notification Center, VO frequently restarts
itself when flicking through your widgets, and sometimes the phone
locks up entirely.
4. It's much less likely you can return to your previous position on
screen after taking an action. For example, flick through the list of
podcasts in Downcast. Find a podcast you wish to download.
Double-tap, and a shortcut menu appears. Choose Download. You should
then be able to tap on the screen and return to the list where you
left off. This worked in previous iOS versions, but it doesn't work
now, you're returned to near the top of the list. If you're in a
large news-related podcast where there are dozens of episodes, it
takes a lot of effort to get back to your place. This also impacts a
number of other apps including some Twitter clients.
5. Less reliable audio ducking. You may find that if you use
VoiceOver while listening to audio from another app, audio ducking
does not work as well as it used to. Some times, it works perfectly,
while at others, VoiceOver ducks the audio but does not restore the
app to its normal level when VO has finished speaking. On other
occasions, VoiceOver won't duck the audio at all, as if audio ducking
had been disabled. If VoiceOver has not restored system audio to its
usual level, sometimes toggling speech off and on again with a
three-finger double-tap will help. At other times, you may need to
toggle VoiceOver completely off and on again.
Jonathan Mosen
Mosen Consulting
Blindness technology eBooks, tutorials and training
http://Mosen.org <http://mosen.org/>
--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone
list.
If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list,
or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact
the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself.
Your VIPhone list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at
caraqu...@caraquinn.com <mailto:caraqu...@caraquinn.com>
The archives for this list can be searched at
http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
<mailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com
<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
