Apple Confirms iOS 9.3.4 Has A Nasty SurpriseI thought many of you would be interested in the following article:
Apple Confirms iOS 9.3.4 Has A Nasty Surprise The iPhone 7 is very close and the all singing all dancing iOS 10 will come with it. But right now most iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users are on iOS 9.3.4 and Apple has confirmed to me it contains a nasty surprise that, for millions, will never be fixed… ‘Great Features’ and ‘Nasty Surprises’ are my regular columns investigating operating system updates for the best features / biggest problems hidden behind the headlines. The problem in iOS 9.3.4 is an incompatibility between VoiceOver and voice dictation which is hitting disabled and, in particular, blind users hard. In short: with VoiceOver enabled (it describes everything on your screen with a triple press of the home button) voice dictation is broken producing duplicate and often muddled words - notably when quick replying to messages in the notification centre. iOS 9.3.4. Image credit: Apple Having been contacted by several blind users about this problem, they told me the only workaround is to turn off VoiceOver, turn on dictation, speak, turn off dictation then turn VoiceOver back on. This is about 10 steps and unfortunately for the blind, turning off VoiceOver is a very risky move yet voice dictation is essential. Perhaps the most interesting aspect to all of this, however, are claims this feature has been broken since the original launch of iOS 9 in September 2015 and Apple has not attempted to fixed it in any subsequent upgrade. In response I contacted Apple and the company confirmed to me the fault does exist in iOS 9.3.4, though it would not say if the bug could be traced back further. Apple also had good and bad news for affected users. VoiceOver is iOS is crucial for disabled iPhone and iPad users, but it breaks voice dictation - an equally important feature for them. Image credit: Apple The good news is the bug will be fixed in iOS 10 (and is already fixed in the latest iOS 10 public beta). The bad news is there are no plans to fix the bug in iOS 9 and with iPhone 4S, iPad Mini, iPad 3rd gen and iPod touch 5th gen users not entitled to iOS 10 upgrades, users of those devices will be left with the bug until they buy something new. Needless to say this won’t be a problem for many users who upgrade regularly, but as one blind user told me: typically their need to have the latest cutting edge products is greatly diminished. Consequently if Apple can fix the bug in iOS 10, I’d argue the company should also fix it in iOS 9 before leaving a generation of devices and a subset of users stranded. This would be a commendable way to sign off an version of iOS well known for its high profile problems, before the company moves on to its latest and greatest iPhone and iOS plans... ___ Follow Gordon on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ More On Forbes Apple Leak Reveals Massive iPhone 7 Cancellation iPhone 7 Release Date Leaked By Bloomberg Apple Leak Reveals ‘All Glass’ New iPhone Apple iOS 9.3.4: Should You Upgrade? iPhone 7 Problems Suddenly Make Perfect Sense https://www.yahoo.com/ -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at 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. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
