[NFB-DB] iOS 17 coming out today: message for braille users

[Scott Davert]

Hi all.

I wanted to give braille users a bit of a cautionary message about upgrading to iOS 17. Some braille display users, myself included, have had significant issues with the Focus  5th generation displays. The connection was not stable  for me on 2 different phones running iOS 17. I had one instance where the the Focus wouldn't communicate at all and it took several rounds of trouble shooting to get the connection back. When it did come back, it did some randomly, while I was not interacting with it. Testing with another focus on the latest firmware yielded similar results. On the other hand, some users have also reported having no issues with the Focus at all. Some users have also reported challenges with the Braille Sense 6 and Eurobraille displays. I have found, as have others, that the Brailliant BIX series and Mantis have reliable connections. How this will play out I’m unsure. I have no further data about specific braille displays I can share, and it  will be a week before I can investigate further. That said, I’m sure there will be some who upgrade anyway and I hope they will report their findings    as well.    Basically, upgrade at your own risk is the bottom line.

Sent from my iPhone