[NFBCS] IOS 17 rolling out tomorrow

Tue Sep 19 21:13:34 UTC 2023

One is reminded of Jonathan's speech that is on the website and appears as
the first article in the October Monitor. As he said, no one expects a
program to be completely bug free, but the flipside is that when I was a
programmer, we sometimes made the decision that sometimes one or more of
them were show stoppers and we would fix before release. I love my iPhone,
but I do not  think that the commitment to a smooth VoiceOver experience is
hi in the corporation. 

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Curtis Chong via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2023 5:08 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>; nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] IOS 17 rolling out tomorrow

Hello:

Here are the bug reports as shown on the Applevis website.

Serious Bugs

Some users may encounter an intermittent issue that affects the operation of
the VoiceOver double-tap gesture on iOS 17.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/intermittent-failure-voiceover-double-tap
-triple-tap-gestures>  When attempting to double-tap an actionable interface
element, the resulting behaviour experienced is as if the user touched with
1 finger the area of the screen where they performed the gesture, rather
than performed a double tap on the element that VoiceOver focus was on.

For instance, with VoiceOver focus on a button within Safari's toolbar,
performing a double tap might result in VoiceOver speaking the text content
of the webpage that was under your finger at the time you performed the
gesture, instead of activating the intended button in the toolbar.

When this behaviour occurs, VoiceOver focus typically moves to the interface
element that was spoken. It's necessary to relocate focus back to the
intended element before attempting the double-tap again. While this movement
of focus may sound similar to the longstanding issue for many users
involving VoiceOver focus, the issue described here is new and noticeably
different when experienced.

This issue is not limited to specific apps; it occurs across native and
third-party applications. It impacts various types of actionable interface
elements, including activating items on the VoiceOver rotor's action menu.

In some cases, the double tap might function correctly on the second
attempt, while in others, it might require multiple tries before registering
accurately.

The underlying issue can also cause problems with the operation of the 1
finger triple-tap gesture and the 1 finger double-tap and hold.

It is important to note that this behaviour is not consistent-it doesn't
happen every time. Based on our testing, there is no discernible pattern to
predict when it will occur or how frequently. But based on experience, it
likely won't be highly frequent for impacted users.

While serious, this issue does not appear to be widespread Based on our
tracking of user experiences during the beta cycle. It has been encountered
by five members of our Editorial Team. Additionally, A few other users
across the wider community have reported experiencing this behaviour,
including Jonathon Mosen and a listener to his Living Blindfully podcast.
<https://www.livingblindfully.com/lb0244transcript/>  Beyond these known
cases, there has been no indication that a significant portion of users are
affected. Overall, current evidence suggests this is an intermittent issue
impacting a small subset of users rather than something everyone should
expect to encounter.

Adjusting the Double-Tap Timeout in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver has
been suggested as a partial workaround for the issue.
<https://www.applevis.com/comment/152899#comment-152899>  However, based on
limited testing, changing this setting does not appear to resolve the
underlying problem. While you may want to experiment with adjusting the
Timeout interval, keep in mind that this could disrupt your natural
double-tap muscle memory which is accustomed to the default timing. Any
benefits in reliability would need to outweigh the effort required to learn
the new timing. At this point, the setting change seems unlikely to provide
a sufficient or permanent fix.

We chose to rate this issue as serious because of the importance of the
double-tap gesture and its frequency of use. Moreover, our assessment has
taken into account the potential impact of this behaviour on individuals who
are new to or less familiar with iOS. These users might reasonably assume
that the behaviour is due to them not correctly performing the double tap
gesture, possibly leading them to conclude that using an iPhone is more
difficult than it actually is.

Moderate Bugs

1.	When using VoiceOver to navigate the main screen of the native
Weather app, the movement of focus is inconsistent and unreliable.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/inconsistent-voiceover-focus-navigation-w
eather-app-main-screen>  Specifically, focus can become stuck on an
interface element, falsely suggesting there are no further elements to the
right or left. Or focus may unexpectedly jump over elements as if they don't
exist on the screen. As a workaround, you will need to explore the screen by
touch in order to locate all weather data.
2.	Using the
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-rotor-drag-action-inconsistent-
when-rearranging-home-screen-icons> "drag" action in the VoiceOver rotor to
rearrange app icons on the Home Screen often does not work as expected.
Specifically, when attempting to drag an app icon to a new position and
place it before or after another app, the dragged app frequently ends up in
a folder with the target app rather than moving to the desired location.
It's also been reported that on occasions some drag action options, such as
"drop before" or "drop after", may not always be available.
3.	An intermittent bug can cause VoiceOver speech to stop after ending
a phone call, while sound effects remain.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-speech-output-will-occasions-st
op-after-phone-calls>  There is no clear pattern as to when this issue
occurs. Similar behaviour has also been reported when using WhatsApp.
4.	Incoming banner notifications interrupt VoiceOver speech when the
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/incoming-banner-notifications-interrupt-v
oiceover-speech-when-speak-notifications-setting> "Speak Notifications"
accessibility setting is enabled. Specifically, any time a new notification
banner appears, VoiceOver will immediately stop reading the current
on-screen text or menu to announce the notification. This interrupts
VoiceOver mid-sentence or mid-menu in a disruptive manner. In previous iOS
versions, VoiceOver would finish reading the current paragraph, sentence, or
menu before speaking a new notification. This prevented jarring mid-sentence
interruptions.
5.	The new predictive text feature in iOS 17 provides recommended words
inline as you type using the onscreen keyboard. There are verbosity settings
that allow VoiceOver users to control what happens when predictive text
appears and when predictive text feedback is entered. However, some users
report that these verbosity settings are not being applied consistently
across different apps.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/predictive-text-verbosity-settings-do-not
-consistently-behave-configured>  When the predictive text verbosity setting
is set to speak recommendations, some VoiceOver users report that
recommendations are silent in certain apps, even though they expect them to
be spoken. Conversely, other users have found that with the predictive text
setting configured to not speak recommendations, VoiceOver will still read
out the recommendations in some apps like Mail.
6.	It is not possible to mark certain actions as favourites in the
system share sheet due to the
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/it-not-possible-mark-certain-actions-favo
rites-system-share-sheet> 'Insert' button and checkbox being recognised as
part of a single element. Specifically, when editing the list of actions to
be shown in the Share sheet and focusing on an action that can be
enabled/disabled via a checkbox, VoiceOver announces the checkbox state and
"Insert" together rather than separately. Double tapping toggles the
checkbox but does not allow inserting the action as a favourite.

Minor Bugs

1.	VoiceOver no longer announces the time when the device wakes if
there are pending notifications. Instead, it states the number of
notifications present.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-fails-announce-time-when-waking
-iphone-if-notifications-are-present> 
2.	When using VoiceOver Find with a braille display, searching does not
function as expected.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/when-performing-voiceover-find-braille-di
splay-after-typing-text-pressing-enter-will-not>  Specifically, pressing dot
8 does nothing after typing in a VoiceOver Find query with a connected
braille display. The search is not carried out. As a workaround, prior to
pressing dot 8 to execute the find function, press dots 2-7 followed by
space with dot 8. Your search will now work as expected.
3.	When using the VoiceOver rotor to mark an email as read in the
native Mail app, VoiceOver fails to provide clear confirmation feedback.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-fails-announce-read-when-markin
g-emails-read-rotor-native-mail-app>  Instead of announcing "read" to
confirm the action, VoiceOver speaks an unclear and incomprehensible word or
phrase.
4.	When you adjusts the volume slider in Control Center using the flick
gesture, VoiceOver announces the previous volume level rather than the new
level after the adjustment.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-announces-incorrect-volume-leve
l-after-adjustments-control-center>  Specifically, when a user focuses on
the volume slider in Control Center with VoiceOver enabled, then performs a
1 finger flick up or down to change the volume, VoiceOver speaks the volume
percentage. However, instead of announcing the new volume level, VoiceOver
reads out the volume level prior to the flick gesture adjustment.
5.	When editing Safari bookmarks, the bookmark names and reorder icon
label are incorrectly announced with
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-incorrectly-prepends-website-na
mes-remove-when-editing-safari-bookmarks> "remove" prepended.
6.	Double tapping on a bookmark or folder title in Safari's edit
bookmarks screen incorrectly activates a delete button rather than opening
the edit view.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/double-tapping-safari-bookmarks-or-folder
s-edit-mode-activates-delete-button-instead-edit>  As a workaround, the
contextual menu for actions includes an Edit option.
7.	Some users may experience inconsistent and less descriptive
labelling of Control Center toggles.
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/some-users-may-experience-less-descriptiv
e-labels-control-center-toggles-including-lock>  For example, the toggle for
locking device screen orientation may simply be announced as "Locked" or
"Unlocked" rather than using the more descriptive label "Lock Rotation" that
was present in previous iOS versions. This degraded labelling does not
appear isolated to any specific VoiceOver voice. Users of the Alex voice
have reported experiencing the unclear labels, while others using Alex still
hear the expected descriptive labels. Additionally, isolated reports
indicate similar degraded labelling for other Control Center toggles beyond
just the orientation lock. This bug seems to manifest unpredictably,
affecting only a small subset of iOS 17 users. The inconsistent experience
suggests an underlying issue, rather than a deliberate change in labelling.

Other Reported Issues

The Messages app will now automatically transcribe audio messages into plain
text, a valuable addition for deaf-blind users. However, some users report
the transcript preview and 'Show More" button appear visually but cannot be
accessed through Braille commands, VoiceOver gestures or menus. Our testing
could not reproduce this inaccessibility - VoiceOver consistently announced
no transcription available for our audio messages. As we were unable to
independently validate the issue, we have not filed a formal bug report yet.
We will continue investigating this issue to clarify its specific behaviour.

Additional user-reported issues that we have not independently validated are
discussed in these forum threads. While our team has not personally
reproduced or confirmed these bugs, the threads are worth reading to
potentially identify other problems you may encounter:

*	RC's are now available for iOS 17, macOS 14, watchOS 10, and more!
<https://www.applevis.com/forum/apple-beta-releases/rcs-are-now-available-io
s-17-macos-14-watchos-10-more> 
*	Braille Screen input not reporting deleted word if cursor not at end
of text
<https://www.applevis.com/forum/apple-beta-releases/braille-screen-input-not
-reporting-deleted-word-if-cursor-not-end-text> 
*	While using Voiceover and a bluetooth keyboard, unable to review or
edit text in notes
<https://www.applevis.com/forum/apple-beta-releases/while-using-voiceover-bl
uetooth-keyboard-unable-review-or-edit-text-notes> 

Cordially,

Curtis Chong

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On
Behalf Of nancy.l.coffman--- via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2023 4:59 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org
<mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com <mailto:nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com> 
Subject: [NFBCS] IOS 17 rolling out tomorrow

Hello:

There are some factors you may want to consider before you install IOS 17
which will begin rolling out on Monday, September 18. The accessibility bug
report can be found at

https://www.applevis.com/blog/ios-17-ipados-17-accessibility-report-voiceove
r-braille-low-vision-issues-improvements

There are some Voiceover bugs that started in earlier IOS versions and have
not been fixed. Others are new and should be taken into consideration before
installing the update.

Nancy Coffman

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