[NFBCS] Reprogramming the iPhone Rotor Gesture

[Charles Vanek]

Great guide, I'll add one thing just to be sure everyone is on the same
page.

 

I know many people have hand/finger dexterity challenges; this may or may
not help. At the risk of stating the possibly obvious. The rotor gesture is
like rotating a knob, you may think of this and attempt it as rotating two
fingers in a circle. If you find that difficult, think different and try
this instead. Use your dominate hand pointer and middle finger  to do a
straight  finger walking motion where you are flicking one finger up while
the other is flicking down on the screen. That moves the rotor exactly 1
element left or right depending which finger is going up while the other
goes down.

 

Doing this up and down flicking motion makes it natural to go to using just
one of those two fingers flicking the same way up or down to action whatever
rotor item you moved to such as headings, words, speaking rate, etc. that
you have in your rotor.

 

Best,

Charles

 

 

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Steve Shelton via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2026 4:29 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Steve Shelton <stevesheltonokc at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Reprogramming the iPhone Rotor Gesture

 

Thanks for sharing! This works great.

 

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On
Behalf Of Curtis Chong via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2026 10:54 AM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org
<mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com <mailto:chong.curtis at gmail.com> >
Subject: [NFBCS] Reprogramming the iPhone Rotor Gesture

 


Reprogramming the Rotor Gesture to Something Easier


 

By Curtis Chong

 

 


Introduction


 

I have heard from many people that the rotor gesture used on iPhones and
iPads is not easy to use. Yet, a lot of our ability to navigate through
screens and documents on these devices depends on our ability to use the
Rotor gesture. Is there an alternative? Yes!

 

My intent here is to provide a procedure for you to reprogram the Rotor
gesture so that you can swipe left with two fingers to turn the rotor
counterclockwise and swipe right with two fingers to turn it clockwise.
Using these two gestures has one distinct advantage over the traditional
Rotor gestures. When turning the rotor in the traditional fashion, you often
rotate past the item you want. Using the two-finger swipe gestures, however,
you only move the rotor through one setting with one swipe which makes rotor
movement a lot more precise.

 

 


Setting the Two-Finger Swipe Gestures to Spin the Rotor


 

1.	From the Home Screen, ask Siri to open VoiceOver settings. In my
experience, this is the fastest way to get into a screen where you can make
adjustments to VoiceOver.
2.	Using one finger, swipe right until you hear VoiceOver say "Commands
Button," and perform a single-finger double-tap.
3.	Swipe right with one finger to reach "Touch Gestures" and perform a
one-finger double-tap.
4.	Find the heading labeled "Swipe: Two Fingers" and swipe right with
one finger to reach "Two finger swipe left." Perform a one-finger double-tap
here.
5.	In the search field at the bottom of the screen, type the word
"rotor". The screen will change to show all of the various rotor options you
can activate. Swipe right with one finger until you reach, "Previous Rotor"
and perform a one-finger double-tap. You will be taken back to the previous
screen with the focus on ""Two finger swipe left," which VoiceOver will
indicate as "selected."
6.	Swipe right once with one finger to reach "Two finger swipe right"
and perform a single-finger double-tap.
7.	In the search field at the bottom of the screen, again type the word
"rotor." The screen will change to show all of the various rotor options you
can activate. Swipe right with one finger until you reach, "Next Rotor" and
perform a one-finger double-tap. You will be taken back to the previous
screen with the focus on ""Two finger swipe right," which VoiceOver will
indicate as "selected."

 

At this point, you have now enabled the two-finger swipe left and right
gestures to turn the rotor by one notch. Be aware, however, that the
traditional rotor gestures will still be in effect. 

 

 


Conclusion


 

I am sorry that there are so many steps to accomplish a simple gesture
reassignment. In my experience, however, not having to use the traditional
rotor gesture on my iPhone is a huge productivity gain for me. I hope you
find this equally as useful.

 

 

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