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Apple Confirms iOS 9.3.4 Introduces VoiceOver Bug

This article is more than 7 years old.

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 problem that, for millions, will never be fixed…

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.

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.

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...

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