User Guide

Appendix A Accessibility 126
Speak iPad status information. Tap the status bar at the top of the screen, then swipe left or
right to hear information about the time, battery state, Wi-Fi signal strength, and more.
Speak notications. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then turn on Always
Speak Notications. Notications, including the text of incoming text messages, are spoken
as they occur, even if iPad is locked. Unacknowledged notications are repeated when you
unlock iPad.
Turn the screen curtain on or o. Triple-tap with three ngers. When the screen curtain is on, the
screen contents are active even though the display is turned o.
Learn VoiceOver gestures
When VoiceOver is on, standard touchscreen gestures have dierent eects, and additional
gestures let you move around the screen and control individual items. VoiceOver gestures
include two-, three-, and four-nger taps and swipes. For best results using multi-nger gestures,
relax and let your ngers touch the screen with some space between them.
You can use dierent techniques to enter a particular VoiceOver gesture. For example, you can
perform a two-nger tap using two ngers from one hand, or one nger from each hand. You
can even use your thumbs. Many use a split-tap gesture: instead of selecting an item and double-
tapping, touch and hold an item with one nger, then tap the screen with another nger.
Try dierent techniques to discover which works best for you. If a gesture doesn’t work, try a
quicker movement, especially for a double-tap or swipe gesture. To swipe, try brushing the
screen quickly with your nger or ngers.
In VoiceOver settings, you can enter a special area where you can practice VoiceOver gestures
without aecting iPad or its settings.
Practice VoiceOver gestures. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then tap
VoiceOver Practice. When you nish practicing, tap Done. If you don’t see the VoiceOver Practice
button, make sure VoiceOver is turned on.
Here are some key VoiceOver gestures:
Navigate and read
•
Tap: Select and speak the item.
•
Swipe right or left: Select the next or previous item.
•
Swipe up or down: Depends on the rotor setting. See Use the VoiceOver rotor on page 127.
•
Two-nger swipe up: Read all from the top of the screen.
•
Two-nger swipe down: Read all from the current position.
•
Two-nger tap: Stop or resume speaking.
•
Two-nger scrub: Move two ngers back and forth three times quickly (making a “z”) to dismiss
an alert or go back to the previous screen.
•
Three-nger swipe up or down: Scroll one page at a time.
•
Three-nger swipe right or left: Go to the next or previous page (on the Home screen, for
example).
•
Three-nger tap: Speak additional information, such as position within a list or whether text
is selected.
•
Four-nger tap at top of screen: Select the rst item on the page.
•
Four-nger tap at bottom of screen: Select the last item on the page.