Maybe it’s not Apple with the problem: Maybe it’s us

iOS 11

A few days ago, I discovered an article written by someone in the blind community criticizing a new feature that has been implemented in iOS 11.

Background:

In iOS 11, Apple has implemented a new feature dealing with the way VoiceOver manages the Actions Rotor in the Mail App. If you are familiar with the way the App switcher worked in iOS 10, you’ll recognize this behavior. Now, if you delete one message or perform any other action on it, that action will stay selected until you manually change it. This is a big change in behavior from before, when the action would return to the default setting after performing an action on a message.

What we’re seeing now

The blind community has become very divided and upset over this feature. Claims have been made that this is inconsistent with typical rotor behavior, that it is half-baked, that it’s a step backward in accessibility, and that it sets a dangerous standard for Apple to model.

The reality is this: this new feature is a change. It is a deviation from the typical behavior that we have seen in the rotor for years. Unfortunately, it seems that members of the blind community find it difficult to deal with these changes and retrain their brains. This is a big part of being successful in the world: we must have the capability to adapt and problem solve. Things will not always remain the same. We cannot expect Apple to hold back on a potentially game-changing feature just so that its user base does not have to deal with a new environment. The feature is a huge productivity boost for those of us who delete a bunch of emails at once, receiving hundreds of messages a day from mailing lists. It’s faster than selecting the edit button then selecting the messages to delete. The feature is buggy, yes, but it will continue to improve, that is, if we don’t stop it in its tracks from our constant complaints.

Yes, people struggle with the rotor. Yes, older people may have difficulty, but if we are going to train someone in using technology, it’s less about training them in how to do something than it is training them how to solve problems that come up. No one can plan for every single situation that arises. No one can teach for every single possible quirk, crash, or inconsistency in an operating system. Apple’s operating system has never been aimed at the older age group specifically, so comments that I have seen about this feature being detrimental to older blind folks is ridiculous. We, as blind people, have a hard enough time getting mainstream developers to listen to us and make their products accessible without complaining that advances they’re trying to make in our productivity are bad things. Let’s learn to adapt and remember that sighted people have to deal with these changes, too. With each new OS release comes new features, new ways of doing things, and, in some cases, new bugs, for all people, not just the disabled. It’s not just us who have to learn. If we insist that things remain the same, how can we expect companies to develop new and innovative technology for us? How can we expect anything to get any better without a little brain retraining every now and again?

Organizing Apps in iOS 10 With Voiceover

Image showing VoiceOver icon. icon is a grey gradient to white with a universal access symbol and a speaker with sound waves going to the right.

Up until iOS 10, the process for a Voiceover user to move apps and organize them into folders involved some work. One had to use the pass-through gesture-the 1-finger double tap and hold to get into editing mode. Then one had to be careful and drag icons around the screen to be on top of each other to create folders. Now this is all new in iOS 10. The rotor now simplifies the whole process of moving apps around and creating folders.

To Move apps:

  1. Ensure you’re on the home screen.
  2. Voiceover will say something like, “camera actions available.”
  3. Ensuring your rotor is set to actions, do a 1-finger swipe down.
  4. Voiceover will say arrange apps.
  5. Do a 1-finger double tap. Voiceover says arranging apps.
  6. At this point you are in a screen and are in edit mode.
  7. we will take camera as an example, you can swipe down and you will have the following option: Move Camera
  8. Do a 1-finger double tap Voiceover says choose a destination for camera.
  9. Find photos by swiping left and/or right on your home screen.
  10. As you swipe down, you have:
  11. Cancel move of camera
  12. Create new folder with photos and camera
  13. Place camera before photos
  14. Place camera after photos
  15. Activate
  16. To create a folder, do a 1-finger double tap on the create folder option.
  17. A box is displayed allowing one to change the pre-written folder name.
  18. Other options include allowing one to move the order of apps-move camera before or after photos as we used in the above example.

 

Note: To Move Apps to say the dock or a different page while in editing mode you can use your standard gestures to scroll to a different page. One can also navigate to the dock and move apps in one of four positions within the dock.

 

When one finishes editing, push the home button to get out of editing mode. Voiceover says “finished editing.”

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