Apple Release iOS 13.4 & iPadOS 13.4
Apple today released iOS 13.4 & iPadOS 13.4 to the public.
In addition to bringing some new features and enhancements, these releases
will bring fixes for a few VoiceOver, braille, and Smart Invert bugs.
Unfortunately, there are also new issues in these releases for blind and low
vision users.
It is extremely disappointing that at this advanced stage of the iOS and
iPadOS 13.x development cycle, not only has Apple failed to address several
longstanding bugs for blind and low vision users, but new issues are also
being introduced. With development time and priority now most likely
switching to the next major OS releases, it is becoming increasingly likely
that blind and low vision users will have to wait until Fall for further
accessibility fixes. To say that this prospect is incredibly disheartening
is a vast understatement, and Apple can and should do much better by its
blind and low vision customers.
Bug Fixes for Blind & Low Vision Users in iOS 13.4 & iPadOS 13.4
Our testing suggests that the following pre-existing accessibility bugs have
been resolved in iOS 13.4 & iPadOS 13.4:
* When using Dark Mode in conjunction with Smart Invert, your
device's screen should no longer briefly flash white when woken.
*
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/when-typing-using-braille-display-text-sh
ortcuts-do-not-work-unless-you-write-them-eight> Typing text shortcuts with
a braille display once again works as expected.
*
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/misspelled-words-option-missing-voiceover
-rotors-action-menu-native-mail-app> The Misspelled Words tool in the
VoiceOver rotor now appears to behave consistently in the native Mail app.
*
<https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-interrupts-siri-when-using-alex
-voiceover-voice> VoiceOver no longer speaks when Siri is activated and
listening.
There is also a change of behavior in these releases: when you have Do Not
Disturb enabled, its Lock Screen message is no longer included in the count
of Lock Screen notifications that is spoken by VoiceOver when waking your
device.
Additionally, we are aware that some people are finding that the Misspelled
Word tool in the VoiceOver rotor doesn't always find misspelled words. If
this is your experience, make sure that VoiceOver focus is in the text field
and not on the onscreen keyboard. Our own experience is that this makes the
behavior of this feature consistent and reliable.
New Bugs for Blind or Low Vision Users in iOS 13.4 & iPadOS 13.4
* According to Apple's release notes(see below), these releases
Address an issue in Safari where webpages may not be inverted when both
Dark Mode and Smart Invert are active. However, this has not been our
experience. Whereas in iOS 13.3.1 and iPadOS 13.3.1 Smart Invert of web
pages did appear to work as expected for us in these conditions, it does not
on iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4. Accordingly, if you rely heavily on this
functionality, you may wish to avoid updating until we hear if others are
also experiencing issues with Smart Invert with web pages in Safari.
* VoiceOver will on occasions wrongly indicate that some blocks of
text are editable text fields, resulting in VoiceOver speaking feedback such
as text field, editing, double tap to edit or character mode before
speaking the text. Typically, this behavior only occurs on the first
paragraph when navigating by swiping, but may occur more frequently if
navigating by touch. This is most prevalent in Safari, but has also been
encountered in several other apps. Our experience suggests that apps pulling
the text from the web are most likely to exhibit this behaviour - such as
RSS readers and news apps. This behavior is particularly intrusive if you
have VoiceOver hints enabled, so you may want to disable this option until
this issue has been resolved.
As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy
of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible for us
to test all devices, configurations, applications, and use cases.
General Changes in iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4
* iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 introduce support for iCloud Folder
Sharing, allowing folders within the Files app to be shared with other
people.
* Introduces support for mouse and trackpad with iPad.
* Developers can now bundle Mac and iOS apps in to a single
(universal) purchase.
* The Mail app has an updated toolbar layout when viewing an email.
* There are nine new Memoji and Animoji sticker poses to choose
from, including shocked face, face with hearts, and eyes rolling.
* Siri now has an Always On option under the Accessibility
Settings that enables support for Hey Siri when your device is face down
(or the screen otherwise blocked, such as when in a pocket or bag).
* On iPad, you are now able to remap modifier keys in Settings when
using an external keyboard (for instance, setting the CapsLock key to
perform the escape function).
* On iPad, there are new keyboard shortcuts in the Photos app for
navigating between tabs, search, and creating albums. In full screen mode,
there are also keyboard shortcuts for deleting photos, duplicating photos,
and entering Edit mode.
* There's a new Shortcuts action to Shazam It in the Shortcuts
app.
* There are new Settings in the TV app that allow you to control
streaming and downloading over WiFi and cellular.
Update: Apple has also released iOS 12.4.6 for owners of the iPhone 5s,
iPhone 6, iPad Air, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3.
Release Notes
Apple's full release notes, are as follows:
iOS 13.4 Release Notes
iOS 13.4 introduces new Memoji stickers and iCloud Drive folder sharing
from the Files app. This update also contains bug fixes and improvements.
Memoji
* Nine new Memoji stickers, including Smiling Face with Hearts,
Hands Pressed Together, and Party Face
Files
* iCloud Drive folder sharing from the Files app
* Controls to limit access only to people you explicitly invite or
grant access to anyone with the folder link
* Permissions to choose who can make changes and upload files and
who can only view and download files
Mail
* Always-visible controls to delete, move, reply to, or compose a
message in conversation view
* Responses to encrypted emails are automatically encrypted when you
have configured S/MIME
App Store with Apple Arcade
* Universal Purchase support enables the use of a singular purchase
of a participating app across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple
TV
* Recently played Arcade games appear in the Arcade tab so you can
continue playing on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV
* List view for See All Games
CarPlay
* Third-party navigation app support for the CarPlay Dashboard
* In-call information appears on the CarPlay Dashboard
Augmented Reality
* AR Quick Look supports audio playback in USDZ files
Keyboard
* Predictive typing support for Arabic
This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements. This update:
* Adds status bar indicator to display when VPN has disconnected on
iPhone models with all-screen displays
* Fixes an issue in Camera where the viewfinder may appear as a
black screen after launch
* Addresses an issue where Photos may appear to use excess storage
* Resolves an issue in Photos that may prevent sharing an image to
Messages if iMessage is disabled
* Fixes an issue in Mail where messages may appear out of order
* Addresses an issue in Mail where the conversation list may display
empty rows
* Resolves an issue where Mail may crash when tapping the Share
button in Quick Look
* Fixes an issue in Settings where cellular data may incorrectly
display as off
* Addresses an issue in Safari where webpages may not be inverted
when both Dark Mode and Smart Invert are active
* Resolves an issue where text copied from web content may appear
invisible when pasted when Dark Mode is active
* Fixes an issue in Safari where a CAPTCHA tile may display
incorrectly
* Addresses an issue where Reminders may not issue new notifications
for an overdue recurring reminder until it is marked as completed
* Resolves an issue where Reminders may send notifications for
completed reminders
* Fixes an issue where iCloud Drive appears to be available in
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote even when not signed in
* Addresses an issue in Apple Music where music videos may not
stream in high quality
* Resolves an issue where CarPlay may lose its connection in
certain vehicles
* Fixes an issue in CarPlay where the view in Maps may move away
briefly from the current area
* Addresses an issue in the Home app where tapping an activity
notification from a security camera may open a different recording
* Resolves an issue where Shortcuts may not appear when tapping on
the Share menu from a screenshot
* Improves the Burmese keyboard so punctuation symbols are now
accessible from numbers and symbols
iPadOS 13.4 Release Notes
iPadOS 13.4 introduces support for mouse and trackpad with iPad for
greater precision and navigating the system with Multi-Touch gestures, and
adds iCloud Drive folder sharing from the Files app and new Memoji
stickers. This update also contains bug fixes and improvements.
Mouse and Trackpad Support
* All-new cursor design highlights app icons on the Home Screen and
Dock and buttons and controls in apps
* Magic Keyboard for iPad support on iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd
generation or later) and iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation or later)
* Magic Mouse, Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad, Magic Trackpad 2, and
third-party Bluetooth and USB mouse support
* Multi-Touch gestures on Magic Keyboard for iPad and Magic
Trackpad 2 enable you to scroll, swipe between app spaces, go Home, access
App Switcher, zoom in or out, tap to click, secondary click (right-click),
and swipe between pages
* Multi-Touch gestures on Magic Mouse 2 enable you to scroll,
secondary click (right-click), and swipe between pages
Files
* iCloud Drive folder sharing from the Files app
* Controls to limit access only to people you explicitly invite or
grant access to anyone with the folder link
* Permissions to choose who can make changes and upload files and
who can only view and download files
Memoji
* Nine new Memoji stickers, including Smiling Face with Hearts,
Hands Pressed Together, and Party Face
Mail
* Always-visible controls to delete, move, reply to, or compose a
message in conversation view
* Responses to encrypted emails are automatically encrypted when you
have configured S/MIME
App Store with Apple Arcade
* Universal Purchase support enables the use of a singular purchase
of a participating app across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and
Apple TV
* Recently played Arcade games appear in the Arcade tab so you can
continue playing on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV
* List view for See All Games
Augmented Reality
* AR Quick Look supports audio playback in USDZ files
Keyboard
* Live Conversion for Zhuyin automatically transforms Zhuyin into
the correct characters without pressing the space bar to convert text or
select candidates
* Live Conversion for Japanese automatically transforms Hiragana
into the correct characters without pressing the space bar to convert text
or select candidates
* Predictive typing support for Arabic
* Swiss German keyboard layout supported on iPad Pro 12.9-inch
* On-screen keyboard layout for iPad Pro 12.9-inch now matches
Smart Keyboard
This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements. This update:
* Fixes an issue in Camera where the viewfinder may appear as a
black screen after launch
* Addresses an issue where Photos may appear to use excess storage
* Resolves an issue in Photos that may prevent sharing an image to
Messages if iMessage is disabled
* Fixes an issue in Mail where messages may appear out of order
* Addresses an issue in Mail where the conversation list may display
empty rows
* Resolves an issue where Mail may crash when tapping the Share
button in Quick Look
* Fixes an issue in Settings where cellular data may incorrectly
display as off
* Addresses an issue in Safari where webpages may not be inverted
when both Dark Mode and Smart Invert are active
* Resolves an issue where text copied from web content in a
third-party app may appear invisible when pasted if Dark Mode is active
* Fixes an issue in Safari where a CAPTCHA tile may display
incorrectly
* Addresses an issue where Reminders may not issue new notifications
for an overdue recurring reminder until it is marked as completed
* Resolves an issue where Reminders may send notifications for
completed reminders
* Fixes an issue where iCloud Drive appears to be available in
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote even when not signed in
* Addresses an issue in Apple Music where music videos may not
stream in high quality
* Addresses an issue in the Home app where tapping an activity
notification from a security camera may open a different recording
* Resolves an issue where Shortcuts may not appear when tapping on
the Share menu from a screenshot
* Improves the Burmese keyboard so punctuation symbols are now
accessible from numbers and symbols
How to update
Update iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General
Software Update) via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina, or via iTunes ona PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.
In the Messages app, VoiceOver now locates and speaks the location ofpeople who are sharing their location with you.
