This guide looks at the support given by Apple for their mobile and desktop
devices in relation to the use of Braille.
Topics covered include: what Apple products support the use of Braille, what
Braille devices are supported, how to install and use Braille displays,
similarities between the mobile and desktop systems, tips for getting the
most out of using Braille, suggested apps to get started, and mobile and
desktop gestures and Braille keyboard commands.
Apple's product line covers both mobile devices (iPhone, iPod touch and
iPad), and desktop devices (MacBook air, MacBook Pro, iMac etc.) Both can be
used by Bluetooth Braille display or Braille note taking devices via
VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader. However, as iDevices do not support
USB connectivity, this also means that connecting a Braille display via USB
is not possible. It should be noted that out of all of the iOS devices, the
iPhone is the only device that vibrates. This may be of use to people who
cannot hear the various audio alerts. For example - vibrate on ring,
vibrate on message received, vibrate alarm, personal custom vibrations for
specific contacts, etc. In addition, the amount of work that has gone in to
developing VoiceOver on iOS, really does mean you can use the iPhone, iPod
touch or iPad pretty much completely from a supported Braille device with a
keyboard. To some extent, Braille support on iOS does Braille support on the
Mac, but a user usually has access to a keyboard to give the Mac
instructions besides the Braille device. Using VoiceOver on OS X and iOS is
very similar, particularly as both systems share common VoiceOver gestures,
Braille keyboard commands, and VoiceOver Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard commands.
On a MacBook air or MacBook Pro, the keyboard is built-in as well as the
trackpad. On an iMac, the keyboard is usually a Bluetooth keyboard with a
Bluetooth Magic trackpad. On iOS, the trackpad is actually the touch
screen, and the external keyboard being Bluetooth. The similarity between
VoiceOver on OS X and iOS, allows easy transition between the desktop and
mobile systems. In addition, many of the apps or applications are shared
between both. For example:
Messages, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Maps, Safari, etc.
In iOS, it is a good idea to have VoiceOver setup via the Accessibility
Shortcut (Settings, General, Accessibility, Accessibility Shortcut,
VoiceOver) so that VoiceOver can be toggled on or off if need: i.e. in those
cases where the device is going to be used by a non VoiceOver user. When
this shortcut is set, pressing the Home button three times will toggle
VoiceOver on or off.
In OS X, VoiceOver can be toggled on or off via the shortcut key Command+F5
as needed: i.e. in those cases where the device is going to be used by a non
VoiceOver user.
When VoiceOver is toggled on in either OS X or iOS, the connected Braille
device will reconnect automatically. However, particularly with iDevices,
this is not always the case. If this happens, simply lock the screen of the
device while the display is in terminal for screen reader mode, and then
press the home button again. This should reconnect the 2 devices."When the
screen is locked on iOS, pressing the Power or Home button will bring up the
unlock screen and VoiceOver will reconnect (if running) to the Braille
device. If the Mac is in stand by, pressing any key on the keyboard or
opening the lid on a MacBook will bring the Mac screen up and VoiceOver will
reconnect to the Braille display (again, if on).
More than 40 Braille devices are supported on both iOS and OS X systems. No
need for 3rd party drivers to be installed, it works right out of the box.
OS X supports USB and Bluetooth Braille devices, whilst iOS only supports
Bluetooth Braille devices. Note that you can pair a braille display without
having VoiceOver enabled, but you cannot use the braille display without
VoiceOver being turned on. Before starting the below process, be sure that
your device is in terminal for screen reader, or discoverable mode.
1. Go to Settings >Bluetooth and make sure Bluetooth is switched on. If it
is off, double tap (single tap without VoiceOver) to turn it on.
2. Double tap (single tap without VoiceOver) the back button to move back
to settings, and then scroll to General and double tap (single tap without
VoiceOver). Next, scroll to and activate Accessibility.
3. Scroll to and double tap (Single tap without VoiceOver) on the
"VoiceOver" button to open the VoiceOver settings dialog.
4. Scroll to the "Braille" option and double tap (Single tap without
Voiceover) to open the Braille settings dialog.
5. The iDevice should start searching for a braille display. Then, scroll
one item past "Choose Braille device." This will say "Searching." Once the
display has been discovered, the name of the braille display will show here.
6. Once the braille display is found, select the braille display's name.
This will launch the pairing dialog. On the phone type the pairing code and
select the Done button in the top right corner to establish the connection.
Note that the Brailliant BI displays do not require a pin code. For all
other models, please consult the user documentation for the specific
authentication code for that device. Also note that this process cannot be
completed independently by an individual who does not have enough sight to
see the screen or enough hearing to understand the speech output of
VoiceOver.
Connection tips: Once the braille display has been paired and if you wish to
use Braille with the iDevice, turn the braille display on prior to bringing
the iDevice out of standby and braille will automatically be connected.
Lock the iDevice before turning off the braille display to allow for a more
reliable auto-connection the next time you wish to use braille with the
iDevice. To set up Braille on OS X: Launch the VoiceOver Utility by
pressing and holding the control and options keys and then pressing f8.
Alternatively, you can get to the VoiceOver utility through the Universal
Access menu., once in the VVoiceOver Utility, navigate to Braille. VoiceOver
on OS X will auto detect a USB Braille display and no set up is required if
you wish to use the default Braille settings. That said, you will need to
use the Braille category in Voice Utility to Add a Bluetooth Braille
display. Bluetooth in System Preferences will also need to be on. Make sure
your Braille device is turned on with Bluetooth enabled, and if using a
Braille Notetaker, in terminal mode with Bluetooth or USB connection
depending on how you are connecting. In both the Braille settings screen on
OS X and iOS, you can adjust various Braille settings. Similar Braille
settings on both iOS and OS X include:
* Unified English Braille translation table,
* Toggle contracted Braille,
* Show 8 dot Braille,
* Use automatic Braille translation, and
* Toggle status cells.
Specific iOS Braille settings include:
* Show onscreen keyboard, and
* Equations use Nemeth code.
Specific OS X Braille support includes:
* Use dot 7 and 8 to indicate cursor, and
* Display alert messages (how long messages stay on the Braille
display).
Both OS X and iOS allow Braille keyboard navigation, and on those devices
which have a Braille or QWERTY input keyboard, the entering of Braille or
text as well. VoiceOver keyboard help can be used to explore the keys on
the Braille display or the short-cut keys with Braille or QWERTY keyboards.
On iOS, if you have a Braille display with no keyboard: perform a 4 finger
double tap on the screen to bring up VoiceOver help, press the buttons on
the Braille display to learn their function or practise VoiceOver gestures,
and to escape help press the Home button at the bottom of the screen on your
iOS device. On OS X, if you have a Braille display with no keyboard: use
the VoiceOver command Control+Option+K (Control+Option normally written as
VO) to bring up VoiceOver help, press the buttons on the Braille display to
learn their function or practise VoiceOver gestures if you are using a
trackpad, and to escape help press the Escape key at the top left row of
your Mac keyboard. Note - you will need to turn on the VoiceOver Trackpad
commander to use the VoiceOver gestures on the trackpad. To do this, simply
hold down the VO keys (Control+Option) and do a two finger clockwise rotate
on the trackpad. If you want to turn the VoiceOver Trackpad Commander off:
VO plus two finger counter clockwise rotate. If your Braille device does
have a Braille input keyboard, on either OS X or iOS, press Space+k to bring
up VoiceOver help, press the buttons on the Braille display or perform
VoiceOver keyboard commands with the Spacebar with other keys to learn their
function or practise VoiceOver gestures on the touch screen of iOS or the
trackpad on the Mac, and to escape VoiceOver help press Space+b. Note that
for iOS 7 specifically, if the individual doing this exploration can only
use Braille, the message indicating what each function does will flash up
very quickly. With iOS 7, particularly in the VoiceOver help mode, what
happens is that the message will display, and then the Braille display will
go back to showing whatever was last on the display before entering help
mode. Turning on speech, even if it's not necessary for a deaf-blind user
can help, but you can also press space with the letter N to have the last
thing sent to the Braille display show up again. Press space with N again to
exit this mode. You can use other Bluetooth devices (particularly with iOS)
when you are using your Braille device. For example: if your Braille device
has no keyboard, you can pair a Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard for use by
VoiceOver and iOS itself, which will give you navigation and keyboard input
as well. To pair a Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard, Settings, Bluetooth, (make
sure Bluetooth is on), choose your keyboard, and enter the pin on the
keyboard to pair. Make sure your Bluetooth keyboard is on, and if necessary,
in paring mode. Some of the overall VoiceOver screen reader controls are
also shared by iOS and OS X (particularly if you are using a Braille
Notetaker keyboard or Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard) which include:
* Navigating and activating items,
* the VoiceOver rotor, and
* VoiceOver Quick Nav.
The basic VoiceOver gestures, Braille Notetaker, and VoiceOver Bluetooth
keyboard commands are:iOS gestures 1 finger flick left or right - move to
the previous or next item,1 finger double tap - activate item, andWhen in an
application, press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Braille Note Taking Keyboard CommandsDot 1 plus Spacebar or Dot 4 plus
Spacebar - move to the previous or next item,Dot 36 plus Spacebar - activate
item, andWhen in an application, press dot 125 plus Spacebar to activate the
Home button to return to the Home screen.
On a Braille display without a keyboard, there are usually buttons on the
device to move VoiceOver around the iOS or Mac screen. In addition, the
auto-cursoring buttons above the actual Braille display on most Braille
devices is used to activate the current item. On OS X, when you are using a
Braille display, the Braille Caption Panel shows in text what is on the
Braille display in the VoiceOver focus, handy for sighted folks to see what
is being read on the Braille display. The Braille Caption Panel can be
toggled on or off by VO+Command+F9 (if your function keys are still set to
hardware, just ad the FN key to this command). If you want to mute the
speech of VoiceOver: 3 finger double tap on iOS or Mac (trackpad), Spacebar
+M on a Braille keyboard or VO+M on an iOS Bluetooth QWERTY connected
keyboard. The easiest way to mute any sound on OS X is to press the mute
function key toggle F10 (if your function keys are set to hardware, you can
just press the key by itself). A really great command for VoiceOver is to
blank the screen (called screen curtain) on your Mac or iOS device so that
you have complete privacy and no one can see the contents of your screen.
The easiest way to do this on iOS and OS X is to do a 3 finger triple tap on
the screen (trackpad) which will toggle the screen curtain on or off. The
Mac VoiceOver keyboard command is VO+Shift+F11 (remember about the FN key).
The Braille keyboard input command is space with dots 1-2-3-4-5-6.If you
want to learn how to use VoiceOver on the Mac, run the VoiceOver quick Start
Tutorial with VO+Command+F8 (again, remember about the FN key).
VoiceOver on iOS has no built-in tutorial, but the VO Getting Started app is
a great place to start. You will need to download this from the iOS App
Store on your iOS device or from iTunes on your Mac.
The VoiceOver Keyboard Commander on the Mac (toggled on or off with
VO+Shift+K), makes it easy to run applications by just pressing two keys:
the Right Option key plus another key. By default, VoiceOver Keyboard
Commander will run Option+S for Safari (web browser), Option+M for Mail, and
Option+T for time. Other keyboard commands can be added in VoiceOver
Utility, Commanders, Keyboard.
A very useful function in Safari on the Mac is to use the toggle Reader
(Command+R) keyboard short-cut when reading an article on a webpage. When
you use this command to turn Reader on, it strips all of the HTML code (web
links etc.) out of the page and just leaves the text of the article on the
screen: making it a lot easier to read the article with Braille.
This function is also available on iOS Safari. You will find the Reader
control at the top of the screen on any web page that contains an article
and Safari has enabled the Reader function. Jump to the top of the page and
you will land on the Reader button, activate this, and read without any
distractions.
The word suggestion list when you are typing with a Bluetooth QWERTY
keyboard in to a document in Text on the Mac is great when you don't know
how to complete a word. Just write part of the word, press Escape, arrow
through the list of suggested words, and press return to accept a choice or
Escape again to exit.
Whilst the Mac spell checks your typing throughout the whole operating
system, VoiceOver announces that a word has been misspelled, but this is not
actually shown on the Braille display. On the Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard, you
can use the built-in spell checker, Command+; (semicolon) to go to the next
misspelled word or the VoiceOver command VO+Command+E.A command to quickly
find text on the screen for both Mac and if you are using an iOS Bluetooth
QWERTY keyboard (I have not been able to find a similar command on a Braille
Notetaker keyboard on iOS), is VO+F, type in the text to find, and press
Return. If the first item is not the correct item, press VO+G to continue
the search to the next item or VO+Shift+G to go back to the previous item.
This saves the use of having to gesture or keyboard around the screen to
find a particular item. With the Mac, the Braille keyboard command is space
with the letter f (dots 1-2-4).
If you just want a quick list of what is on the screen in iOS or Mac to go
through in alphabetical order and choose which item you want to move to, use
the Item Chooser:Mac keyboard - VO+I,iOS VoiceOver gesture - 2 finger triple
tap,iOS Bluetooth keyboard - VO+I, and iOS Braille Notetaker - Spacebar plus
dot 24 (i).The item chooser on the Mac you may find of limited use as it
does bring up far too many items.
The VoiceOver rotor is very useful when navigating a webpage by headings or
links. The rotor is always on in iOS, and as previously stated, turned on
via VO+two finger clockwise rotate on the Mac trackpad. Items on the rotor
will change depending on what app or application is being used. When Safari
is used on either the Mac or iOS, you can do a two finger rotate around to
various web elements that you can quickly move to the next or previous
element. For example, you can do a two finger rotate around to Heading, then
do a one finger flick down to move to the next heading or a one finger flick
up to move to the previous heading. With iOS, you can move to the previous
rotor item by using space with dot 3, and to the next item by using space
with dot 6. Unfortunately, with the Mac on Safari, this command does not
work for Braille displays.
Quick Nav on Bluetooth keyboards basically allows you to use the cursor keys
on a QWERTY keyboard (left, right, up and down arrows) to replace VO+XX
keyboard commands. To toggle VoiceOver Quick Nav on or off press the Left
and Right Arrow keys together. Once on, you can perform such actions
as:Right Arrow instead of VO+Right Arrow move to next item,Left Arrow
instead of VO+Left Arrow move to previous item, andUp and Down Arrow
together instead of pressing VO+Spacebar to activate an item.
When using the iPhone with a Bluetooth Braille display, the incoming phone
number or the contact name (if the number is in your contacts list) will
show up on the Braille display. Two finger double tap on the screen to
answer the call, and two finger double tap again to hang up.
Turning off auto lock on your iOS device will stop the screen locking every
1 minute and prevent you having to wait for VoiceOver to reconnect to the
Braille display when you access the unlock screen by either pressing the
Power or Home button. To turn off auto-lock, go to Settings, General,
Auto-Lock, and choose Never. You can then lock the screen with the Power
button when you want to.
In the Braille settings screen in VoiceOver on iOS, you can choose to have
the on-screen keyboard shown at the same time which will give you yet
another keyboard option depending on what you are doing. You can also toggle
this within any text field by pressing the eject key on a Bluetooth
keyboard, or by pressing space with dots 1-4-6 on a connected Braille
display.
When Brailling in on iOS and OS X with contracted Braille turned on, you may
want to consider turning off automatic Braille translation. Otherwise, if
you start to Braille a word that starts with a contracted character (such as
b for but), when you try and Braille the word bus and you pause after the b,
you will get but.
Apps to get you startedBelow you will find a list of built-in and
installable apps that you can use on iOS and Mac that will work with
VoiceOver using a Braille display to get you started.
Apps on iOS that work well with VoiceOver Braille include:Native iOS apps,
* Messages - message other Message users on iOS or Mac,
* Calendar - keep appointments,
* Contacts - keep contact information,
* Notes - keep quick notes,
* Reminders - set reminders for yourself,
* Clock - for time, world time, alarm and timer,
* Weather - check the weather,
* Maps - Apple Maps GPS good for quickly checking location,
* Calculator - perform calculations, and
* Mail, Safari (web browsing) and Pages (word processing needs to be
installed as not default iOS app).
App Store apps that work well with VoiceOver Braille include:
* iBooks - purchase and read iBooks (put here as you still need to
get it from the App Store),
* Kindle - read Kindle books from your iCloud Kindle library,
* Navigon Mobile Australia - GPS,
* TweetList - Twitter client,
* Skype - text other Skype users,
* Facebook - Facebook client,
* Newsify - RSS reader,
* Read2go - read daisy text books,
* HIMMS Chat - to way face to face communication app, and
* Money Reader - identifies paper money (flash's the Braille display
each time it reads the value of the note).
Built-in applications on OS X that work well with VoiceOver Braille include:
* iTunes - sync content between your Mac and iOS device,
* App Store - purchase Mac apps,
* Messages - message other Message users on Mac or iOS,
* Calendar - keep appointments,
* Contacts - keep contact information,
* Notes - keep quick notes,
* Reminders - set reminders for yourself,
* Calculator - perform calculations,
* Dictionary - get a meaning of a word, and
* Mail, Safari (web browsing) and Textedit or Pages (word processing
Pages needs to be installed as not default OS X app).
3rd party applications that work well with VoiceOver Braille include:
* Docuscan Plus - Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for scanning
of print documents,
* Skype - text with other Skype users,
* Readhear - read daisy text books on the Mac, and
* YoruFukurou (Night Owl in Japanese) - Twitter client.
* Note - you can get Money Reader for the Mac which works with the
eyesight camera, but it only speaks out the value of the note, it doesn't
get displayed on the Braille display.
Following are the common Braille Notetaker keyboard commands for iOS and Mac
OS XVoiceOver Braille Keyboard Commands. Common Braille device commands for
iOS VoiceOver navigationWhen using a Braille display with VoiceOver in iOS,
your Braille display may support the following commands to help with
navigation. You will notice a lot of similarity between these iOS Braille
keyboard commands and Mac Braille keyboard commands, but there are a few
differences. Consult the manual that came with your Braille Notetaker for
more specific commands, specifically for iOS in accessing Control Centre,
Notifications Centre, etc.
VoiceOver actionDot 1 + Spacebar = Move to previous item Dot 4 + Spacebar =
Move to next itemDot 3 + Spacebar = Move to previous item using rotor
settingDot 6 + Spacebar = Move to next item using rotor settingDot 23 +
Spacebar = Select previous rotor settingDot 5 + Spacebar = Select next rotor
settingDot 123 + Spacebar = Move to the first elementDot 456 + Spacebar =
Move to the last elementDot 1235 + Spacebar = Read page starting at selected
itemDot 2456 + Spacebar = Read page starting at the topDot 125 + Spacebar =
Activates the Home buttonDot 234 + Spacebar = Go to the status barDot 345 +
Spacebar = Activates the Volume Up buttonDot 126 + Spacebar = Activates the
Volume Down buttonDot 12 + Spacebar = Activates the Back button if
presentDot 146 + Spacebar = Activates the Eject keyDot 7 + Spacebar =
Activates the Delete keyDot 145 + Spacebar = Activates the Delete keyDot 8 +
Spacebar = Activates the Return keyDot 15 + Spacebar = Activates the Return
keyDot 2345 + Spacebar = Activates the Tab keyDot 123456 + Spacebar = Toggle
Screen Curtain on and offDot 1234 + Spacebar = Pause or continue speechDot
134 + Spacebar = Toggle speech on and offDot 34 + Spacebar = Speak page
number or rows being displayedDot 3456 + Spacebar = Scroll up one pageDot
1456 + Spacebar = Scroll down one pageDot 246 + Spacebar = Scroll left one
pageDot 135 + Spacebar = Scroll right one pageDot 236 + Spacebar = Deselect
textDot 256 + Spacebar = Select textDot 236 + Spacebar = Select allDot 1346
+ Spacebar = CutDot 14 + Spacebar = CopyDot 1236 + Spacebar = PasteDot 1356
+ Spacebar = Undo typingDot 2346 + Spacebar = Redo typingDot 2 + Spacebar =
Pan Braille to the leftDot 5 + Spacebar = Pan Braille to the rightDot 1345 +
Spacebar = Toggle announcement historyDot 1245 + Spacebar = Switch between
contracted and uncontracted BrailleCommon Braille device commands for Mac
VoiceOver navigationWhen using a Braille display with VoiceOver in OS X,
your Braille display may support the following commands to help with
navigation.You will notice a lot of similarity between these OS X Braille
keyboard commands and iOS Braille keyboard commands, but there are a few
differences.VoiceOver actionDot 1 + Spacebar = Move to previous item Dot 4 +
Spacebar = Move to next itemDot 36 + Spacebar = activate itemDot 3 +
Spacebar = Move to previous item using rotor settingDot 6 + Spacebar = Move
to next item using rotor settingDot 23 + Spacebar = Select previous rotor
settingDot 56 + Spacebar = Select next rotor settingDot 123 + Spacebar =
Move to the first elementDot 456 + Spacebar = Move to the last elementDot
1235 + Spacebar = Read page starting at selected itemDot 2456 + Spacebar =
Read page starting at the topDot 125 + Spacebar = Activates the VoiceOver
help menu Dot 234 + Spacebar = Goes to the menuDot 345 + Spacebar =
Activates the Volume Up buttonDot 126 + Spacebar = Activates the Volume Down
buttonDot 12 + Spacebar = Activates the Escape keyDot 7 + Spacebar =
Activates the Delete keyDot 145 + Spacebar = Activates the Delete keyDot 8 +
Spacebar = Activates the Return keyDot 15 + Spacebar = Activates the Return
keyDot 2345 + Spacebar = Activates the Tab keyDot 123456 + Spacebar = Toggle
Screen Curtain on and offDot 1234 + Spacebar = Pause or continue speechDot
134 + Spacebar = Toggle speech on and offDot 34 + Spacebar = Speak page
number or rows being displayedDot 1456 + Spacebar = Scroll down one pageDot
246 + Spacebar = Scroll left one pageDot 135 + Spacebar = Scroll right one
pageDot 236 + Spacebar = Start interacting with an itemDot 256 + Spacebar =
Stop interacting with an itemDot 1345 + Spacebar = Toggle announcement
historyDot 24 + Spacebar = Item chooserDot 124 + Spacebar = Find textDot
1245 + Spacebar = Switch between contracted and uncontracted Braille
Tags:
* Braille <http://www.applevis.com/guides/braille>
* iOS <http://www.applevis.com/guides/ios>
* iOS Apps <http://www.applevis.com/guides/ios-apps>
* Mac Apps <http://www.applevis.com/guides/mac-apps>
* Mac OS X <http://www.applevis.com/guides/mac-os-x>
* <http://www.applevis.com/guides/voiceover> VoiceOver
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