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Something I've been wondering is, how do you enable accessibility features like voiceover on a new iPhone or generally just a computer? There seems to be a catc

Something I've been wondering is, how do you enable accessibility features like voiceover on a new iPhone or generally just a computer? There seems to be a catch 22 of sorts from what I can tell?

crooked-v 6y ago
I believe both macOS and Windows these days will automatically trigger accessibility features on first setup if you don't do anything for long enough.
gostsamo 6y ago
On activation, both IPhone and Android phones offer to turn on accessibility and people turn it off. Windows does not have accessible installation as far as I know, but it also has some basic screen reader on activation. Don't take my word for Windows though because usually I try to put a better screen reader as fast as possible. I can't say for Macs or Linux, though I've heard that now some distros also come with a screen reader and it could be switched on at some moment.
mlang23 6y ago
If the carrier hasn't fucked with the defaults, you should be able to launch VoiceOver with a tripple-press on the home button. I don't know how it works with the new home-button-less devices, I dont have any of those.
- ThePowerOfFuet 6y ago
  One of the major upsides of iPhones is that carriers absolutely cannot fuck with the defaults (be it settings or software).
miki123211 6y ago
On iPhone, it's a triple press of the home button, there's something else for the new devices. If that doesn't work for some reason, you must do it via iTunes. On Android, it depends, sometimes it doesn't work at all, usually it's pressing and holding both volume buttons at the same time, I believe there was also something involving double tapping and holding with two fingers in some older Android versions. It's especially bad when you want to do the setup in something other than English and your manufacturer doesn't include the tts for your language, which might leave your device in a half-broken state. Fragmentation is a huge problem here, and the general guideline is to have a sighted person handy, or get an iPhone and be done with it. Windows 10 has ctrl+Windows+enter. For older versions of Windows, you either needed someone sighted for first install, used a special Windows PE image donwloaded from god knows where, or prepared your own unattended installation media if you knew how. MacOS has Command+f5, not sure about the new ones with the touchbar, but they have something too. On Linux it depends, usually Super+Alt+S for distros that boot straight into a GUI. For other distros, it's either a special image that talks (Arch), or a certain action you need to do in the boot menu, (s then enter in Debian). There are also special distributions for the blind that talk on boot. Older devices of any kind usually required sighted help for setup. For a long time, WIndows didn't have any usable free screen reader for example, nevermind a built-in one, so you had to find a sighted person to do the setup and launch the screen reader's installer. The methods for Android, Windows, MacOS and Linux work both on first install and during normal usage, the method for iOS works only on setup and needs to be manually configured later.
tarboreus 6y ago
"Hey siri, turn on Voiceover."

Something I've been wondering is, how do you enable accessibility features like voiceover on a new iPhone or generally just a computer? There seems to be a catch 22 of sorts from what I can tell?

crooked-v 6y ago

I believe both macOS and Windows these days will automatically trigger accessibility features on first setup if you don't do anything for long enough.

gostsamo 6y ago

On activation, both IPhone and Android phones offer to turn on accessibility and people turn it off. Windows does not have accessible installation as far as I know, but it also has some basic screen reader on activation. Don't take my word for Windows though because usually I try to put a better screen reader as fast as possible. I can't say for Macs or Linux, though I've heard that now some distros also come with a screen reader and it could be switched on at some moment.

mlang23 6y ago

If the carrier hasn't fucked with the defaults, you should be able to launch VoiceOver with a tripple-press on the home button. I don't know how it works with the new home-button-less devices, I dont have any of those.

ThePowerOfFuet 6y ago
One of the major upsides of iPhones is that carriers absolutely cannot fuck with the defaults (be it settings or software).

miki123211 6y ago

On iPhone, it's a triple press of the home button, there's something else for the new devices. If that doesn't work for some reason, you must do it via iTunes. On Android, it depends, sometimes it doesn't work at all, usually it's pressing and holding both volume buttons at the same time, I believe there was also something involving double tapping and holding with two fingers in some older Android versions. It's especially bad when you want to do the setup in something other than English and your manufacturer doesn't include the tts for your language, which might leave your device in a half-broken state. Fragmentation is a huge problem here, and the general guideline is to have a sighted person handy, or get an iPhone and be done with it. Windows 10 has ctrl+Windows+enter. For older versions of Windows, you either needed someone sighted for first install, used a special Windows PE image donwloaded from god knows where, or prepared your own unattended installation media if you knew how. MacOS has Command+f5, not sure about the new ones with the touchbar, but they have something too. On Linux it depends, usually Super+Alt+S for distros that boot straight into a GUI. For other distros, it's either a special image that talks (Arch), or a certain action you need to do in the boot menu, (s then enter in Debian). There are also special distributions for the blind that talk on boot. Older devices of any kind usually required sighted help for setup. For a long time, WIndows didn't have any usable free screen reader for example, nevermind a built-in one, so you had to find a sighted person to do the setup and launch the screen reader's installer. The methods for Android, Windows, MacOS and Linux work both on first install and during normal usage, the method for iOS works only on setup and needs to be manually configured later.

tarboreus 6y ago

"Hey siri, turn on Voiceover."