Braille Screen Input

Introducing Braille Screen Input, also known as BSI

Braille Screen Input is a standard feature of VoiceOver on iPhones and iPads and has been substantially improved in iOS 18 to incorporate it more fully and seamlessly into your iPhone and iPad experience. If you've tried it before and found it awkward please revisit BSI in iOS 18. You'll have a pleasant surprise.

BSI allows you to type braille without any additional hardware by using the phone or tablet screen as a virtual Braille keyboard. If you are reasonably  skilled at typing 6 or 8 dot braille, then you will probably find that typing braille on your iPhone or iPad screen is quicker and easier than typing on the on-screen QWERTY keyboard. 

8 dot braille typing is available only on the larger screens of iPads but 6 dot braille typing is available on all iPhones and iPads. 

It's surprisingly simple. You just need to tap on the screen once with your 6 or 8 fingers to let the phone or tablet know roughly where you will place your fingers and then you start typing braille as if you had a real, physical Braille keyboard. Pleas note that Braille Screen Input will not work correctly if the Zoom feature is enabled in Accessibility Settings.  You must ensure that Zoom is turned off before using BSI.

iOS and iPadOS 18 introduced major improvements to BSI which are reflected in this page. If you haven't yet updated to iOS 18 or later you will only be able to start BSI using the rotor and you won't be able to set it to start automatically whenever you enter text. You will also only be able to use BSI for text input and not for controlling your iPhone or iPad with BSI commands.

Setting up BSI

Setting your input choice

Go to VoiceOver settings and swipe right to Braille and then double tap to open the Braille settings. Swipe right to the Braille Screen Input button and double tap to open your choices. On an iPhone you will be able to choose between uncontracted 6 dot braille and contracted Braille. on iPads, 8 dot options will also be available. I recommend that you select contracted, even if you have only a limited knowledge of contracted, Grade 2, braille. Your iPhone will be happy to interpret a mixture of uncontracted and contracted Braille. If you are a Braille learner beginning to learn contractions this can be very helpful. If you are at the very beginning of your Braille learning then uncontracted Braille may be the best settong to avoid confusion when you practice entering single letters. In contracted Braille most single letters expand to words when typed on their own. 

If you would like to start BSI automatically whenever you enter text, turn on the "start automatically when entering text" button. This will be an excellent option if you plan to use BSI for most of your text entry.

There are many other settings which I'll leave you to discover. 

VoiceOver's feedback

You can determine how much or how little spoken feedback VoiceOver gives as you type with BSI. Go to VoiceOver settings and then swipe to "typing' then double tap. Swipe to "typing feedback" and double tap. Swipe right to "Braille Screen Input" and then continue swiping and select your preferred feedback option with a double tap. If you are practicing your  Grade 1 braille, setting the feedback to characters and words will give you immediate confirmation of each braille character you type and speak words when you complete them. VoiceOver's spoken feedback can be extremely helpful for learners of contracted Braille. If the feedback is set to words or characters and words, VoiceOver will speak the expanded version of any words containing  contractions when a word is completed with a space or other punctuation. I found it helped enormously to gain confidence with newly-learned contractions. 

Typing using BSI

If you turned on the "automatically when entering text" switch your screen will enter BSI mode whenever you start entering text. If the switch isn't turned on you can start BSI in one of two ways if you are using iOS 18 or later. The quickest is to double tap simultaneously with one finger from your right hand and one finger from your left hand near the short edges of the screen. Hold or rest the screen in landscape mode while you do this. Alternatively, when you begin entering text, turn the rotor to Braille Screen Input; this is your only option in iOS and iPadOS17 or earlier. 

To keep the description simple, I'll assume you are using 6 dot Braille.

If you prefer to hold the phone as you type, and this is my personal preference, hold the phone in landscape orientation clasped between your two palms with the screen facing away from you. You will hear VoiceOver speak "screen away mode".  The top three fingers of each hand should curl naturally just above the screen. You can tap the screen with those six fingers to form braille cells.

If you prefer to keep your hands free while you type braille, place your phone in landscape orientation  on a table with the screen facing up. You will hear VoiceOver speak "table top mode". In this mode, you can tap the screen with three fingers from each hand arranged in a V shape.

Whichever way the phone is placed, you should begin  by calibrating your finger positions. Do this by tapping the screen with all three fingers from your right hand simultaneously followed immediately by all three fingers of your left hand simultaneously.  You should hear VoiceOver speak "dot positions calibrated". The calibration won't work unless you perform the two three-finger taps in rapid succession, about as fast as the usual double tap speed.

Once calibration is complete, you are ready to begin tapping your braille on the screen. Your left index finger is dot 1 and your right index finger is dot 4.  To enter a space, swipe right with one finger.  To delete the previous character, swipe left with one finger. When you have finished, if you are using iOS or iPadOS 18, end BSI by pinching out with two fingers or perform a two finger scrub gesture. For version 17 or earlier turn the rotor away from Braille Screen Input with the standard rotor gesture or use a two finger scrub gesture.  

There are some more gestures you might find useful; these are taken from Apple's user guide:

• Move to a new line: Swipe right with two fingers.

• Cycle through spelling suggestions: Swipe up or down with one finger.

• Enter a carriage return, or send a message in the Messages app: Swipe up with three fingers.

• Cycle through modes (like Braille Entry mode and Command Mode): Swipe right with three fingers.

• Translate immediately (when contractions are enabled): Swipe down with two fingers.

• Switch to the next braille table: Swipe up with two fingers.

Controlling your iPhone or iPad using BSI

With iOS and iPadOS 18 or later you may use Braille Command Mode to control your device with braille commands. These are the same commands that were previously only available to users with additional braille refreshable display hardware.

When BSI is started, switch to command mode by swiping right or left with three fingers and then type your braille commands directly on the screen.

Apple publishes a list of common braille commands for VoiceOver.

Exploring mode

I think this is relevant only if you are using iOS or iPadOS 17 or earlier. With iOS 18, BSI users can use Braille commands to navigate and control the device.

Users have also discovered exploring mode which allows you to move around text without turning the rotor away from Braille Screen Input. Exploring mode allows you to move by character, word and line just as you would by using the rotor and also to select text . You will need to exit exploring mode to edit text with standard Braille Screen Input gestures and it is easy to enter and exit exploring mode. I think that exploring mode was first mentioned in a post on applevis.com.

To enter exploring mode, hold down any of the 6 or 8 Braille dots. VoiceOver will speak "in exploring mode". You need to keep your finger on this dot all the time you want to use exploring mode so you need to decide which hand will hold down the dot and which hand will perform the gestures Exploring mode is exited when you release the dot.

Here are some exploring mode gestures. If I spot others that people have discovered I will add them here.

• Change the rotor-like setting between characters, words and lines: Swipe down or up with two fingers.

• Move forward or backward by the choice you just made:  Swipe right or left with two fingers.

• Select the previous character, word or line: Swipe left with three fingers.

• Unselect a character, word or line: Swipe right with three fingers.

• Perform standard Braille Screen input gestures: release the held dot to exit exploring mode and then perform the standard gesture or gestures.

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