What is a sheet grabber?

Every now and then a VoiceOver user will do something which causes VoiceOver to speak "sheet grabber". You've taken an action which has brought up a screen with a so-called sheet of information overlaid on and partially obscuring a full screen display. The sheet normally occupies the lower part of the screen. Visually, the sheet grabber is a long thin shape that appears at the top centre of the sheet. If VoiceOver isn't being used the size of the sheet overlay can be adjusted by dragging the sheet grabber up or down. For a VoiceOver user, when sheets appear, VoiceOver's focus normally jumps to the sheet grabber and "sheet grabber" is spoken . The sheet grabber can often be ignored by VoiceOver users since VoiceOver will usually be able to speak the full contents of the sheet including items not currently on screen. So, if you aren't using your vision in conjunction with VoiceOver, just ignore the sheet grabber and swipe right to hear the main content of the sheet. This will include a close button to dismiss the sheet. If the sheet grabber is double tapped by a VoiceOver user it usually toggles the sheet height between preset values. This may be of use to someone using VoiceOver in conjunction with their vision, allowing them to optimise the visual screen layout. In some apps, such as Voice Memos on iPhone, the sheet grabber has a more important role and can be used to increase the sheet size and reveal hidden pause and resume controls 

I have also found the sheet grabber useful in the FindMy app when I'm using the Items tab to check my AirTags. In this screen there is a map overlaid by a sheet in the bottom half of the screen listing the AirTags and their locations. I have a lot of AirTags and they don't all show on the half-screen sheet. The list can update quite frequently as the time an  AirTag was last located updates. VoiceOver's focus jumps to an updated item making it dificult to handle the list. If I double tap the sheet grabber to have the sheet mostly fill the screen and have more AirTags displayed then it's easier to use the screen.

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last updated 6 October 2026