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What is VoiceOver?
VoiceOver makes it possible for people with severe sight impairment, including those with no useful vision, to make full use of iPhones and iPads through special on-screen gestures with spoken feedback; it's a screen reader; you may have heard of other screen readers such as Jaws for Windows or TalkBack for Android. VoiceOver is built in to iOS and iPadOS, the iPhone and iPad operating systems and is entirely free.
VoiceOver completely changes the way an iPhone or iPad is operated. Even a skilled iPhone or iPad user who has recently lost their sight won't be able to use their phone or tablet with VoiceOver turned on until they learn some VoiceOver gestures. Becoming proficient with VoiceOver isn’t something that happens in a day. On the other hand, if you still have useful sight and can read the screen, you may find learning just a few simple VoiceOver gestures lets you have screens or parts of screens spoken very conveniently by just dipping in and out of VoiceOver. If you can't read the screen and are completely dependent on VoiceOver then it's likely you'll be improving your VoiceOver skills for several weeks or longer and you'll probably be discovering new VoiceOver techniques months after you start. If you have severe sight impairment and can't see to read the screen please don't start your VoiceOver journey unless you are prepared to devote a significant amount of time to learning and practicing its gestures. VoiceOver gives people with severe sight impairment almost full access to everything that sighted people can do with their devices but some apps and web sites still aren’t written correctly to work with VoiceOver and can’t be used without some sight. The good news is that plenty of apps and web sites work extremely well with VoiceOver.
VoiceOver is controlled by touch gestures on the screen and these gestures do require some manual dexterity and people with limited manual dexterity will need to check their ability to perform the gestures before deciding if VoiceOver is going to work for them.
How is VoiceOver turned on and off?
VoiceOver can be turned on or off using Siri commands. Instruct Siri to "Turn VoiceOver on" or "Turn VoiceOver off". If you have no useful sight then you will need to leave VoiceOver turned on at all times except, perhaps, when you hand the device to a sighted assistant. If you have some useful sight, you may prefer to dip in and out of VoiceOver with instructions to Siri.
If you want to be able to turn VoiceOver on and off without speaking to Siri then a shortcut to turn VoiceOver on and off can be made available in Settings. If you’re able to work with Zoom screen magnification or already have basic VoiceOver skills then you may be able to set up the VoiceOver shortcut yourself. Otherwise, it’s probably best if you ask a helper to set this up for you. Here's how to set up the shortcut if you feel you will need it.
Once the VoiceOver shortcut is enabled, VoiceOver can be turned on or off by triple clicking the side or top button on iPhones and iPads with no home button or by triple clicking the circular home button on older models..
Getting started with VoiceOver
This section will introduce you to several VoiceOver gestures. If you have difficulty performing any of the gestures they can be practiced without risk of doing any harm using the VoiceOver practice section in Settings. You may need help from a sighted friend to get this started. Some people struggle initially with the gestures and if that's the case for you please try to get assistance. Your local Apple Store will certainly be able to help with a VoiceOver training session and your local or national society of visually impaired people may offer one-to-one or group training.
When you begin to use VoiceOver, give it time to speak in full. It pays to slow down and listen carefully in the early stages of learning VoiceOver. It often offers hints on how to use the item you’ve selected. These are hints, not instructions, so feel free to do something different but the hints can be very helpful.
Unlock your iPhone or iPad
On iPhones and iPads with FaceID: First wake the device and glance at the screen while holding it sufficiently far away for the front camera to see your full face. Then slide one finger up from the bottom edge of the screen until you feel a vibration or hear the second sound, then lift your finger. You should hear the first sound immediately your finger touches the bottom edge of the screen. Don't slide very slowly but you don't need to be super fast. If your device is in a case and you have difficulty performing this gesture, try resting a finger on the bottom rim of the case and then sliding upward in a single relaxed stroke, letting your finger drop on to the screen as it moves off the rim of the case.
On devices with Touch ID: Press the home button or top button using a finger you registered with Touch ID.
Sometimes you will be prompted for the passcode. Slide a finger to locate the first passcode digit in the central region of the screen, lift your finger and then double tap with one finger anywhere on the screen. Repeat for the other digits. Other typing styles are available and you will also discover below other ways to move between the digits of the on-screen keypad.
Answer and end a phone call
Let's make sure you know how to accept an incoming call, reject it or end it while you are working with VoiceOver.
To accept an incoming call, double tap anywhere with two fingers. To end the call if the person with whom you were speaking doesn't do so before you, double tap again with two fingers. Double tapping with two fingers has several functions in VoiceOver and is called the Magic Tap. One of its functions is to start and pause media like music or audiobooks. So, if you perform your magic tap after the person you were speaking to ends the call you may hear your music, audiobook or whatever start playing. No problem, just double tap again with two fingers to pause it.
To reject an incoming call and send it to voicemail click the side button on the right edge of your phone twice. This doesn't need to be very fast.
Exploring the screen
A good way to start using VoiceOver is to explore the home screen by sliding one finger slowly over the screen and listening to VoiceOver speaking what is under your finger. VoiceOver always speaks what is under your finger, whether it is an app on the home screen, a button in an app or a section of text. You will sometimes hear a little boink sound which indicates that there is no item under your finger for VoiceOver to speak. Make sure that no other fingers touch the screen. A stray touch could do things you hadn't intended! If something unexpected does happen, return to the home screen with the home gesture or home button as follows:
Return to the home screen
On iPhones and iPads with FaceID: slide one finger up from the bottom edge of the screen until you feel a vibration or hear the second sound, then lift your finger. This is identical to the gesture that unlocked your device, but this time the device doesn't need to have seen your face. Be sure to lift your finger after the second sound. If you continue to the third sound the app switcher will be opened. If this happens, attempt the home gesture again.
On older iPhones and iPads with a circular home button: click the home button once.
The home gesture or home button will take you to a screen showing multiple apps. If you have several screens of apps then the gesture will take you to the app screen you last used but a second home gesture will always take you to the home screen.
Activate an item
Once you’ve located and heard VoiceOver speak the name of the app you want on the home screen it can be activated by lifting your finger and then double tapping rapidly with one finger anywhere on the screen. That double tap is one of many available gestures and we'll concentrate here on learning a few simple gestures that will get you a long way with using your phone. Although nearly all gestures may be performed anywhere on the screen, I recommend that you begin by aiming for somewhere near the centre of the screen to avoid fingers straying beyond the touch sensitive area of the screen. Older iPhone and iPad models have quite wide frames around the touch-sensitive screen.
Activating items by double tapping with one finger has many uses including opening apps on the home screen, using buttons within apps, selecting items from menus and entering letters on the on-screen keyboard. It does what a sighted user would do by tapping the item just once.
Progress through items, lists and menus on the screen
Gestures you need to learn early are swipes across the screen to right or left. It’s a bit like flicking dust off your jacket. Flick your finger from left to right or right to left and briefly make contact with the screen in the middle of the flick. Your finger doesn't need to travel very far over the screen. Ensure that your finger is in motion when it first touches the screen and is still in motion when it leaves the screen. If you touch the screen and then start moving or if you rest your finger on the screen at the end of the flick, the gesture will probably be interpreted as a touch rather than a swipe.
If you swipe to the right, VoiceOver will advance through the items on screen.
If you swipe to the left VoiceOver will go in to reverse and go backwards through the items on the screen.
You will find that swiping to right or left is a systematic, if sometimes lengthy, way of finding the item you want to use. As you learn more VoiceOver skills, you'll discover additional ways to navigate around screens more efficiently.
Having text spoken
Tapping any item, including a section of text will cause VoiceOver to speak the item. Nothing will be activated. Having tapped a piece of text, you can swipe right repeatedly to hear any remaining text spoken in sections.
Alternatively, if you'd like to hear the full text spoken continuously, swipe down with two fingers. You can pause and resume VoiceOver speech with a two finger tap. The two finger tap to pause and resume VoiceOver speech works in any context, not just after you swipe down with two fingers.
Scrolling
To scroll up to view the next page of a long item swipe up with three fingers.
To scroll down to view the previous page swipe down with three fingers.
It may help to think of the display on the screen moving up or down in the same direction as your swipe.
Three fingers swipes right and left have a similar effect for horizontal scrolling. In particular, this gesture moves between app screens. For example, from the home screen, swipe left with three fingers to scroll to the second screen of app icons. For this gesture to work, VoiceOver must first be focused on an item that can be moved and not on the status bar at the top of the screen or in the dock at the bottom of the screen. If the gesture doesn't work, touch anywhere near the centre of the screen and hear the name of an app, folder or widget and then try the three finger swipe agai.
and there's more
That's a starter pack of basic VoiceOver gestures.
For a list of all the most commonly used VoiceOver gestures see:
There is also a VoiceOver tutorial in Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver which may help some learners; learners with no useful vision may need assistance to locate and start the tutorial but should be able to start and use it with the minimum set of basic VoiceOver skills outlined on this page.
On the home page of this website you will find numerous links to pages describing how to use VoiceOver in specific apps and more advanced VoiceOver features.
Finally, you will find other suggested sources on my additional information sources page.
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last updated 26 October 2026
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