Issue with Braille display and Kindle app with iOS 14.4

By David in the UK, 6 February, 2021

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hi all,
Apologies to anyone who has read this post elsewhere, but I wasn't entirely sure where to post it.
I use my iPad and iPhone with Braille to read textbooks regularly. This has been working well with the apple books app and Kindle recently. I use a focus 40 blue 5th gen, and also a BrailleSense U2 for Braille access.
Since 14.4 it appears there's now a bug. When I'm at the bottom of a page, and I advance the Braille, this should move to the next line and page, but the Braille just jumps to a random place on the page. There hasn't been a Kindle update lately, so I'm assuming it's an IOS issue.
Is anyone experiencing this, and does anyone have a work around?
Thank you in advance.
David

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Comments

By Dennis Westphal on Friday, February 5, 2021 - 05:29

It appears that when kindle goes to another page the line that is shown on the braille display is at the bottom. You have to go back to the top which can take a while assuming you find it. If you go too far it will turn to the page you have already read and the process starts all over again. Honestly frustrating so i gave up my attempt of reading for now...

By bonerobot on Friday, February 5, 2021 - 05:29

Hi,

I can unfortunately also reproduce this issue. I use a old Focus Blue 40 as braille display.
I purchased recently a book on Kindle, in intention to read it after finishing a book which I purchased on Apple Books. After I noticed this thread, I looked on my Kindle app on IOS and I notice also this weird page flip behavior.
Is there an accessibility department, where you can report this issue, like in Apples case? And if yes, how to reach them?

By Chris Hill on Friday, February 5, 2021 - 05:29

I think this is Apple's problem, it happens on Apple Books, Kindle, and Voice Dream, so it sounds to me like Apple's baby.

By Bingo Little on Friday, February 5, 2021 - 05:29

I know this is a step backwards but has anyone tried turning off panning? I did a bit of experimentation with this and it seemed to work though my testing wasn't extensive. Granted this will mean having to do the page turning command quite frequently as we used to have to but if it works maybe it's a solution for now?

By David in the UK on Friday, March 5, 2021 - 05:29

I sent an email to Apple outlining the issues I've been having, and have just received this in reply:
Hello David,

Thank you for your email. We appreciate you taking the time to bring this to our attention. We have reproduced this in our testing, and our passing this information along to the appropriate people at Apple and Amazon.

Sincerely,

Apple Accessibility.
Hopefully we will get it sorted in future ios releases.
Also, I have contacted Amazon to report it as well.
D

By Wayne Scott Jr on Friday, March 5, 2021 - 05:29

What is the command for turning pages if I were to turn panning off? Can someone give a me a list of the commands for a braille display to use with Kindle? Where would ow go to turn panning off?

By Henrik Gotesson on Friday, March 5, 2021 - 05:29

A really frustrating bug! Here is a possible work around:
At least in the Apple books app, which I use with Focus 40 blue, you can use the next container command. After the automatic panning to next page, first press space+l and then space+dots5,6 and 8, that is the skip to next container command.

By Scott Davert on Friday, March 5, 2021 - 05:29

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Hi all.
I'm finally in a position where I can start reporting and doing more testing for iOS again. This issue is not unique to Kindle, it's also happening with the native Books app. I've reported this accordingly and will add it to the bug tracker soon.

TO answer the question about the panning command, space with O will take you to the next page, and space with OW(2-4-6) will take you to the previous page. In my opinion, this makes reading books on iOS almost not worth even trying. I won't be purchasing any Apple Books until this is fixed.

By Wenwei on Saturday, June 5, 2021 - 05:29

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is experiencing this! I turned off panning altogether and touch the top of my phone or iPad. This is quite annoying because it takes me out of the book, but it's better than manually scrolling to the top of each page. Am considering purchasing a Kindle because I don't want to be on my phone or iPad when I'm pleasure reading anyway! I heard that voice view and braille support is okay if all you want to do is read.

By Scott Davert on Monday, July 5, 2021 - 05:29

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

This was fixed as far as I can tell in iOS 14.5. It should not be an issue now. I also enjoy reading with the Voice View support of braille under Fire OS.

By Wenwei on Thursday, August 5, 2021 - 05:29

I've been avoiding updating my iPhone 8, but now I think I'll take the plunge. Thanks!