Voiceover not reading links/previews in news feed, latest Facebook version (65)

By Luke, 30 September, 2016

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I just upgraded to version 65 and found that Voiceover no longer reads page titles, addresses or previews anymore. Touching the entry in the news feed announces the poster's name (Rolling Stone, or NPR, for example) and any text in the post itself, but nothing at all about the link. I thought maybe double tapping to open the post would help, but even when in the screen with the post, page info is not spoken. This is a major accessibility problem and needs to be reported asap. I urge anyone else experiencing this problem to visit the Facebook Accessibility page, hit the Contact button and fill out the feedback form.

Unfortunately, it seems Facebook is actually getting less and less accessible despite having a blind employee as a lead engineer in their accessibility department

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Comments

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

Hello! I agree with you that Facebook coubd use some work in accessibility department. On my ipad it just updates itself. Regarding your issue, I haven't seen it yet but thanks for letting us know! I'll definetely keep an eye out for it.! I have not noticed it yet. However, I think this may b a workaround. Once you get to a post (say something from NPR. for example), swipe down with your finger until you hear activate & fuble tap on that. That's how I've always been able to get more info on things I want to look at in previous versions of Facebook.

By mario_hardrock on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

hi.
yes, it's true.
It also happens to me.
let's report this issue.
cheers.

By mario_hardrock on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

This issue does not always happen in all posts.

By Donna on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

I just updated to FB 65 last night to see if it would fix the viewing replies issue that has been ongoing (and still not fixed) and sure enough, a feature that has worked fine no longer works. And it occurs for every news link that I have come across since this update. It is becoming less and less worthwhile to use FB on my iphone. What is even more troubling is that when I opened FB today, the first thing was a post from FB telling me that they hope that I enjoy this new update and to click to read more and there was no way to get to that "more". No double-clicking, swiping, nothing. The same thing that always happens for the "people you may know" and "groups you may be interested in". No way to access them. So, yes, I have a whole list of issues to report on the FB accessibility page. Every step forward seems 2 steps backwards for this app.

By Luke on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

@Donna,
I agree-- those other issues you mentioned are annoying as well. i had high hopes for Facebook when Matt joined their accessibility team. He has the same form of blindness I do -- retinitis pigmentosa. Unfortunately, things are getting worse. I feel like they're putting so much time and resources into the image description technology that they're neglecting other far more necessary accessibility updates. I do know it can take several update cycles for reported bugs to get addressed, and I also understand they have to budget and prioritize which issues to address in each update. I just hope this trend of worsening accessibility problems doesn't continue

By appleuser on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

hello guys. I also have this issue. it really doesn't happen to all posts, but to most of them. I reported that to facebook and hope that they will fix the issue

By Adina on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

Well, yeah, it looks a common bugg by now. Same issue here.

By Teresa on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

I'm going to try the mobile site and see if the issue crops up there. Another serious issue in the app besides this one for me is the lack of access to event pages. As for the links in newsfeed issue, I am now simply pasting links in instead of using share widgets.

By Larry on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

Good news everyone! It seems like our feedback reached the right people as this bug was fixed in Facebook V 67!

By Luke on Friday, October 14, 2016 - 16:49

Thanks for letting us know. Just updated and it's great to hear links again!

Still unresolved is the issue of not being able to view previous replies to comments, such as on posts by news or entertainment sites. Well, we're still making progress at least, so I'm grateful