Queery regarding the mantis Q40 when connected to an iPhone

By rachel, 8 October, 2025

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hi. Quite a specialist question but wasn't sure who else to reach out to, and i'm aware there are some braillists here who may be able to help. Before updating to iOS 26 it was possible, once the mantis was connected to the iPhone, to quickly locate apps by pressing enter on the mantis, typing the app's name, then pressing enter again; you were then taken straight to the app and could activate it. Since updating to iOS 26 it seems this is no longer possible and i'm back to locating apps the slower way with the thumb keys. Am i missing something? Is there some new setting or feature i need to alter in order to put things back to how they were? I don't know a lot about any of the new braille settings. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

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Comments

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 8, 2025 - 22:16

This has now been moved to the new Braille access mode. The advantage to this is that you can now launch an app from anywhere, not just the home screen.

  • Press VO+Shift+Y to get into Braille access.
  • Press enter on Launch Ap.
  • Start typing the name of an app (I don't know if you have to use the Braille keyboard for this as I don't have a Mantace. If you do, you'll need to activate it with VO+Y. Then you can use your home row keys like those on a Perkins keyboard.
  • Once you've typed the full or partial name of an app, press enter again to see a list of matches. Arrow down to the one you want and press enter.

HTH. The new Braille access mode is awesome!

By rachel on Wednesday, October 8, 2025 - 22:25

Thanks brian. I've just been reading about braille access but much of it went straight over my head unfortunately. I'd like to get the hang of it but i think it will take some figuring out. I prefer the old way - seems a far quicker way in my view. Thanks for the instructions as well - i'll have to keep referring to them until i get my head around it.

By TJT 2001 on Thursday, October 9, 2025 - 00:15

You shouldn't need to press Enter on Launch App. Because you can see the cursor already blinking at the end of that string, you can start typing.

So, to launch an app from the home screen, you don't need to do any more keystrokes than you did previously, unless you have Braille Access set to return you to whichever feature you were using when you last accessed it.