Quick Tip: Assigning a braille display command to tell the time on iOS

In this short AppleVis episode, host Scott Davert walks through how to bind a custom braille display command that instantly announces and brailles the current date and time on an iPhone. The motivation is simple: while the lock screen shows the time, that isn’t always convenient; a dedicated braille command lets you check the time anywhere without leaving what you’re doing.

The conversation centers on VoiceOver’s braille command customization inside iOS. Scott explains that, as of this recording, iOS does not offer an equivalent mapping for a connected QWERTY keyboard or a native touchscreen gesture; he hopes Apple adds those options later. He also points out a brief “silent” behavior in one of the command menus where speech may stop speaking; there’s a quick recovery keystroke for that. Finally, he clarifies that longer braille displays can show the entire date and time on one line, while shorter displays (like 20-cell units) may require a single pan forward to reveal all details.

Step-by-step: Assign a braille display command to announce the time on iOS

1. Open Settings on your iPhone with VoiceOver enabled.
2. Go to Accessibility → VoiceOver → Braille.
3. Select your connected braille display (e.g., Braille Edge) to open its command categories.
4. Open the section for assigning Braille button commands.
5. If speech goes quiet on this screen, press Space + dot 4 once to restore speech.
6. Press Space + F to use Find, type time, and navigate to the Time action.
7. Activate Assign New Braille Keys.
8. When prompted, press your desired chord (example: Enter + T for “time”). If it doesn’t register, activate Assign again and retry promptly.
9. Test your new binding: press the chord and confirm VoiceOver speaks—and your display shows—the current date and time.
10. On 20-cell displays, pan forward once if the full string doesn’t fit.
11. Press Space + Backspace (dots 7–8) to back out when finished.

Tip: To jump quickly to the Assign New Braille Keys control when it’s at the bottom of the list, try Space + dots 4-5-6.

Key details and tips surfaced in the episode include that this workflow is specific to braille displays attached to iOS with VoiceOver enabled, that QWERTY keyboard mapping for the Time action isn’t available yet, and that using space with dots 4-5-6 is a quick way to jump to the “Assign New Braille Keys” control if it’s at the bottom of the list. Scott’s suggested binding—Enter with T—keeps the command memorable and fast. The end result is a friction-free way to check the time from anywhere in iOS, without unlocking or navigating away from your current task.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Scott: Hey, everybody. It's Scott Devert back for a podcast, this time covering a quick tip, which is how to set up a Braille display command to access the time and date on your iOS device. You may notice that I sound kind of stuffed up, which is why I'm not going to be ready, say, today or tomorrow with the full Braille access podcast, but I thought I'd get this quick tip out the door.

What we're going to do here is set up the Braille display command to give you the time on your iOS device. And I should let you know up front that the QWERTY keyboard... does not have this option yet, although I do hope Apple will make a QWERTY keyboard option available, as well as why not one for the touchscreen, too?

It doesn't have to necessarily be assigned a gesture, but having it as a possible option I think would be something that a lot of people might like. Of course, you could say, well, I can get that on my lock screen, and that's true, but it's not always what you want to do. So we're going to set this up, and I'll demonstrate it once complete. I'm on my home screen right now with Settings being in VoiceOver Focus, and I am going to select the Settings button.

Now I'm going to go to Accessibility. I'll do space with F on my Perkins-style keyboard to go into the Find dialog.

There we have it. I'm going to do space with .4 a few times to get to VoiceOver. Select that. Now I'm going to find Braille again, space with F. Okay, I'll select that.

Now I'm going to the name of my device in this menu, and then I'm going to hit space with .6. So in my case, it's treated as a Braille edge, so I will do a find for that.

VoiceOver: Enter search text. Braille EDGE 755. Connected. Button.

Scott/VoiceOver: There it is. So now space with .6. More info. Activate it. Braille commands button. That's what we want. I'll activate it again. And then we have our categories here. And for some reason, speech does not talk. But it does say, again, the Braille button on the Braille display, which is what we want. So I will select that. Again, no speech here, but I have decrease auto-advance.

But if I hit space with .4...

VoiceOver: Enable auto-advance button.

Scott: Speech comes right back. And I could have done that in the previous menu if I'd wanted as well. So if you encounter that, just hit space with .4. It's been my experience that this will always allow me to have speech back. So now I'm going to do a find for time.

VoiceOver: Enter search text. Open Braille access to time button.

Scott: That's what I want. We don't have any Braille key associated with this right now, so to add a new one, I can, of course, scroll. Or I can press space with 4, 5, 6, since it's the final item in this menu, which is the Assign New Braille Keys button.

Before you do that, though, it's important to have a command in mind, because even though this does not technically time out, it does. If you don't have that keyboard command ready within the first couple of seconds, I would say, of selecting this, it won't take. You have to go back and select the Assign New Braille Keys button again.

So, I'm going to use Enter with the letter T, as in time, easy to remember. So I'll select this, press Enter with T, and then we'll talk about using it.

You'll then return to the Assign New Braille Keys button.

Since that was successful, now I can press Enter with T and... And because I'm on a 40-cell Braille display, all of that comes across on one line in Braille. If you're on, say, a 20-cell display, you'll have to pan forward one time to get the times. It'd be great if they changed that, but... That will hopefully happen in the future.

Now, once you have determined the time, you can press backspace with space or dots 7 and 8 together. And you're again given the time and return to, in our case, the Assign New Braille Keys button. So that is how you set it up and how you would use it.

I hope this tip is helpful and that it helps you in your quest to tell the time. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Take care, and we'll catch you another time. Bye for now.