In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to use the Text Selection Rotor to select text on iOS and iPadOS.
As an alternative to selecting text by expanding two fingers on the screen, you can use the rotor to easily and reliably select text by swiping. To do this, first add "Text selection" to the VoiceOver rotor if it isn't there already by going to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor, and double-tapping "text selection." Then, whenever you want to select text, focus on a block of text, turn the rotor to text selection, swipe up or down with one finger to choose the level you want to select by, then swipe left or right with one finger to select and deselect the text.