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iPad User Guide

Use VoiceOver gestures on iPad

When VoiceOver is on, standard touchscreen gestures have different effects, and additional gestures let you move around the screen and control individual items. VoiceOver gestures include two-, three-, and four-finger taps and swipes.

You can use different techniques to perform VoiceOver gestures. For example, you can perform a two-finger tap using two fingers on one hand, one finger on each hand, or your thumbs. Instead of selecting an item and double-tapping, you can use a split-tap gesture—touch and hold an item with one finger, then tap the screen with another finger.

Explore and speak items on the screen

To explore the screen, drag your finger over it. VoiceOver speaks the name of each item you touch.

You can also use VoiceOver gestures to explore the screen in order, from top to bottom and left to right.

Action

Gesture

Select and speak an item

Tap or touch the item

Select the next item

Swipe right

Select the previous item

Swipe left

Move into a group of items

Two-finger swipe right

Move out of a group of items

Two-finger swipe left

Select the first item on the screen

Four-finger tap near the top of the screen

Select the last item on the screen

Four-finger tap near the bottom of the screen

Speak the entire screen from the top

Two-finger swipe up

Speak the entire screen from the selected item

Two-finger swipe down

Pause or continue speaking

Two-finger tap

Speak additional information, such as the position within a list or whether text is selected

Three-finger tap

For more information about navigation styles, see Use flat or grouped navigation.

Scroll up, down, left, and right

Use VoiceOver gestures to move to another page.

Action

Gesture

Scroll up one page

Three-finger swipe down

Scroll down one page

Three-finger swipe up

Scroll left one page

Three-finger swipe right

Scroll right one page

Three-finger swipe left

Take action on an item

Use VoiceOver gestures to perform actions on an item.

Action

Gesture

Select an item

Tap

Activate the selected item

Double tap

Touch and hold (long press) the item

Triple tap

Drag a slider

Tap the slider to select it, then swipe up or down with one finger; or double-tap and hold the slider until you hear three rising tones, then drag the slider

Start or stop the current action (for example, play or pause music or a video, take a photo in Camera, start or stop a recording, start or stop the stopwatch)

Two-finger double tap

Dismiss an alert or return to the previous screen

Two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”)

Edit an item’s label to make it easier to find

Two-finger double tap and hold

Tip: As an alternative to selecting an item and double-tapping to activate it, touch and hold an item with one finger, then tap the screen with another.

Use gestures to control VoiceOver

Use these gestures to control VoiceOver.

Action

Gesture

Mute or unmute VoiceOver

Three-finger double tap.

If both VoiceOver and Zoom are turned on, use the three-finger triple-tap gesture.

Turn the screen curtain on or off

(When the screen curtain is on, the screen contents are active even though the display is black and appears to be turned off.)

Three-finger triple tap.

If both VoiceOver and Zoom are turned on, use the three-finger quadruple-tap gesture.

Use a standard gesture

Double-tap and hold your finger on the screen until you hear three rising tones, then make the gesture. When you lift your finger, VoiceOver gestures resume.

For example, to drag a volume slider with your finger instead of swiping up and down, select the slider, double-tap and hold, wait for the three tones, then slide left or right.

Open the Item Chooser

Two-finger triple tap.

To move quickly through the list of items, type a name in the search field, swipe right or left to move through the list alphabetically, or tap the table index to the right of the list and swipe up or down. You can also use handwriting to select an item by writing its name. If you use Braille Screen Input to type braille directly on the screen, when you’re not entering text, you can type to search for an item.

To dismiss the Item Chooser without making a selection, do a two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”).

Open the VoiceOver quick settings

Two-finger quadruple tap.

Start or stop Live Recognition

Four-finger triple tap. See Get live descriptions of your surroundings with VoiceOver.

Use the VoiceOver rotor

You can use the onscreen rotor to change VoiceOver settings, jump from one item to the next on the screen, select special input methods such as Braille Screen Input or Handwriting, and more. See Control VoiceOver using the rotor.

You can use these gestures with the rotor.

Action

Gesture

Choose a rotor setting

Two-finger rotation

Move to the previous item or increase (depending on the rotor setting)

Swipe up

Move to the next item or decrease (depending on the rotor setting)

Swipe down

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