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Tag: iPhone

  • Understanding the swipe gestures on iPhone X and newer devices with VoiceOver

    Introduction

    While the concept of swipe gestures for navigating devices, such as the iPhone are not new, some people may struggle with them anyway.

    What are swipe gestures for navigation?

    Swipe gestures for navigation are what you use to go home, use the app switcher, open notification center, or open control center.

    these gestures are important, because they ar necessary for basic device operation.

    Basic concepts of swipe navigation gestures

    • Swipe navigation gestures always start at the edge of your screen (unlike gestures you already use with voiceover that can be done anywhere onscreen).
    • by default, both sound and haptic feedback are turned on for VoiceOver, and these gestures will provide that feedback just like other gestures. However, I will only describe the sound feedback, because these gestures can be used on iPads, which don’t have haptic engines.
    • If you prefer, you can still place focus on the status bar, and swipe down with three fingers for notification center or up with three fingers for control center.

    How to use swipe navigation gesturesHow to use these gestures

    As explained earlier, you need to start at the edge of your screen in order for the intended functionality to work correctly..

    NOTE: while you can practice these gestures on an iPad, I found it easier to practice on an iPhone if you have one available.

    So, to go home, first place your finger at the very bottom edge of your screen.

    Then, move your finger up until you hear a second click and release your finger.

    It is important to perform the gesture in a timely manner, otherwise I have found that VoiceOver focus will move around the screen instead of the actual swipe navigation gesture.

    To use the app switcher, repeat the same steps from above only, instead of releasing on the second click, release on the third click.

    To use the control center, start at the top edge of your screen and move your finger down until you hear a second click then release.

    To use the notification center, use the same steps as described above, but this time release on the third click.

    Conclusion

    Now that you’ve learned how to use the swipe navigation gestures on newer iPhones and iPads, you’ll be able to not only use your device more effectively, but you’ll be able to use features that are exclusive to this new form of navigation such as the app switcher, which can’t be accessed in an alternative way like you can with the control center

  • How To: Get Natural Sounding Voices For iPhone

    Introduction

    Have you ever wondered what TTS customizations you could do on your iPhone?

    In today’s post, I’m going to outline how you can install the CerePlay TTS engine for more natural sounding text to speech.

    A few notes before you begin

    I do not recommend using these voices as daily drivers.
    While it can work and there are screen reader variants for these voices, you’ll get better performance with your iPhone if you use a built-in voice.

    These are paid voices and as if this writing, cost $0.99.

    Without further adieu, let’s get started.

    Step 1: Download the app

    Open the app store on your home screen and select the search tab by dragging your finger along the bottom edge of your screen.

    In the search bar type “CerePlay”

    In the search results, find the item called “CerePlay – The CereProc Text to speech app” and download.

    Step 2: Download voices

    When the download finishes you’ll find an open button, select to open the app. Swipe right to move through the screen finding a list of languages.

    Note that these languages are in no particular order so you’ll have to swipe around to get to all the voices.

    Once you’ve selected language and then swipe right to access all the voices under that language. Remember that each voice will be repeated multiple times.

    Select a voice to view its details.

    On this screen, you’ll find:

    1. The voice name
    2. Voice dialect and gender
    3. Price

    If you keep moving down the page, you’ll eventually find options to choose a voice version and they include:

    1. High Quality (this is the recommended option for reading, so use this option to get the best experience.
    2. Balanced (this option can be used with screen readers if you don’t mind a performance hit for nice inflection.)
    3. Screen Reader (This is the best way to go if you like the sound of a voice however, I would not use this voice as a daily driver if you need the best performance out of your iPhone.

    so, That is how you get natural sounding voices for iPhone.