VoiceOver reads everything on your screen aloud, so you can use your iPhone or iPad without seeing the screen. If you are blind or have low vision, this feature helps you navigate your device.
Here’s how to get started.
How to navigate your iPhone or iPad with Voiceover
We’ll show you how to turn VoiceOver on or off, then we’ll show you how to use VoiceOver with specific gestures to navigate your iPhone or iPad.
Turn VoiceOver OnOff
First, let’s turn VoiceOver on, which is also how you turn it off. We’re going to turn VoiceOver on in Settings, but you can also ask Siri to turn it on or off instantly or add it as an accessibility shortcut.
In Settings, scroll down, tap Accessibility, and then tap VoiceOver. Here, you can adjust the speed of the speaking rate for VoiceOver, review the commands and keyboard shortcuts, and select a custom voice. Plus, you’ll find customizations for the rotor and gesture commands, and you can access additional tools for braille devices and specific navigation controls.
When you’re ready, tap to turn on VoiceOver, and it will begin reading what’s on your screen.
Voiceover Gestures
While using VoiceOver, you’ll navigate your iPhone or iPad with unique gestures. For example, to scroll in any app, swipe up, down, left, or right with three fingers.
To go to the home screen, drag up from the bottom of the screen until two rising tones play. On an iPhone with Face ID, you’ll also feel a haptic response. On an iPhone or iPad with a Home button, you can press the Home button.
If you’re familiar with the screen, you can touch an item directly to have VoiceOver read it. This works with almost any word, feature, app name, or section of text. You don’t have to tap directly on something to locate it. Instead, quickly swipe right or left with one finger anywhere on the screen, and VoiceOver will read out the items in the order they appear, so nothing is missed.
You can also drag your finger over the screen, and VoiceOver will read the name of each item you touch. Double tap anywhere on the screen to open or activate a selected app, link, or button.
To have VoiceOver pause reading a section of text, tap once with two fingers. Tap once with two fingers again to have VoiceOver continue reading.
When your iPhone or iPad is locked, drag up from the bottom edge of the screen until two rising tones play. On an iPhone with Face ID, you’ll also feel a haptic response. To unlock an iPhone or iPad with a Home button, you can press the Home button.
To open Control Center, tap the status bar at the top edge of the screen, and slide up with three fingers anywhere on the screen. On an iPhone with Face ID, you can also just drag down from the top of your screen until you feel a single haptic response and two rising tones play.
If you want to return to a previous screen, do a two-finger scrub, moving your fingers back and forth three times quickly, making the letter Z.
To open Notification Center, tap the status bar at the top edge of the screen again, and slide down with three fingers anywhere on the screen. On an iPhone with Face ID, you can also just drag down from the top of your screen until you feel two haptic responses and three rising tones play.
Let’s go back to our previous screen and then check out our open apps using the app switcher. You can open the app switcher by dragging up from the bottom of the screen until three rising tones play. On an iPhone with Face ID, you’ll also feel two haptic responses. To open the app switcher on an iPhone or iPad that has a Home button, just double-click the Home button. If you have multiple apps open, swipe left or right with one finger to browse through them.
Now you know the gestures you need to start navigating your iPhone or iPad with VoiceOver.