10 Tips for Braille Display Users of iOS Devices in 2025 – Part 2

By Scott Davert
March 6, 2025

Introduction

Since I wrote an introduction to the last article, and this is clearly a continuation of that, I do not feel it is necessary to write another one. If you missed the first article, you can find part 1 here. Let us get into the next set of tips.

Input this, Output That

With iOS 18, you can have about as much control over your braille input and output as possible. For someone such as myself, who normally uses contracted braille for both, I can synchronize my input and output to contracted UEB. Since the 2 are synchronized, I can control both with one keystroke. To do so, you can head to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille> and then turn the “Match Input and Output Tables” switch to on. If you have done this, you can then change both your input and output by pressing space with 2-3-6, or space with 2-3-4-5.
If you are transitioning from one code of braille to another, for example from uncontracted to contracted braille, you may want to set your input and output differently. For example, you may not be comfortable reading contracted braille yet but wish to write using the contractions you have learned. Pressing space with 2-3-6 will toggle between the various braille tables installed. You can control the output, or what you are reading, by pressing space with 2-3-4-5.

Stop the Blinking

The braille cursor is represented by dots 7 and 8 blinking. Some users have complained about the noise the blinking cursor makes with certain devices, but the good news is that this can also be turned off. Though this is not a specific setting for braille display users, it impacts the braille experience in the same way it does for those with vision. If this is your preference, you can head to Settings>Accessibility>Motion>Prefer Non-Blinking Cursor and turn this off.

Press and Hold

When on an icon, you can “long press” (press and hold) to access shortcuts or additional features. If you have ever right-clicked on your Windows PC and found a menu of options, this is the iPhone equivalent. Just like right-clicking offers different options based on context, long pressing does the same on iPhones and iPads. For example, if you long press the Notes app icon on your home screen, you will see options like launching the app, setting up a widget, creating a new note or checklist, scanning a document, recording an audio message, adjusting the app’s placement on the home screen, and setting a passcode for the Notes app. This is not limited to home screen icons. In the Apple News app, long pressing a news story brings up options to share, copy the story, copy the link, visit the publication, among others. For those on a Perkins-style keyboard, you can long press on something by pressing space with 3-5-6. For those using a QWERTY keyboard, this can be achieved by pressing VoiceOver Modifier, Shift, and the letter m.

Noisy VoiceOver? Only If You Want It To Be

Particularly for those VoiceOver users who are comfortable using their devices without speech, it may be preferable to turn off VoiceOver sounds, but also to leave the sounds from iOS enabled. You can disable these sounds by going to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Sounds>Audio>VoiceOver Sounds & Haptics and switching sounds off.

1 Dot Can Mean So Much

Though conventional flash messages are one way to provide access to relevant information about the device, other methods, such as the status cell, can also be used. This is used to convey certain bits of information that you may find useful by simply displaying a single dot or not displaying it. To enable the status cell, go to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille>Status Cells, and choose to have this shown on the left or right side of your braille display. Once you have enabled either option, a new series of settings will appear below that. There is both a “General” status cell as well as a “Text Status” cell. The general status cell conveys such information as whether speech is muted, whether the battery is below 20% or whether Screen Curtain is active. If the dot is up, the status is on, if down, the status is off. You can press the cursor routing button above or below the status cell to get a complete set of what dot symbolizes which status. It is important to note that combining these dots does not symbolize something different. For example, if dots 3 and 6 are up, this means that your speech is muted, and the Screen curtain is on.

Have It Your Way

Though this tip is the longest, it is also the one which can yield a new world of efficiency if you are a braille display user. You can set up commands, for example, to jump directly from heading to heading on a web page, use some features with one command instead of having to go into settings to modify it, and more. The way in which this is done will depend on whether your device has a Perkins-style keyboard or a QWERTY one.

To assign a new command for your Braille display with a Perkins-style keyboard, go to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille>the name of your Device>More Info>Braille Commands. Within this screen, you will find seven categories for configuring new or existing commands. You will also find the option to “Reset All Commands” at the bottom of this screen. There are too many options to list, but I will describe how to add or change a command by example below.

Let us set up a new braille keyboard shortcut to find the next occurrence of a text string. You may recall in the previous article that I promised this tip, and I am back to deliver on that promise. As a reminder, space with dots 1-2-4 (f) activates the VoiceOver text search feature, or sometimes called VoiceOver find. Here are step by step instructions on how to set up a command to find the next occurrence of the text you searched for originally. Note that the QWERTY keyboard shortcut already exists with VO Modifier and the letter g. However, I will still provide an example for those users as well. Here are instructions for setting up a new keyboard assignment on a Perkins-style keyboard.

1. After navigating to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille>More Info>Braille Commands, activate the “VoiceOver” button.
2. Scroll down to the “Next Search Result” button and activate it.
3. Navigate to “Assign New Braille Keys.”
4. Before activating this button, have a keyboard shortcut in mind; since sometimes assigning commands, if not done within a couple of seconds, are not always successful.
5. Activate the “assign new Braille key” and then press the keyboard shortcut you have in mind. I use dot 8 with s.
6. If the command you have chosen does not already have something assigned to it, you will be done with this process. If the Braille keyboard assignment does have a command already associated with that keyboard combination, you will get an alert telling you what the already assigned action is, and it will ask you if you wish to change it.
7. Choose “OK” or “Cancel”, and the appropriate option will be chosen. You can now use the keyboard command you assigned to this function to carry it out.

As shown above, there are some commands not available on the Perkins-style keyboards that are available with QWERTY keyboards. Since the “find next” command already exists, I will provide an example by setting up a command to lock the screen of your device.

1. Navigate to Settings>Accessibility>VoiceOver>commands>All Commands>System>Lock Screen
2. Under the System heading option, you will find Add Keyboard Shortcut.
3. Choose a keyboard command.
4. After pressing this command, you will likely need to double tap the done button which is one swipe to the right from the area where you choose your command.
5. If the command you have chosen does not already have something assigned to it, you will be done with this process. If the Braille keyboard assignment does have a command already associated with that keyboard combination, you will get an alert telling you what the already assigned action is, and it will ask you if you wish to change it.
6. Choose “OK” or “Cancel”, and the appropriate option will be chosen.

Silence Everything!

Now that we have covered assigning new commands keyboard shortcuts, I thought this would be a good time to discuss a feature which can be enabled that way. This is the feature called Sound Curtain. For those who are DeafBlind, one of the annoyances is not knowing whether everything from your phone is muted. For example, if VoiceOver restarts, by default, speech will become unmuted. Which is nice if you can hear the speech and can decide whether you would like it on or not, but not so nice if you are not even aware that VoiceOver restarted. Sound Curtain will mute all sounds, other than emergency alerts. Like the Screen Curtain, Sound Curtain does not turn the sounds off, it covers them up. At the time of writing, turning speech on will still cut into hearing aids that have VoiceOver set to go to them, but it will be silent. If you have hearing aids connected and do not wish to have your hearing interrupted if you accidentally turn on sounds, it has been my experience that routing audio to the internal speaker of the iPhone resolves this issue. To assign a braille display keyboard command to this feature regardless of keyboard type, go to the VoiceOver category and choose Sound Curtain and follow the steps provided above as needed. If you want to set this up through Settings, move to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > braille and turn the switch. After doing so, you will then confirm it is what you wish to do.

Jumping Around iOS

There are some commands that will help users get around more efficiently depending on what they are trying to accomplish. For example, space with dots 4-6 will launch the Notification Center on a Perkins-style keyboard while VoiceOver Modifier FN Up Arrow will do so on the QWERTY Keyboard. The Control Center can be reached by pressing space with dots 2-5 on a Perkins-style keyboard and VoiceOver Modifier FN with Down Arrow. Note that with these commands, some QWERTY keyboards use the Command key in place of the FN key. To go to the status bar, if you are not on an iPhone 16 model, you can press space with dots 2-3-4 (s) for a Perkins-style keyboard or VoiceOver Modifier with m. If you are on an iPhone 16 model, you can still tap the status bar to get the information you need. You can also get to the information found in the status bar using the braille keyboard. Press space with 2-5 to launch the control center and then press space with dot 1 to review most of the status bar information. The only things missing are the time and date. To access the time and date, press space with 4-6 to launch the Notification Center and then press space with dot 1 to get back to the time. One more press of this command will show the date.

The Magic Tapping Comes to Braille Keyboards

For many touchscreen users, the double tap with 2 fingers gesture can speed up efficiency. For example, you can answer or hang up a call, start or stop dictation, start or stop the playing of audio etc. Braille display users can also take advantage of this support by pressing space with dots 1-5-6 or VoiceOver Modifier with – on a QWERTY keyboard.

We Have Come to the End; There is a Command for That Too

It’s a tough world out there with all the clutter on web pages and in applications. One thing which helps is to work your way backward, which can sometimes save you time and effort. For example, I use the Drafts app quite often, so it is important that I be able to access this app quickly. By pressing space with 4-5-6, or Control Down Arrow, VoiceOver will jump me to the last element on my Home Screen. Since this is Drafts, I can quickly access that application from any Home Screen with this command.

Conclusion

The first conclusion you should draw is that I write too much. Beyond that, it is my hope that at least 1 or 2 of these tips can help you be a more effective user of braille devices on iOS. If you are after more introductory material, I would suggest checking out this introductory guide. It was first created in 2011, but was last updated in February 2025. If audio is more your style, I have also created a 3-part series of masterclasses for the Braillists Foundation. You can find part one of this series here.