Apple has today released iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3 to the public, bringing an improved experience when switching to Android, and a few other changes.
Resolved VoiceOver Bugs
Our experience is that the following accessibility bug has been resolved in iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3:
New VoiceOver Bugs
We are currently aware of one new VoiceOver bug in these releases:
An Issue with Dictation
While not a VoiceOver/braille/low-vision issue specifically, we did want to take this opportunity to share that multiple members of our team have observed a significant degradation in the reliability of dictation in iOS 26.3. A Feedback report has been filed. It is currently unclear to us whether this issue extends to Siri and whether it is something Apple can resolve server-side; we recommend that if you rely on Dictation, you do not install this update until the issue is resolved.
If you notice any further changes, improvements, or regressions in your use of these releases, please post a comment below with your findings.
iOS 26.3 Release Notes
This update provides important bug fixes and security updates.
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: https://support.apple.com/100100
Some features may not be available for all regions. For more information, please visit: https://www.apple.com/os/ios
Software updates, like this one, add new features and improvements that may affect performance and/or battery life. To learn more, please visit: https://support.apple.com/125039
How to Update
iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update), via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, or via iTunes on a PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.
Before updating, we strongly recommend making a full and complete backup of your device (either locally or in iCloud, depending on personal preference). This will ensure that, in the unlikely event that something goes wrong during the update process, you will have a current backup on hand in case a device restore becomes necessary. Also, if using OTA update, we recommend plugging your device into a power source for the duration of the download/installation process, so as to prevent the unlikely event of your battery going dead during the update.
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that these updates included an improved experience when switching to Android and notification support for third-party smartwatches in the European Union. AppleVis regrets the error.
Upon further investigation, we've determined that while notification support for third-party smartwatches in the European Union is not present in iOS 26.3, the improved experience when switching to Android (Settings > General > Transfer or reset > Transfer to Android) is. AppleVis regrets the error.
Comments
The notification bug description
Hi, so the notification bug is that when you’re reading something with VoiceOver and you’re on the lock screen, it will not finish reading the notification. It will lock the screen before the notification has a chance to finish. So in order to get around that you have to put in your passcode or Face ID to unlock your screen to finish reading the notification that you get. This happens in the case of all the apps that I’ve added in anyway is with mail and messaging because of the native Apple apps for this. It probably happens with other ones as well. Desire you probably have it a lot of a stew. I believe this bug showed up in either iOS 18.4 or iOS 18.5. Hope that description helps you. We just have to keep reporting the book to Apple. I’m sure they’ll fix it as soon as I can.
The notification bug solution I use in iOS 18.7.2
I don’t lock my iPhone Except when I want silence or don’t care to receive notifications
Olivier
The interesting thing is if you get siri to read it, will do so from beginning to end and if you set up where siri reads it by going to setting, accessibility, and siri and select speker it will read it. VO does not do so. Therefore is a bug. I would consider it a major bug for us. Long live cats and not apple.
@Olivier
You might want to go back and edit your post. It looks like the website glitched out on you, and your post, reposted itself, about four or five times. 😅
Can finally disable USB accessory trust
At some point in the past, possibly for the update to 26.0.1, I disabled all USB accessory protections on all my 4 iOS devices, because of an alleged problem with VoiceOver not reading anything after the update and thus making entering the device passcode inaccessible, which would require plugging in a wired keyboard to work around if I ended up facing that problem myself. While that problem did not manifest for me, after the update I found myself unable to re-enable those protections due to alleged organization restrictions, which is definitely not my case since all my devices are personal, were acquired directly from Apple, have no profiles installed, and are carrier-unlocked from the origin, so and because I wasn't feeling like resetting my settings or enabling Lockdown Mode, I've been using my devices in this insecure state since 26.0.1.
After updating my devices to iOS and iPadOS 26.3, I decided to test whether these USB device trust protections could be re-enabled and noticed that the bug is finally fixed. Now there are 4 levels of protection, with the most restrictive always prompting to trust USB devices, a second level that only requires trusting unknown USB devices, a third option that automatically trusts USB devices when the system is unlocked, and a fourth option which is to just trust everything. I'm not exactly sure when this was fixed, but I do remember checking for a while and then just giving up hoping that Apple would eventually bother to address this issue.
no option for me
When I go to FaceID and Passcode settings there is no more option for USB connections. Instead there is an option for healt training data, where is this option gone?
Privacy & security
The USB trust settings are located in the Privacy & Security section of Settings on iOS and iPadOS.
@Marconius
I was just wondering why I was hearing that sound of the keyboard opening over and over again in Notes. Glad to hear that's fixed because it was kind of annoying. I didn't know what it was at first.
Retraction
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that these updates included an improved experience when switching to Android and notification support
for third-party smartwatches in the European Union. AppleVis regrets the error.
Clarification
Upon further investigation, we've determined that while notification support for third-party smartwatches in the European Union is not present in iOS 26.3, the improved experience when switching to Android (Settings > General > Transfer or reset > Transfer to Android) is. AppleVis regrets the error.
Copied Speech Rotor Setting Missing in iOS 26.3
Hello,
I wanted to see if anybody else notices the Copied Speech rotor item is missing when activated/selected in the VO rotor settings. As someone who highly values this new rotor function, it seems to no longer exist in practice, but the option to activate it in the list of rotor items is present. I just wonder if this is happening to others as well. Similarly, I wonder if the iOS 26.4 first beta fixes this issue…
Dictation
I no some people on this thread have expressed issues with dictation. I wanted to confirm I've had no issues at all. I'm in the UK so am running british English. I wonder if that's making a difference. Ironicly, I dictated an extremely long message today and usually there's at least 5 or 6 errors in it, but the only thing I can say is it got some of my phraising wrong and missed out some punctuation, but that's all. Very weard. Can't say i've noticed the roter issue, but I'll keep an eye out. Didn't someone mention issues with the composer bar of the mail app? or was that in iOS 26.2? but either way it's working for me now and I was wondering if it was for others too.
Kind regards,
Melissa.
PS:
Many thanks to the team that tirelessly test all this software to bring us articles that enable us to make resonable informed dessisions about weather to update or not.
Hi Jasmine
You have the option of defining a touch gesture to do the same thing. I defined mine as a 3 finger quadruple tap. Works fine, although I'm in IOS 18. Hopefully, IOS 26 will work for you, too. smile
Copied speech rotor item
Oh no! The copied speech rotor item is my iOS 26 favorite feature which I would really hate to lose by updating to iOS 26.3. Can others weigh in on whether this option has disappeared for them. Sorry, but person talking about this option existing in iOS 18, you are wrong. In previous iOS versions you could only have one thing copied to the clipboard with the voice copy speech command. That is the command that you are talking about. In iOS 26 there is an item on the rotor that shows a history of copied voiceover speech that can be up to 10 items long. I use it continuously, so although I should update to add another person to send a bug report if it's gone, I'm not sure I can afford to do so at this time because of the time and effort this feature saves me.
Hey CuriousNetEntity!
If I remember correctly there is a free and accessible third party app that gives you the same thing with the clipboard list, plus a few other features. You might want to do a little searching?
Re: Copied speech rotor item
For anyone interested, the Copied Speech rotor item still works in iOS 26.3. I am running iOS 26.3 on an old testing device, an iPhone SE 2020, and I don't have any issues with it. The thing to remember here is that you cannot use the Text Selection rotor item to copy text, and then expect it to show up in the Copied Speech rotor item. You absolutely must use whatever gesture you have assigned to copy Last Spoken Phrase first, and then it will show up in the Copied Speech rotor item.
HTH. 😀
Re: Dictation
Well not sure whether you typed or dictated that, but you misspelled weird as weard, which is not even an English word that I'm aware of, at least not US English. The way you typed it makes me think that you did it yourself, since the misspelling is closer to the intuitive spelling of the word as pronounced than to its correct spelling.