Good Terrific Tuesday afternoon everyone,
This is just a quick note to say that the 26.4 updates have just dropped for all compatible devices & operating systems!
I wish Michael and the other editorial members can tell us what's new for voice over users. Well, probably nothing to write home with this update in as far as voice over improvements. I always appreciate their updates.
Hello,
the question posed in the subject of this comment is something I've been debating since 26.4 entered beta.
I am having really wierd issues with my iPhone that I haven't seen anyone else here talk about.
They include:
* very quick battery drain (I barely make it through a shift at work, but I do work from home)
* the phone gets warm
* The Eloquence TTS, specifically, the Reed voice, crashes nearly daily & sometimes, as it was last night, it's difficult to get it going again. I did it but it took restarting Voiceover at least 3 or 4 times, before it would talk again.
* this is better in 26.4, but I've noticed that my phone doesn't always ring when it's supposed to. (this is critical for my job)
* On my Apple watch ultra 2, raise to speak does not work. If I preceed my question or command to Siri with the wake word, it does it but if not, which defeats the whole purpose of that feature in the first place, then what's the point of having that feature at all?
Based on this information, how would you answer the above question posed in my subject?
Do I restore or not?
I did just make an iCloud backup, so I'm all good there but I will not use it unless absolutely necessary.
With all of those issues, I would restore to factory settings in a heartbeat. Although, you could try simply resetting VoiceOver settings first, just to see if that does anything. Also, you may want to try a different VO voice, just to see if you get any better results with that.
Ultimately though, I would seriously consider doing a factory reset. And, do.. Not.. Restore.. From.. A.. Backup.
If your iPhone is having all these issues, restoring from a backup will just bring all these issues right back after the reset.
the eloquence Community Dictionary has been fixed! Well, somewhat. iOS and macOS pronunciation is still broken but they did manage to fix contact names. So contacts in my phone are now reading correctly as expected with correct pronunciations this time.
Hi Brian,
Thanks so much for your response.
I have reset voiceover numerous times which usually works for a while then speech decides to randomly crap out on me again.
What’s funny is it’s not happening on any other device. It’s just the iPhone and only with eloquence, as far as I can tell. I use eloquence daily on my phone, watch, Mac, iPad and Apple TV.
I know this isn't going to be the most popular answer, but if you have already tried resetting VoiceOver settings, I would personally recommend restoring the phone using a computer and setting it up from scratch as a new device.
Hi,
I'm unsure if I mentioned it before, but I use Pinecast to manage my podcast & if I attempt to check my stats using Safari, The phone slows to a crawl and acts more like an iPhone 6. In fact, it’s so bad, that most of the time the home gesture won’t take. I have to perform it multiple times before it will go through.
It's early so I can't be totally sure yet. But my battery life seems to have gotten better. I had horrible battery drain the last few iOS versions, especially with Safari and FaceTime.
I don't know if it was iOS 26.4 or the new AirPods firmware, but I no longer get the annoying call routing pop up every time I call someone!
Everything looks good on my iPhone 15. I will be updating my iPhone SE third generation later on today and I’ll report my car and let you guys know how that is.
could be my imagination but on the lock screen when you read a long notification it doesn't turn off mid read anymore, though not sure if this was fixed in an earlyer version or something since I updated from 26.1 to 26.4 directly.
I also noticed swiping is faster, but I chopped it off to a classebo effect, but since other people noticed it, it's probably true, which is cool.
a bug I seriously hope is fixed is sometimes when you get a phone call and swipe through the options, accept, caller name, etc, it used to get stuck on one option or even sometimes not even read anything at all if you're on headphones, which forced me to always respond blindly not knowing who's calling, then again, I was on a kind of ancient version so it maybe was solved very long ago?
If the notifications pop up, VO still not read it, however if you slide to it, VO will read it, it is about 89% works, Also if you go to show notifications on the lock screen, VO does not read it and it locks the screen. Sad no fix. Apple does not like me and I thought they did. LLC.
Nope whilst now swiping to a notification sometimes reads it in the main I still have exactly the same issue. iPhone 15 pro if that makes any difference.
Sorry to hear, I feel your pain and we are not being negative about apple and VO and notification. 16 pro max. When I set my phone, I did it as a new phone because I was having this issue in previous phone with 18.4. Did not work. Long live cats.
I experienced the Notifications bug whilst listening to a notification from Slack this afternoon. So the issue is definitely not resolved, at least for me.
Comments
Updates Sizes
It amazes me that the iOs update is twice the size of the MacOS update.
VO and notfication
Well good and bad news. When a notification pops up, VO does not read it, but if you slide to it, VO does read it, 88% of the times. Long live cats.
So...
A partial fix then? 😇
Brian
Cross fingers? Could it be that apple likes me? Not, Long live cats.
RE: IOS 26.4 and RELATED UPDATES
I wish Michael and the other editorial members can tell us what's new for voice over users. Well, probably nothing to write home with this update in as far as voice over improvements. I always appreciate their updates.
hi
Have they stopped updating to iOS 26.4? I still don't have it.
mantanini
The public version is out. Next will beta 26.5 which might come out next week. Long live cats.
to restore or not to restore my iPhone?
Hello,
the question posed in the subject of this comment is something I've been debating since 26.4 entered beta.
I am having really wierd issues with my iPhone that I haven't seen anyone else here talk about.
They include:
* very quick battery drain (I barely make it through a shift at work, but I do work from home)
* the phone gets warm
* The Eloquence TTS, specifically, the Reed voice, crashes nearly daily & sometimes, as it was last night, it's difficult to get it going again. I did it but it took restarting Voiceover at least 3 or 4 times, before it would talk again.
* this is better in 26.4, but I've noticed that my phone doesn't always ring when it's supposed to. (this is critical for my job)
* On my Apple watch ultra 2, raise to speak does not work. If I preceed my question or command to Siri with the wake word, it does it but if not, which defeats the whole purpose of that feature in the first place, then what's the point of having that feature at all?
Based on this information, how would you answer the above question posed in my subject?
Do I restore or not?
I did just make an iCloud backup, so I'm all good there but I will not use it unless absolutely necessary.
Restore your iPhone
With all of those issues, I would restore to factory settings in a heartbeat. Although, you could try simply resetting VoiceOver settings first, just to see if that does anything. Also, you may want to try a different VO voice, just to see if you get any better results with that.
Ultimately though, I would seriously consider doing a factory reset. And, do.. Not.. Restore.. From.. A.. Backup.
If your iPhone is having all these issues, restoring from a backup will just bring all these issues right back after the reset.
HTH.
Eloquence Community Dictionary has been fixed!
Hi everyone,
the eloquence Community Dictionary has been fixed! Well, somewhat. iOS and macOS pronunciation is still broken but they did manage to fix contact names. So contacts in my phone are now reading correctly as expected with correct pronunciations this time.
To Brian, been there, done that, several times.
Hi Brian,
Thanks so much for your response.
I have reset voiceover numerous times which usually works for a while then speech decides to randomly crap out on me again.
What’s funny is it’s not happening on any other device. It’s just the iPhone and only with eloquence, as far as I can tell. I use eloquence daily on my phone, watch, Mac, iPad and Apple TV.
Set It Up as New
I know this isn't going to be the most popular answer, but if you have already tried resetting VoiceOver settings, I would personally recommend restoring the phone using a computer and setting it up from scratch as a new device.
Thanks! I'll try that
Hi Michael,
Thanks for that information. I'll try that & come back post-restore & let you know how it went.
Did I mention the issue with Safari and my podcast stats?
Hi,
I'm unsure if I mentioned it before, but I use Pinecast to manage my podcast & if I attempt to check my stats using Safari, The phone slows to a crawl and acts more like an iPhone 6. In fact, it’s so bad, that most of the time the home gesture won’t take. I have to perform it multiple times before it will go through.
small good things so far
It's early so I can't be totally sure yet. But my battery life seems to have gotten better. I had horrible battery drain the last few iOS versions, especially with Safari and FaceTime.
I don't know if it was iOS 26.4 or the new AirPods firmware, but I no longer get the annoying call routing pop up every time I call someone!
update size
it was 7.25 gigs or something like that, there's no reason it needs to be that big, i don't even get the AI features on my iPad 9 anyway
@Joshua
On my iPhone 16 Pro Max it was 14GB
https://apple.news/An8yty91tRqygJY67Nilo4A
Whatis new
IOS 26.4
Improved battery life and swiping response is faster using an iPhone Air
Everything looks good on my iPhone 15
Everything looks good on my iPhone 15. I will be updating my iPhone SE third generation later on today and I’ll report my car and let you guys know how that is.
I think the lockscreen notification bug is fixed
could be my imagination but on the lock screen when you read a long notification it doesn't turn off mid read anymore, though not sure if this was fixed in an earlyer version or something since I updated from 26.1 to 26.4 directly.
I also noticed swiping is faster, but I chopped it off to a classebo effect, but since other people noticed it, it's probably true, which is cool.
a bug I seriously hope is fixed is sometimes when you get a phone call and swipe through the options, accept, caller name, etc, it used to get stuck on one option or even sometimes not even read anything at all if you're on headphones, which forced me to always respond blindly not knowing who's calling, then again, I was on a kind of ancient version so it maybe was solved very long ago?
emperor limitless
If the notifications pop up, VO still not read it, however if you slide to it, VO will read it, it is about 89% works, Also if you go to show notifications on the lock screen, VO does not read it and it locks the screen. Sad no fix. Apple does not like me and I thought they did. LLC.
everything is working fine on my iPhone 16 pro
the subject says it all.
Not for me.
Nope whilst now swiping to a notification sometimes reads it in the main I still have exactly the same issue. iPhone 15 pro if that makes any difference.
Lee
Sorry to hear, I feel your pain and we are not being negative about apple and VO and notification. 16 pro max. When I set my phone, I did it as a new phone because I was having this issue in previous phone with 18.4. Did not work. Long live cats.
Notifications Bug Still Present
I experienced the Notifications bug whilst listening to a notification from Slack this afternoon. So the issue is definitely not resolved, at least for me.
Not resolved
Notification bug not resolved.