I am running the latest version of iOS. iOS 26.1. Ever since connecting and then disconnecting my Mantis Q40 braille display I have been having issues relating to braille on my iPhone 16e.
The most debilitating issue I’m having is that braille screen input is completely broken. Not one character I try to enter ends up being entered correctly. Here’s an example of what it looks like when I try to type using braille screen input:
chgh 'the st′'?vlst quite "still edpwithj eds edwithvst !ghj kpl gh-pststthe ch?vffed
I’ve had to use dictation to create this post. I’ve tried everything I can think of to correct it. I’ve restarted my iPhone, but it’s still exactly the same. And I don’t know what to do.
By Zoe Victoria, 28 October, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Fixed It
I managed to fix braille screen imput by resetting all my settings. It was very frustrating because it took a while to get things back to how I like them. But I'm glad I can now type on my iPhone again. I will keep this post up, however, so that people are aware this is something that can happen with IOS and braille.
Dot Placement
I've also experienced this issue. There is a setting in voiceover > brail, which should automatically detect finger placement and work out dots from there. I've noticed it sometimes drifts though so Os come out as Ms and so on. It is indeed very frustrating. If it happens again it might be worth exploring turning that off...
Voiceover > Brail > Brail Screen Input > Learn Dot Positions.
I'm wondering if moisture gets on the display, a possibility this time of year where I am at least, it is giving a false positive and causing the device to 'learn' the wrong positions.
Recalibration
I find that, every few days, I need to recalibrate the dots. All it requires is pressing dots 456 together, immediately followed by dots 123 together. If you've done it successfully, VoiceOver will say "Dot positions calibrated". Importantly, after pressing dots 456, do not wait for VoiceOver to echo what you just typed; if you do, you've waited too long, and you'll need to begin the calibration process again.
More than that
It was way more than just not correctly calibrated or reversed positions. I tried all of that many times simply recalibrating the dots to changing orientation to messing around in the settings, before resetting everything. It thought an a was an apostrophe and a b was a k, and no amount of recalibrating, changing orientation or dot positions would fix it. When I say completely broken, I mean completely broken. Could not type. At all.
Potential idea on what might have happened
So, in the Braille Screen Input Settings screen, there's an option called Flip Dot Positions, or something similar. What it does is flip dots 1 and 3, and 4 and 6. Particularly useful for Screen Away Mode, since you can write letters the way you read them, instead of like you're writing with a slate and stylus. While this doesn't explain how badly braille broke, it could potentially be part of the issue.
Never mind, looks like you already addressed that issue, very strange.