All:
I purchased an iPhone 18 Pro and received it late last week. Like others, I'm setting it up as a new device as I haven't done that in a few years and wanted to clear out some app clutter. I turned Voiceover on during the initial set up and it has been on ever since. The only problem, the phone is telling me that Voiceover is active every time I unlock the phone. Every time I press the side button to wake up the phone, I get the message that Voiceover is active and am told I can triple click the side button to turn it off. I've turned off Voiceover notifications, set VO not to speak notifications on the lock screen and have even done a force restart. I've also disabled and reenabled Voiceover using the side button, thinking that might clear the message. No luck, I'm still getting the message. I even went under the accessibility shortcut settings and changed what the shortcut does, but I still get the message about Voiceover. Is any one else experiencing this? If so, have you found a way to stop this annoying message whenever you wake up your phone? I did chat with Apple Accessibility support about this, but they were unable to help. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Jim
By Jim D, 29 September, 2026
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
16 pro max
I never got that type of message.
Experience this on iPhone 17
The solution to the problem is as follows. The next time you get the notification. When I’m unlocking the phone swipe home and then quickly go to the right of the dynamic island and before the notification disappears there should be a council button to the right just double tap on that and that should clear it. I experienced this after resetting all settings while beta testing and double tapping the cancel button should clear it.
Saw it on iPhone 18 Pro Max Set Up as New
Hi Jim, just replying to say that I indeed saw this when I set up my iPhone 18 Pro Max as a brand new device. It appeared to be something in the Dynamic Island--it behaved a lot like I would expect a Live Activity to work. Scotty's instructions above match my own general experience though I don't remember the exact moment when the announcement stopped for me.
I saw this on my iPhone 15 with a phone to phone transfer
I saw this on my iPhone 15 when I did my transfer from my iPhone SE 2022. The directions to fix it for me were actually a bit different. I ended up just turning off the voiceover notifications and then it stopped the announcement. I’m not sure why it works differently with different devices, but that was how II saw this on my iPhone 15 when I did my transfer from my iPhone SE 2022. The directions to fix it for me we’re actually a bit different. I ended up just turning off the voiceover notifications and then it stops the announcement. I’m not sure why it works differently with different devices, but that was how I was able to fix it for me. So maybe something else happens with the phone to phone transfer as well? I have never set up a phone as a brand new device ever so I’m not sure if that would change things but it doesn’t seem too as far as that message coming back. Yeah that message was super annoying.
Thanks!
Thanks all. I heard the cancel button, but could never get VO to focus on it. Touching the dynamic island did the trick. Singer Girl, you are right, odd that this would be different for different phone models, but probably has something to do with the availability of the dynamic island on certain models.
Jim
Well, dynamic Island is on iPhone 15
Well, the dynamic island is on iPhone 15. But I’m thinking that maybe it might’ve been one of the first phones that had it so maybe it works differently. But yeah, I just seemed kind of odd that it would work different with different models. I don’t know I mean as long as the message gets cleared out that’s important thing. Just one of those odd iPhone voiceover Apple Cory.