Hi all. Another Braille issue. Since updating to iOS 26.02 i've discovered i can't seem to use my mantis braille display for typing purposes while connected to my iPhone. This applies to anywhere on the phone where it's possible to type: notes, mail, messages and so on. The cursor still blinks indicating i'm good to type, but when i do focus will either jump away from the edit area (usually to the first element of the app i'm in) or in the case of notes the cursor blinks but when i type absolutely nothing happens - focus stays put. I've tried all the obvious trouble shooting issues (unpairing and repairing, turning bluetooth off on both devices and turning the phone off and back on) with no success. Is this a bug or is there anything else i can try in order to fix this? As a braille user i will admit i'm finding this terribly frustrating. Thank you in advance for any advice.
Comments
i had the same issue on one device and reset voiceover settings.
hi,
i use the same bluetooth keyboard with my iphone and ipad, and had the same issue on my ipad.
it seems no matter what i tried i could not get it to go into typing mode - i think they call it quicknav.
eventually i used the new setting at the bottom of the voiceover sedction in settings to reset voiceover and that worked.
that was a bit brutal, but it did not take long to get running again.
in hindsight you may want to see if you accidently went into braille mode which you can enter and leave using vo-key and y - sometimes i need to double tap the y key to get out of it though.
on my iphone i never had the issue.
just to confirm. the behavior on my ipad was that - although i was in the text field, typing would not work, but things like pressing "h" would try to jump to a heading - it's through this that i realized that it was not switching to quicknav.
normally the way to force switching between quicknav and not is to press both left and right arrow keys on the keyboard at the same time.
you hear a sound that indicates going in and out of the mode.
i just wanted to elaborate on my observations.
in the end i did the VO reset and it immediately started working.
Same issues here with any Bluetooth keyboard.
. Yes, I have had the same issues and have had colleagues at my office with the same issues. It is not specifically with a mantis Q 40 which I own, but any Bluetooth keyboard or any keyboard in general that X with the iOS device. I have reported this to Apple, I have had some friends reset their voiceover settings, but I do not want to do this as it is taking me a long time to get VoiceOver set up the way I want. Apple should fix this and know that it is an issue. But it is most certainly an issue with any external Bluetooth keyboard.
Frustrating
Following a suggestion from another user saying that resetting their voiceover settings has put the issue right for them despite the fact it's a desperate measure, i have done the same (fortunately on a phone i use less regularly) but nevertheless i still wish i hadn't, for the same reason you'd rather avoid it. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to get things back right. Thank goodness i left the Sim-active device alone.
It gets worse!
And now, having unpaired my mantis from both phones, i'm no longer able to swipe through items on the screens using the previous and next thumb keys as before 😕
Possible Fix
On your iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboards and Typing > Hardware keyboard. The first selection you come to is Full Keyboard, it is usually ON by default. Turn this off, and I think you'll find your QWERTY keyboard on your Braille display will work better.
Done
Hi. Access all keyboards is already turned off but i still can't move using the thumb keys. I just can't pinpoint how i've managed to break it.
single key quick-nav
Press control option q. This toggles on and off single key quick nav. This was the fix for me. I think that in IOS 26, there are separate settings for the arrow key quick nav and single letter quick nav. possibly this is more in line with how things work on the Mac. In some ways it's a nice change. It means you can leave the arrow key quick nav on and still type.