I have some thoughts regarding Braille support for iOS. And with the latest version of iOS and Braille access, the thoughts have been hitting home with me even more so.
This is mainly regarding support for Mantis Q40 along with qwerty keyboards in general.
One of the main reasons why people have gone crazy about the Mantis Q40 is the fact it's got a qwerty keyboard, and for many, typing with qwerty is exponentially faster than typing with the Perkins keyboard. That being the case, why, oh why, should the mantis user be made to change input mode in order to utilize Braille access, whether it be Braille notes, the calculator, or the Type to Speak feature in live caption. As it stands, it should be called "Braille to Speak," since, again, you're forced to use Braille input for that.
Over the years I wondered, why is it that someone with a Braille display, with a Perkins style keyboard, can just hit enter, or dot 8, then type the first letters of an app whilst on home screen, but, the qwerty keyboard user can't. And it's essentially the same now, short of the fact that now that option is within Braille Access, under "launch app."
As for the Type to Speak feature -- sorry, Braille to Speak feature. there are deaf and/or mute persons who could benefit from this option who may not know how to write in Braille very well, if at all. We're leaving them out, btw.
So, I do think that the qwerty keyboard user, whether they be using a Mantis or just a regular BT keyboard, need to be shown a bit more love here, and this should have been the case all along.
By Joy Tilton, 18 September, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Wow
I didn’t even know about that feature. How do you activate it?
the braille keyboard input thing
I was a little unclear there. I know about the braille access thing but not the braille keyboard input thing.
Braille keyboard input
Braille keyboard input is vo-y by default and is a toggle.