Learn VoiceOver gestures on iPad

When VoiceOver is on, standard touchscreen gestures have different effects, and additional gestures let you move around the screen and control individual items. VoiceOver gestures include two-, three-, and four-finger taps and swipes.

You can use different techniques to perform VoiceOver gestures. For example, you can perform a two-finger tap using two fingers on one hand, one finger on each hand, or your thumbs. Instead of selecting an item and double-tapping, you can use a split-tap gesture—touch and hold an item with one finger, then tap the screen with another finger.

Explore and speak items on the screen

To explore the screen, drag your finger over it. VoiceOver speaks the name of each item you touch.

You can also use VoiceOver gestures to explore the screen in order, from top to bottom and left to right.

Action	Gesture
Select and speak an item	Tap or touch the item
Select the next item	Swipe right
Select the previous item	Swipe left
Select the first item on the screen	Four-finger tap near the top of the screen
Select the last item on the screen	Four-finger tap near the bottom of the screen
Speak the entire screen from the top	Two-finger swipe up
Speak the entire screen from the selected item	Two-finger swipe down
Pause or continue speaking	Two-finger tap
Speak additional information, such as the position within a list or whether text is selected	Three-finger tap

Scroll up, down, left, and right

Use VoiceOver gestures to move to another page.

Action	Gesture
Scroll up one page	Three-finger swipe down
Scroll down one page	Three-finger swipe up
Scroll left one page	Three-finger swipe right
Scroll right one page	Three-finger swipe left

Take action on an item

Use VoiceOver gestures to perform actions on an item.

Action	Gesture
Select an item	Tap
Activate the selected item	Double-tap
Double-tap the selected item	Triple-tap
Drag a slider	Tap the slider to select it, then swipe up or down with one finger; or double-tap and hold the slider until you hear three rising tones, then drag the slider
Start or stop the current action (for example, play or pause music or a video, take a photo in Camera, start or stop a recording, start or stop the stopwatch)	Two-finger double-tap
Dismiss an alert or return to the previous screen	Two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”)
Edit an item’s label to make it easier to find	Two-finger double-tap and hold

Tip: As an alternative to selecting an item and double-tapping to activate it, touch and hold an item with one finger, then tap the screen with another.

Use gestures to control VoiceOver

Use these gestures to control VoiceOver.

Action	Gesture
Mute or unmute VoiceOver	Three-finger double-tap. If both VoiceOver and Zoom are enabled, use the three-finger triple-tap gesture.
Turn the screen curtain on or off (When the screen curtain is on, the screen contents are active even though the display is turned off.)	Three-finger triple-tap. If both VoiceOver and Zoom are enabled, use the three-finger quadruple-tap gesture.
Use a standard gesture	Double-tap and hold your finger on the screen until you hear three rising tones, then make the gesture. When you lift your finger, VoiceOver gestures resume. For example, to drag a volume slider with your finger instead of swiping up and down, select the slider, double-tap and hold, wait for the three tones, then slide left or right.
Open the Item Chooser	Two-finger triple-tap. To move quickly through the list of items, type a name in the search field, swipe right or left to move through the list alphabetically, or tap the table index to the right of the list and swipe up or down. You can also use handwriting to select an item by writing its name. To dismiss the Item Chooser without making a selection, do a two-finger scrub (move two fingers back and forth three times quickly, making a “z”).

Use the VoiceOver rotor

You can use the rotor to change VoiceOver settings, jump from one item to the next on the screen, select special input methods such as Braille Screen Input or Handwriting, and more. For details, see Control VoiceOver using the rotor on iPad.

Use these gestures to use the rotor.

Action	Gesture
Choose a rotor setting	Two-finger rotation
Move to the previous item or increase (depending on the rotor setting)	Swipe up
Move to the next item or decrease (depending on the rotor setting)	Swipe down

Helpful?

iPad User Guide