Apple voiceover screen

[Podunk]

Charge for using iPhone and Apple’s voiceover screen reader. This morning when I clicked on distance to look at miles walked for past six days and today I noted that one day was red as June 7, one day was red as June 1, and one day was red as August 8, and the rest was red as miles  I have communicated this multiple times to the customer service people at Fitbit. I keep hoping that at some point the information will read correctly using the VoiceOver application. It is frustrating to have to convert dates to miles in order to compare the pastg

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity.

[RodrigoMFitbit]

@Podunk Nice to see you again in the forums. I appreciate you taking the time to explain.

I was informed that you are already in contact with support. I recommend you stay in touch with them for further assistance. I personally do not know of any settings on the Fitbit app that can change this. I assume this is also something more related to the "voice over reader" feature on your Apple device on how they read dates and numbers. 

[Podunk]

Thank you for reading the message I posted. Customer service has been a little help. My roast recent experience was when I wanted to find out how I can edit and add steps in for those lost. I explained I was blind and needed someone to walk me through the steps. The person I spoke with told me to look for the orange tile man or something along that line. And I had explained the number of times that I was blind I could not see in the screen and I also seen the screen on my charge for or on my iPhone. I was told that the only solution for me was to find someone I could ask to do the editing for me. I explained that I did not want to have someone else do the edits for me whenever I felt that they were required. The software should be Bentley for those who are blind or otherwise reading disabled. This was not the first time I’ve been told to go find a sided person to do what I wanted on the Fitbit.

Note: I have put the new version of the Fitbit app on my iPhone and have noted a change when after clicking on steps and looking at today the field used to keep a running log of the steps I was making after the change was made and installed on my iPhone I noted that it no longer did a moving count and that the number under today froze at the number from the home screen that was posted when I clicked on the number of steps

[RodrigoMFitbit]

@Podunk Thanks for the swift reply and explanation. 

I now understand why you wish to use this feature on your smartphone for this app. I appreciate your feedback. I am sorry to read you did not have the best experience with support. However, speaking for myself, I would also have a hard time explaining how to make changes on the Fitbit app to a blind person. I honestly do not know how the smartphone for blind people operates. Hence the reason I would not be able to explain how to proceed and make changes. This is something I can definitely learn and I will make time for it in the future. As of now, I honestly cannot guide you through the Fitbit app. 

I have to be honest and have never used the "voiceover" feature with any app before nor do I own an iPhone. However, the fact that this feature reads "distances" as dates is more likely related to their programming, rather than the information on the Fitbit app being displayed incorrectly. I assume that the fact that the distance is displayed with a dot in between, makes this "voiceover" feature read it like it is a date. Since decimals are represented with dots, some distances may be read as dates. For example a distance of 6.09 miles, I am sure it will be read as a date. However a distance if 6.69 miles might not be read as a date, since it does not fall under the "regular" date format. That is the reason I say this is something related to the Apple feature rather than the Fitbit app. 

Regarding the step count on the Fitbit app, I am not sure if I understand completely. Do you mean that the amount of steps walked that is shown on the app when you tap on the step tile, locks to this amount, regardless of you walking more steps and syncing your device? I just tried this myself. I opened the app, tapped on the "steps" tile. It showed me 1282 steps. I stayed on this screen, where the step count for today and past days is shown. I  did not leave this screen, got up and walked and when I got back the device synced automatically. The step count was updated, even though I remained on the "step count" list for today and past days. I tried this on an Android device though. So there could be some differences. In case on your Apple device works differently, I suggest you back out to "Today" and then tap again on the "steps" tile in order to get the updated step count on that list as well. 

[Podunk]

Sent from my iPhone

To use voiceover on your iPhone first ask Siri to turn on voiceover when Don ask Siri to turn off voiceover next preform a three finger triple tap to toggle screen curtain so you cannot see what is on the screen next in order to click on the tile you will need to do a One finger double tap and make sure that the double tap is quick next use wipes to go up and down the screen as necessary to see what information is available and how it works next two finger swipe down will start the voiceover screen reader reading the contents of the page. I am hoping that my quick instructions give you a feel for the voiceover software provided by Apple do this all the time so I’m hoping that I put the instructions down with enough information that you’ll be able to experience voiceover as a blind person might. Not being able to see the screen should help to make the experience more realistic.

I noted the change to steps after I downloaded the version provided today on the App Store. I clicked on steps then swiped down to today and while I did my walking the step count never changed the step count used to be a rolling step count so I could get a rough idea of how many steps I was doing in order to meet the goal I had set for myself hope this is helpful

[RodrigoMFitbit]

@Podunk Thanks for the reply and explanation. This certainly gives me an idea, but I do not own an iPhone. Hence I cannot try it myself. Hope you understand. 

Regarding the step count, I suggest you just back out to the "Today" tab and then tap again on the "step" tile, so that the step count on that list is also updated. That would be my solution to this situation, given that it recently changed. 

[Podunk]

Distances only show up when they’re displayed in pants examples seven die for July 4 8.7 August 7 3.2 March 2 eight dodge zero would show up as a god zero not as the day 5.31 which shall walk as distance not as a day hope this is helpful

[RodrigoMFitbit]

@Podunk Thanks for the reply. Understood. I am very sorry, however, there are no settings that can be changed to help you out with this situation. It seems that this feature is reading numbers according to their algorithm. Distances are regularly represented with decimals and these decimals use a dot. That is the reason I believe this feature reads the distances as dates. 

The fact that numbers are read as dates by the "voiceover reader" from Apple, is something we from our side at Fitbit cannot change. Even though distances were to be shown differently on the Fitbit app, there is no guarantee these will be read as you expect. Have you tried contacting Apple regarding this feature on their device? I would recommend you do that as well. 

Have a nice day. 

[Podunk]

Question I have spoken with an accessibility consultant for Apple. And he has told me that the fact that time shows up at meters and distance shows up as dates is not a problem with voiceover but a problem with the way that the application is written. He explained to me that Apple has a development team that works with voiceover and third parties such as Fitbit to evaluate and identify issues with the software to make it more accessible to people who use voiceover he explained that they are able to take the third-party software and match it with voiceover software to go through programs line by line and identify where changes should be made or need to be made in order for the software to do what is correct. I’m not technical enough to explain at all but this person I spoke with says that they do it on a regular basis with third-party developers

Sent from my iPhone