Quick Tip: Siri and Speak Screen

New in iOS 8, Speak Screen allows you to hear not only text but also interface elements such as buttons and other controls read aloud. Speak Screen is a handy feature to use on websites, ebooks and anywhere you need to have the text read aloud to you, or if you need to familiarize yourself with a layout of an app due to a vision difficulty. The nice thing about this feature is that you don’t have to make a selection first. Speak Screen begins reading at the top of the page automatically after you activate it but you can use onscreen controls to advance the selection or to rewind, and you can also adjust the speaking speed. Also, Speak Screen will work with any of the voices you have installed on your device, including the advanced Alex voice Apple has now ported from the Mac to iOS with iOS 8.

To activate Speak Screen, you use a special gesture (drag from the top of the screen with two fingers). Here is today’s quick tip: instead of using a gesture to start Speak Screen, use your voice. Siri works great for this purpose. Just bring up Siri and say “Speak Screen” and your device will start reading the current screen.

Even better, with iOS 8, you can put Siri in an always listening mode by going into Settings > Siri and enabling Hey Siri. You can then just say “Hey Siri” to start Siri (but remember that this only works when you have your device plugged in to a power source, as it drains the battery some). A great use of “Hey Siri” is to use it in combination with Speak Screen. Just say “Hey Siri, Speak Screen” and it should start reading the text and describing the onscreen controls.

I hope you find that tip useful.

Published by Luis Pérez, Ph. D.

Luis Pérez is an inclusive learning consultant based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has more than a decade of experience working with educators to help them integrate technology in ways that empower all learners. Luis holds a doctorate in special education and a master’s degree in instructional technology from the University of South Florida, and he is the author of Mobile Learning for All: Supporting Accessibility with the iPad, from Corwin Press. Luis has been honored as an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) in 2009, and as Google in Education Certified Innovator in 2014. He is also a TouchCast and Book Creator Ambassador. Luis currently serves as the Professional Learning Chair of the Inclusive Learning Network of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which recognized him as its 2016 Outstanding Inclusive Educator. His work has appeared in publications such Teaching Exceptional Children, Closing the Gap Solutions, THE Journal, and The Loop Magazine. In addition to his work in educational technology, Luis is an avid photographer whose work has been featured in Better Photography magazine, Business Insider, the New York Times Bits Blog and the Sydney Morning Herald. Luis has presented at national and international conferences such as South by Southwest EDU, ISTE, CSUN, ATIA and Closing the Gap. View all posts by Luis Pérez, Ph. D.