Gestures for Explore by Touch

TalkBack is the screen reader developed by Google for Android. Technically, it’s an accessibility service that provides spoken feedback. The part of the accessibility service that enables blind users to touch the screen without inadvertently activating controls is called Explore by Touch. This post discusses how to enable and disable TalkBack and how to use the Explore by Touch gestures, frequently referred to as TalkBack gestures.

 

Enabling and Disabling TalkBack and Explore by touch

 

To turn TalkBack on or off, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack. The TalkBack screen has some text explaining what TalkBack is, a Settings button, and an on/off switch. Touch the on/off switch, which is located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, below the notification bar. If you tap the switch on, the next screen shows a vertical list of the things TalkBack has access to (e.g., the text you type) as well as the Cancel and OK buttons. Touch OK in the lower right-hand corner to start speech. If you tap the switch off, TalkBack warns you that spoken feedback will stop; tap OK in the lower right-hand corner to disable speech. Explore by Touch is turned on and off automatically.

 

To turn Explore by touch on or off, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings, and tap the Explore by Touch item to check it. This shouldn’t be necessary as Explore by touch is turned on and off automatically with TalkBack; however, the two features are controlled independently as low-vision users and people with some print disabilities may want speech without the added gestures.

 

To go through the Explore by Touch tutorial, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings and touch the Explore by Touch tutorial item. Once in TalkBack Settings, you need to swipe up with two fingers to scroll to find the item. The tutorial starts as soon as you double-tap the item.

 

Starting with Basic Gestures

 

These simple gestures are used to navigate your Android device. Use a touch that is light and fairly rapid. If you’re swiping, scrolling, or using right-angle or two-part gestures, the touch and movement are even lighter and faster, as if you were brushing dust or fine crumbs from a tabletop. Keep in mind that these gestures are available only when TalkBack and Explore by touch are on:

 

• Explore – Slide one finger over the screen in any direction. TalkBack announces text and controls as your finger moves over them.
• Swipe (right or down) using one finger – Quickly slide a finger over the screen to move to the next item. This is comparable to pressing tab on a Windows or Apple computer.
• Swipe (left or up) using one finger – Quickly slide a finger over the screen to move to the previous item. This is comparable to pressing shift+tab on a Windows or Apple computer.
• Double-tap (anywhere on the screen) – Tap the screen twice with one finger to activate the last item you heard. By default, this is how you click controls, check and uncheck boxes, and open dropdown lists. If you’re new to touch-screens, the double-tap is a rapid sequence. Think of a two-syllable word, like “double” or “Android;” each tap corresponds to a syllable.
• Single-tap (directly on the item) – Explore to the item and tap it once to activate. This is an alternative method for clicking controls, checking and unchecking boxes, and opening dropdown lists. To set this mode, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings and check Single-tap mode. You can also swipe and double-tap anywhere when in this mode.
• Long-press (by double-tapping on an item, keeping your finger on the screen after the second tap) – Slide a finger directly to an item, tap twice, and after the second tap, hold your finger on the screen instead of lifting. This gesture is used to bring up additional options (comparable to pressing the context key in Windows). It also opens and closes the on-screen keyboard (if you tap on an edit field), and it enables you to drag items on the home screens. You can often long-press anywhere, but long-pressing directly on an item produces the most predictable results.
• Scroll vertically (by swiping up or down using two fingers) – Slide two fingers up or down to scroll through a list. To scroll successfully, move focus to the list by sliding a finger to an item in the list before beginning the two-finger swipe. To move to the screen below, swipe up, and to move to the screen above, swipe down. To remember, imagine you’re handling something on a roll (e.g., toilet paper, paper towels, or fabric). Short swipes scroll the list by an item or two; several long, rapid swipes move through a couple of screens. Be sure to scroll in the work area only. Starting the two-finger swipe too close to the bottom of the screen may inadvertently launch Google Now, and starting the two-finger swipe too close to the top of the screen may inadvertently open Notifications.
• Scroll horizontally (by swiping left or right using two fingers) – Slide two fingers right or left to change pages and screens. Scroll in the work area of the screen, or slide a finger to an item in the list before scrolling horizontally. Scrolling right to left moves to the screen on the right, and scrolling left to right moves to the screen on the left. To remember, imagine you’re turning the pages of a book. In most cases, you can swipe anywhere in the work area, but if your goal is to dismiss a notification or clear an item from recent apps, you need to explore to the item and two-finger swipe horizontally exactly over it.

 

Using Two-Part Gestures

 

These gestures enable you to move to specific parts of the screen. Remember to use a touch that is light and fairly rapid. If you’re swiping, scrolling, or using right-angle or two-part gestures, the touch and movement are even lighter and faster, as if you were brushing dust or fine crumbs from a tabletop. Keep in mind that these gestures are available only when TalkBack and Explore by touch are on:

 

• Swipe up then down with one finger in a single fluid motion – By default, this gesture moves focus to the first item on the screen i.e., what appears in the upper left-hand corner). Alternatively, this gesture can be used to change granularity (i.e., transition to the next reading level); to use this gesture for changing granularity, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings>Manage Gestures>Two-Part Vertical Gestures.
• Swipe down then up with one finger in a single fluid motion – By default, this gesture moves focus to the last item on the screen i.e., what appears in the lower right-hand corner). Alternatively, this gesture can be used to change granularity (i.e., transition to the previous reading level); to use this gesture for changing granularity, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings>Manage Gestures>Two-Part Vertical Gestures.
• Swipe right then left with one finger in a single fluid motion –This gesture moves to the next vertical or horizontal page. When scrolling vertically, the last item on one page becomes the first item on the next page. For example, if you use this gesture to move through a list of 35 items, TalkBack may announce, “Items 1 through 12 of 35.” After swiping right then left once, TalkBack may say, “Items 12 through 23 of 35.”
• Swipe left then right with one finger in a single fluid motion –This gesture moves to the previous vertical or horizontal page. When scrolling vertically, the first item on one page becomes the last item on the previous page. For example, if you use this gesture to move through a list of 35 items, TalkBack may announce, “Items 12 through 23 of 35.” After swiping left then right once, TalkBack may say, “Items 1 through 12 of 35.”

 

Moving on to Right-Angle Gestures

 

These gestures provide quick access to commonly used functions. They combine a vertical line and a horizontal line. For example, the right-then-down gesture involves a horizontal line that goes from left to right followed by a vertical line that goes from top to bottom. Experiment to find the gesture that works best for you. Some people draw crisp right angles while others draw sloppy curves; some find they’re more successful with large motions while others get results with small ones. Many people notice that gestures work differently on different devices. Whatever the case, use a touch that is light and fairly rapid. If you’re swiping, scrolling, or using right-angle or two-part gestures, the touch and movement are even lighter and faster, as if you were brushing dust or fine crumbs from a tabletop. Keep in mind that these gestures are available only when TalkBack and Explore by touch are on:

 

• Go Home with up then left – Using one finger, swipe upward then to the left to move to the Home screen. This is the same as double-tapping the Home button at the bottom of all screens.
• Go back with down then left – Using one finger, swipe downward then to the left to return to the previous screen. This is the same as double-tapping the Back button at the bottom of all screens.
• Go into notifications with right then down –Using one finger, swipe to the right then downward to pull down the notification shade. This is the same as touching the notification bar, then sliding two fingers down the screen. To close notifications, use the Back gesture or button.
• Go into Recent Apps with left then up – Using one finger, swipe to the left then upward to open the Recent apps screen. This is the same as double-tapping the Recent Apps button at the bottom of all screens.
• Go into the Global context Menu with down then right – Using one finger, swipe downward then to the right to go into a TalkBack specific menu that enables you to read the entire screen, spell the last utterance, read from the current position, jump to specific words and other text, suspend TalkBack, and go into TalkBack Settings. Draw a circle, lifting your finger when you hear the option you want. The Global Context menu is covered in more detail in another post.
• Go into the Local Context Menu with up then right – Using one finger, swipe upward then to the right to go into a TalkBack specific menu that enables you to move the text cursor to the beginning or end of the edit field, change granularity, select text, and locate features like links. Draw a circle, lifting your finger when you hear the option you want. You may need to draw a second circle to continue the operation. The Local Context menu is covered in more detail in another post.

 

Two other right angle gestures are available: right then up and left then down. You can assign these to Read from Top and to Read from Next. You can also assign any of the commands covered in this section to any of the right-angle gestures. To assign or modify right-angle commands, go into Settings>Accessibility>TalkBack>Settings>Manage shortcut gestures, tap on the gesture, and check the preferred function.

 

Modifying Standard Commands

 

As is clear from this post, Explore by touch gestures are not the same as standard Android gestures. They’re not so different, however, something to keep in mind when reading mainstream blogs, forums, and articles and when helping sighted friends and family members with their devices. Though they don’t hold true one hundred percent of the time, The following two tips are good rules of thumb for translating standard gestures to TalkBack gestures.

• Swipe with an extra finger – If a mainstream tutorial tells you to swipe with one finger, try swiping with two. If the tutorial tells you to swipe with two fingers, swipe with three.
• Double-tap more than once – if a mainstream tutorial tells you to double-tap on something, try double-tapping twice. If the tutorial tells you to triple-tap, double-tap three times.

 

 

Slide to Unlock

The single action you do most often with your Android device is unlock the screen. This post explains how to wake up your device and unlock the screen using the slide-to-unlock method.

The cool thing about Android is that you interact with your device by touching the screen. You can slide one or two fingers over it, or you can tap it. This is efficient, especially once you have a general idea of how the screen is laid out.

There are times, however, when you don’t want the screen to respond. When the phone is in your pocket, for example, you don’t want to accidentally dial or text anyone, and you don’t want to add esoteric events to your calendar. So most of the time, the screen is unresponsive or off.

To use the device, you need to turn on the screen. By default, this is a two-step process, in which you wake up the device, then unlock the screen.
1. To wake up the device, simply press the power button. When you do, TalkBack announces the time, and if you slide a finger over the screen, you may hear status information near the top, or you may hear information about unlocking the screen about two thirds of the way down. If you do nothing, the device goes back to sleep after a few seconds, playing a chime and announcing, “Screen off.”
2. To unlock the screen, place a finger about two thirds of the way down the screen and slide it to the right. In other words, divide the screen into three equal parts (top, middle, and bottom). Your finger should be roughly between the middle and bottom sections and halfway between the left and right edges. If you’re in the right place, TalkBack says, “Slide to unlock.” Depending on your device, TalkBack may say something like, “Slide right to unlock. Slide left for camera.” If TalkBack says something very different, move your finger around the screen until you hear the unlock message. On most devices, you can slide your finger right, up, or left, but it’s a good idea to get into the habit of sliding right because this is the gesture used to answer incoming calls. If you are successful, you hear a click, like an opening car door, and you can hear the contents of your home screen if you slide your finger around.

If Step 2 doesn’t work, try the following:
• Slide right with two fingers. On some devices, a two-finger slide is required.
• Lift your finger, press the power button twice (to put the device to sleep and wake it up again), and start over, careful not to move your finger around too much. Sometimes as you’re sliding your finger around the screen, TalkBack thinks you want to go into one of the context menus. If this happens, you hear a whirr, and TalkBack tells you to explore in a circle. The quickest way to correct TalkBack is to press the power button twice, then touch the screen again, either exploring in very small increments or lifting your finger an putting it down again.