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iPad

Explore the various methods of configuring assistive technology on your iPad device. For all iPadOs supported operating systems, see iPad Requirements.

Review Test Device Setup for Chromebook, Windows, Mac, and iPad.

  • Note: Disable pop-up blocker. The first time you access/view the video, you must provide your name and email. Information is used to access the video and not retained for other purposes.

External keyboards are required for AP Exams and are allowed on all other tests. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboards, tap Full Keyboard Access, then turn on Full Keyboard Access.

iPad Only: Keyboard Navigation with Special Characters and Answer Options

  • Keyboard-only users can open the special characters when focus is in the Free Response Editor by pressing Command + Control + /.
  • When the special characters are displayed, keyboard-only users can navigate using an external keyboard with the Tab key.  
  • Keyboard-only users can press Enter to choose a special character that is focused. The choice will be added as a textual value within the Free Response Editor.

iPad Only: Navigating Multiple-Choice Answer Options

  • Keyboard-only users can navigate to a Radio button option with the Tab key.
  • Subsequent radio button options can be accessed with the Tab key and the Space bar to make an explicit selection.
  • Alternatively, keyboard-only users can navigate through multiple-choice options with Option + Arrow keys or Control + Arrow keys.

Spoken Content

An iPad can speak selected text or the entire screen. For all supported iOS devices:

  1. Tap the Settings icon and select Accessibility.
  2. From the Accessibility screen, select Spoken Content.
  3. Select Speak Selection and Speak Screen.
  4. Enable (i.e., toggle on) Speech Controller and adjust controller actions for Long Press, Double Tap and Idle Opacity.
  5. Enable (i.e., toggle on) Highlight Content, as preferred, and select settings for Words, Sentences, Words & Sentences. Make any selections as appropriate for sentence highlighting and colors.

Important!  Ensure that Detect Languages is turned Off.

VoiceOver

To start using VoiceOver, the iOS screen reader:

  • Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then On/Off.
  • Optional: Add VoiceOver to Accessibility Shortcut and Control Center.
    • Go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcuts > Select VoiceOver.
    • Go to Settings > Control Center, then tap (+) next to Accessibility Shortcuts. Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to make a selection.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Content

  • Some STEM content may contain acronyms, chemical equations, camelCase, or PascalCase that need to be announced clearly or verbatim by screen readers. To announce capital letters distinctly with varying pitch or spell out the content character-by-character, set VoiceOver settings using the rotor to Characters.  
  • Refer to Control VoiceOver using the rotor on iPhone.  

Voice Control

To start using Voice Control on an iPad, go to Settings > Accessibility > enable (turn on) Voice Control. 

Note: Use of spell-check, grammar-check, word prediction, and cut-and-paste features is not permitted and must be disabled.

Voice control guides are available for:  

iOS 17: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/use-voice-control-ipad4b6c9ee4/17.0/ipados/17.0

iOS 16: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/voice-control-ipad4b6c9ee4/16.0/ipados/16.0

iOS 15: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/voice-control-ipad4b6c9ee4/15.0/ipados/15.0

Tip: To help navigate and select elements in Bluebook, say “show numbers.” Numbers will appear on the screen for every element/grid in the active window. Say an item’s corresponding number to select it (e.g., “Click 19, OK”).

Zoom

Tap Settings > Accessibility > Zoom.  

Adjust any of the following:

  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Control Zoom using shortcuts on an external keyboard.
  • Zoom Controller: Turn the Controller on, set controller actions, and adjust the color and opacity.
  • Zoom Region: Choose Pinned Zoom, Full Screen Zoom, or Window Zoom.
  • Zoom Filter: Choose None, Inverted, Grayscale, Grayscale Inverted, or Low Light.
  • Maximum Zoom Level: Drag the slider to adjust the level.

Color Filters

You can invert colors on the iPad screen to make it easier to read text.  

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.

Turn on one of the following:

  • Smart Invert: Reverse colors everywhere except images.
  • Classic Invert: Reverse all the colors onscreen.

Adjust Filter colors as needed:

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.

  • Tap Color Filters, turn on Color Filters, then tap a color filter to apply it.

To have screen colors become warmer as it gets dark out, use Night Shift. Night Shift automatically removes inverted colors and color filter effects (except grayscale).  

Additional resources for how to use the accessibility features on an iPad:

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