Accessibility tools are a blessing for those who are less able, but they need to be carefully designed so as to not give away any of the user’s secrets. Unfortunately, those using Apple’s VoiceOver feature have stumbled upon a nasty bug where it will begin reading out the user’s saved passwords. Fortunately, if you use VoiceOver, there’s already an update that fixes this nasty flaw.
Apple Fixes a Password-Exposing Bug in VoiceOver
As reported by The Register, a bug was found in iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1. When users use the VoiceOver feature to read out what’s on the screen, it won’t take into account that the user probably doesn’t want it to read out all of their saved passwords while they’re viewing them. This was soon after Apple released its own Password app, which inspired people to begin saving their passwords on their devices.
The Register lists the following devices as affected by this bug:
- iPhone XS and later
- iPad Pro 13-inch
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch third generation and later
- iPad Pro 11-inch first generation and later
- iPad Air third generation and later
- iPad seventh generation and later
- iPad mini fifth generation and later
The update also has a handy fix for an annoying bug for all iPhone 16 models. This bug affected audio messages in the iMessage app which caused the microphone to record a few seconds of extra audio before the visual indicator turned on.
How to Fix the VoiceOver Password Bug
Fortunately, because the bug has already been fixed, all you need to do is apply the latest update. Once applied, VoiceOver should identify what parts it should and shouldn’t read out better and leave your passwords alone.
If you need some help with that, check out our guide on how to update your iPhone or iPad. If you’re getting tired of listening to the same old voice every day, you can try customizing Apple VoiceOver for something more palatable. And if you need more assistance tools to help yourself or a loved one, check out these iOS and iPadOS accessibility tools you can try.
