Guide to VoiceView Screen Reader for Fire Tablet

The VoiceView screen reader lets you use gestures to navigate your Fire tablet (FireOS 5 and higher) and interact with content with speech output.

This document contains information about how to turn on VoiceView, basic usage, settings, and gestures.

Enable VoiceView

To enable VoiceView during first-time setup:

  1. Press the power button located next to the USB power port.
  2. Wait for the device to load the language selection screen.
  3. Triple press the power button, and wait for VoiceView to start.

You can also enable VoiceView any time:

  1. Press and hold the power button until you hear an alert sound.
  2. Hold two fingers slightly apart on the screen for five seconds to enable VoiceView.

VoiceView Basics

Function Directions
Activate an item

Place focus on it then double-tap anywhere on the screen. If the item doesn't activate, try to slow down or speed up your tap speed.
Explore the screen

Drag one finger on the screen.
Go to the next heading

Swipe up or down on the screen.
Go to the next item

Swipe right with one finger.
Go to the previous item

Swipe left with one finger.
Read all from selected item

Swipe down with 2 fingers.
Scroll a window

Drag three fingers on the screen.
Turn on VoiceView from any screen

Triple press the power button or hold the power button until you hear an alert, and then place two fingers slightly apart on the screen and hold for five seconds.

VoiceView Settings

You can customize your VoiceView experience by modifying user settings. To access settings when VoiceView is on, swipe down from the top of the screen with three fingers, focus on "VoiceView. Tap for settings" in the notifications list, then double-tap to activate. Alternatively, you can navigate through the settings menus:

  1. Swipe down from the top of the screen with three fingers, focus on Settings, then double tap to activate.
  2. Focus on Accessibility, double tap to activate, focus on VoiceView then double tap to activate.

The following settings are available:

  • Braille
    Braille Setting Description
    Braille Table

    Choose between Computer, Uncontracted, Contracted, or Unified English Braille.
    Mute Speech and Sounds

    Disable VoiceView sounds and speech.
    Pair Bluetooth Braille Display

    Pair display through standard Bluetooth device pairing.
    Show Accessibility Focus on Braille Display

    Raise dots 7 and 8 beneath the item with accessibility focus.
  • Speech
    Speech Setting Description
    Identify Capital Letters

    Raise pitch or say "cap" to identify capital letters.
    Key Echo

    Determine what is echoed back to you while entering text. By default, characters are echoed as they are typed to confirm entry. This can be changed to none, characters, words, or both characters and words.
    Punctuation Level

    Control what punctuation marks are read aloud.
    Reading Speed

    Adjust the speed of the VoiceView voice.
    Sounds Volume

    Set the volume level for feedback tones, or select Match device volume to use the same volume as other media.
    Speech On or Off gesture

    Allow turning speech on or off by double tapping with three fingers. Disabled by default.
    Speech Volume

    Set the volume level for VoiceView speech, select Match device volume to use the same volume as other media.
    Verbosity

    The amount of information provided while navigating.
  • VoiceView Shortcut: Allow triple-press of the power button to turn on VoiceView. You can turn off VoiceView with this action.
  • VoiceView Tutorial: Choose between various lessons and Learn Mode to become more familiar with VoiceView usage.

Gestures

Function Directions
Adjust an incremented control (such as a slider)

Place focus on the control you want to adjust, then use one of the following methods:

  1. Swipe up or down with one finger.
  2. Use the jog wheel gesture.
  3. Swipe right then left, or left then right, with one finger in a single motion.
  4. double-tap and hold, and then slide a finger to adjust the control.
To use the jog wheel gesture, double-tap and hold with one finger anywhere on the screen and immediately draw circles clockwise or counter clockwise to move forward or backward at the granularity level.

Cycle down in Granularity (character, word, etc.)

Swipe down then up with one finger using a single motion. This allows you to step through items at the selected granularity. For example, character granularity can be used to spell a word.
Cycle up in Granularity (character, word, etc.)

Swipe up then down with one finger using a single motion. This allows you to step through items at the selected granularity. For example, character granularity can be used to spell a word.
Enter or exit Learn mode for gesture practice

Double-tap with 4 fingers.
Go Back

Swipe down then left with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the Back button near the bottom left of the screen in the soft key bar.
Go to next item by granularity

Swipe down with one finger.
Go to previous item by granularity

Swipe up with one finger.
Go to the first item on screen

Tap on upper half of screen with 4 fingers.
Go to the Home screen

Swipe up then left with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the Home button near the bottom middle of the screen in the soft key bar.
Go to the last item on screen

Tap on lower half of screen with 4 fingers.
Go to the next page or previous page

Swipe left or right with three fingers.
Long press an item

Place focus on the item, then double-tap and hold with one finger. This performs the action of holding a finger on an item as if VoiceView were disabled. For example, for an app icon on the Home screen, it would display a menu with an Uninstall option at the top of the screen.
Make an Alexa request

Double-tap and holding 2 fingers.
Move between category pages on the Home screen

Swipe left or right with three fingers (for example, Books, Videos, or Music).
Navigate while continuously reading

1-finger swipe up or down to jump to the beginning of the previous or next item of your selected granularity. Swipe multiple times to jump multiple items. Use a 2-finger swipe left or right to jump by element.
Open Quick Actions and Notifications

Swipe down from the top of the device with three fingers. Alternatively, swipe right then down with one finger in a single motion.
Pause or resume speech

Single-tap with 2 fingers.
Quickly navigate items by granularity

Use the jog wheel gesture. To use the jog wheel gesture, double-tap and hold with one finger anywhere on the screen and immediately draw circles clockwise or counter clockwise to move forward or backward at the granularity level.
Read all from first item

Swipe up with 2 fingers.
Read all from selected item

Swipe down with 2 fingers.
Select & Copy Text

3-finger double tap and hold to start text selection on current item. Use linear or granular navigation to move to the other end of your selection. Use a 3-finger double tap and hold again to the end of the selection. Use a 4-finger double tap and hold to paste. Double tap and hold by briefly touching the screen, lift your fingers, then immediately touch the screen again and hold your fingers for about 1 second.

Note: Due to similarity, 3-finger double tap to turn speech on or off is disabled by default. You can enable it in the Speech settings.

Select a word from the suggested word list

Type a letter of a word, and then slide your finger from the bottom of screen until you hear a high-pitched tone. Without lifting your finger, draw circles clockwise to hear a list of suggested words. Draw circles counter-clockwise to cycle backwards through the words. Lift your finger to select the word.
Show recent apps

Swipe left then up with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the App Switcher button near the bottom right of the screen in the soft key bar.
Speak location, usage hints, and screen description

Single-tap with 3 fingers.
Start or stop dictation text input (on supported devices)

Double-tap with 2 fingers while editing text.
Start or stop media

Double-tap with 2 fingers.
Turn screen curtain on or off

Triple-tap with 3 fingers.
Turn speech on or off

Double-tap with 3 fingers when gesture is enabled in VoiceView Speech settings.
Type on the keyboard

Move one finger slowly over the keys to hear them read to you. When you hear the letter you want to type, lift your finger from the keyboard to enter the letter. If you hear a high-pitched tone, your finger has moved outside the keyboard.
Unlock the screen

Use one of the following methods:

  1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen with two or three fingers.
  2. Place focus on the unlock button, then double tap to activate.

Read Tables with VoiceView

  • In "Table" granularity, swipe up/down to navigate to the previous/next table.
  • When on a table, VoiceView announces "Table (name if specified) with Y rows, X columns." If no name is given, it says "Table with Y rows..."
  • Switching to Character, Word, or Sentence granularity restricts navigation to the current cell.
Function Directions
Enter the table

Swipe right with one finger.
Get table location information

Tap with 3 fingers.
Go to the next cell

Swipe with one finger in any direction when in “Vertical Navigation”.
Leave the table

Use one of the following methods:

  1. Touch outside the table, or
  2. Use Accessibility Actions available within table to skip before or after current table, or
  3. Swipe left with one finger from the top-left cell, or swipe right from the bottom-right cell.
Navigate to the element located before the table

Swipe left with one finger.
Read all from current position in logical order

Swipe down with 2 fingers.