VoiceOver Help

Welcome to VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the screen reader integrated into macOS. It describes aloud what’s on the screen and lets you control your Mac using gestures, a keyboard, or a braille display.

The Welcome to VoiceOver dialog with Learn More, Use VoiceOver, and Turn Off Voiceover buttons across the bottom.
The VoiceOver Utility Voices pane showing voice settings for English, French, and Japanese languages.

Work the way you like

Want to use a different voice for different languages? Hear more detail for some items and less for others? Or change how you navigate webpages? Use VoiceOver Utility to customize how VoiceOver works for you.

A list of VoiceOver gestures and corresponding commands shown in the Trackpad Commander in VoiceOver Utility.

Use familiar gestures

VoiceOver in macOS uses many of the same gestures you know from iOS. For example, touch the trackpad to hear the item in the VoiceOver cursor, double-tap to perform an action, or flick to move to the next item.

A Safari webpage in the VoiceOver cursor and the VoiceOver Rotor set to Links.

Browse the web more easily

VoiceOver offers several ways to browse webpages. For example, use the onscreen Rotor—rotate two fingers on the trackpad as if turning an actual dial—to quickly navigate webpages using items such as links, headings, window spots, or landmarks.

The braille panel shows simulated yellow braille dots; text below the dots displays what VoiceOver is currently speaking.

Get going with plug-and-play braille

Plug in or sync your display—or multiple displays—and you’re set to go. The VoiceOver description is presented in braille, as well as on screen in the braille panel for sighted users. VoiceOver is compatible with over 100 refreshable braille displays.

Find out more about customizing VoiceOver, using gestures, browsing webpages, and using VoiceOver with braille displays.

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