Article 3 of 3 in Assistive Technology
When Francis walks into a room, he’s always got his iPhone in hand. Bismark? He’s team Android all the way, and he’s not shy about defending his choice. Both work with the Institute of Accessible Technology, both are blind, and both have very strong opinions about which screen reader actually works better in real life.
So we sat them down, gave them some good Ghanaian tea, and let them hash it out. No corporate speak, no marketing nonsense—just two colleagues who happen to disagree about technology having an honest conversation about what it’s really like to navigate the world with a screen reader.
This is their story.
Chapter One: “Why I Switched” vs “Why I Never Will”
Francis: I used Android for three years before I bought my first iPhone. And honestly? I thought the people praising VoiceOver were just Apple fanboys. I was completely wrong. The day I turned on VoiceOver for the first time, I realized what I’d been missing all those years.
Bismark: (laughs) Here we go again. Francis, you sound like an Apple advertisement every time we have this conversation.
Francis: I’m serious though! Look, I’m not saying Android is terrible. I used it for years, I made it work, I got things done. But with VoiceOver, things just… happen. Instantly. When I swipe, it moves immediately. When I tap, it responds right away. With TalkBack, there was always this tiny delay between my action and the phone’s response. You probably don’t even notice it anymore, Bismark, because you’ve been using it for so long. But when you switch from VoiceOver to TalkBack, you feel that delay immediately.
Bismark: Okay, I’ll give you that TalkBack used to be slower, especially on older phones. But on my Pixel 8, it’s pretty smooth now. The response time has improved a lot in the past two years. And here’s what you’re conveniently not talking about—price. Francis, how much did you pay for that iPhone 14 of yours?
Francis: (pause) About GH₵7,500.
Bismark: Exactly! Seven thousand, five hundred cedis! I paid GH₵3,200 for my Pixel 7a. That’s less than half the price! And yes, maybe TalkBack has a tiny delay sometimes, but for GH₵4,300 less? I can live with that delay. I can live with it very comfortably.
Francis: But it’s not just about the delay, Bismark. It’s about everything adding up over time. Those tiny delays happen hundreds of times per day. Let me give you a real example from just yesterday.
Chapter Two: The WhatsApp Incident
Francis: Yesterday evening, I was cleaning up my WhatsApp chats before bed. You know how sometimes people send you messages and you just want to delete them quickly? Maybe it’s a forwarded message you’ve already seen ten times, or a good morning message you don’t need to keep. With VoiceOver, the process is incredibly simple. I open the chat, my finger lands on the message I want to delete, I swipe down once with one finger, and immediately—I mean immediately—I hear VoiceOver announce “Delete, Forward, Reply, Copy, Star.” I swipe right to “Delete,” double-tap to confirm. Done. The whole thing takes maybe three seconds, four at most.
Bismark: I can delete messages too, Francis. TalkBack lets me delete messages.
Francis: Okay, show me how you do it. Walk me through your process.
Bismark: Fine. I open the chat, I navigate to the message I want to delete. Now I have to long-press the message—well, with TalkBack running, that means I double-tap and hold—then I wait for the context menu to appear at the top of the screen. Then I have to navigate to that menu, find the delete option among all the other options like forward, star, reply, and select it. Then I confirm the deletion. It’s more steps than your method, yes, but it works perfectly fine.
Francis: How long does that whole process take you?
Bismark: I don’t know… maybe eight seconds? Ten seconds on a slow day?
Francis: Right. So three seconds versus ten seconds. Now multiply that by twenty messages, or thirty messages, or a hundred messages if you’re really cleaning up. By the time you finish deleting twenty messages, I’m done and I’ve already moved on to checking my emails, reading the news, whatever. And here’s the thing that really frustrated me back when I was still using Android—sometimes that long-press wouldn’t even work on the first try. Sometimes I’d have to do it twice because TalkBack didn’t register it properly. Sometimes the menu wouldn’t appear where I expected it. Sometimes TalkBack would read the entire message text again before showing me the options, which added even more time.
Bismark: (sighs) Yeah, that does happen sometimes. I’ll admit that. Especially in WhatsApp. The app doesn’t always play nicely with TalkBack’s gestures. Some days it works smoothly, other days I have to try things multiple times.
Francis: But WhatsApp works perfectly with VoiceOver every single time. Do you know why? Because Apple forces app developers to follow strict accessibility guidelines. If your app doesn’t work properly with VoiceOver, if the buttons aren’t labeled correctly, if the gestures don’t work consistently, Apple won’t approve your app for the App Store. They reject it and tell you to fix the accessibility issues first. Android doesn’t have that kind of strict enforcement, so developers can be lazy about accessibility and their apps still get published.
Bismark: That’s a fair point. Apple’s strict review process does benefit blind users. But you’re talking about just one app here. What about all the other things we do on our phones?
Chapter Three: Gestures—The Great Debate
Bismark: You iPhone people love to brag about the Rotor feature. “Oh, the Rotor is so amazing, it’s so intuitive, it’s revolutionary.” I hear it all the time. You know what? TalkBack has reading controls that do the exact same thing. I can navigate by headings, links, paragraphs, words, characters, all of it.
Francis: Okay, how do you activate those reading controls?
Bismark: I swipe up then down with one finger, or I can swipe down then up, depending on what I want to do. Or if my phone supports multi-finger gestures—which my Pixel does—I can use a three-finger swipe up or down. Then I select whether I want to navigate by headings, links, lines, words, characters, or whatever navigation type I need. After I select it, I swipe up or down to move through the content using that navigation method.
Francis: Right. So… multiple steps. You have to swipe in a specific pattern to open the menu, then select from a list, then you can finally navigate.
Bismark: It’s not that many steps! It’s quick once you get used to it.
Francis: But compare that to the Rotor. I put two fingers on the screen and twist them like I’m turning a physical dial. VoiceOver immediately announces my navigation options—”Headings, Links, Form Controls, Characters, Words”—and I twist my fingers left or right until I hear the one I want. Let’s say I want to navigate by headings. I twist until I hear “Headings,” then I just swipe up or down with one finger to jump between headings. It’s one smooth, continuous motion. Twist to select, swipe to navigate. Your method requires opening a menu with a specific gesture pattern, selecting an option from a list, then navigating. Mine is twist, swipe, done. Two actions versus three or four.
Bismark: Okay, fine. The Rotor is more elegant. I’ll admit that. The gesture feels more natural and it’s fewer steps. But it’s not like TalkBack’s reading controls don’t work. They accomplish the same goal. They get me where I need to go.
Francis: “Accomplish the same goal” versus “work beautifully and efficiently.” That’s the difference between TalkBack and VoiceOver in one sentence, my friend.
Bismark: (mutters) Show-off.
Chapter Four: Deleting Apps—A Small Thing That Matters Big
Francis: Here’s another example from everyday life that might seem small but it really adds up. You download an app because it looked useful—maybe a recipe app, or a new game, or some productivity tool someone recommended. You try it for five minutes and realize it’s completely useless. Now you want to delete it immediately before you forget about it and it just sits there taking up space on your phone.
Bismark: Okay, show me how you delete an app on iPhone.
Francis: (demonstrates on his phone) My finger lands on the app icon on my home screen. I swipe up with one finger. Immediately—and I mean the moment I finish the swipe gesture—VoiceOver announces “Delete app, Share app, Edit home screen, Rearrange apps.” I swipe right to “Delete app,” double-tap to select it. VoiceOver asks me to confirm: “Delete this app and all its data?” I double-tap yes. Done. The entire process, from landing on the app to having it completely removed from my phone, takes maybe four or five seconds.
Bismark: And I can do the same thing. Watch. (fumbles with his phone for a moment) I find the app icon, I double-tap and hold to bring up the context menu. Oh wait, TalkBack is reading the entire app name first. “C-o-o-k-i-n-g M-a-s-t-e-r P-r-o X-T-R-E-M-E.” Okay, now it’s spelling it out. “Cooking Master Pro Xtreme.” Now the menu appears. Now I navigate through the menu options. “Open, App info, Remove, Uninstall.” There we go, uninstall. Now I select it. Now I have to confirm in a dialog box. Done.
Francis: How long did that take?
Bismark: (reluctantly) Maybe fifteen seconds. Twenty if the app has a really long name that TalkBack insists on reading out completely before showing me the menu.
Francis: And that’s exactly what I mean when I talk about efficiency. Every single action on Android with TalkBack takes longer than the equivalent action on iPhone with VoiceOver. Not dramatically longer—we’re talking seconds, not minutes. But those seconds add up. If you delete three apps, that’s an extra thirty or forty seconds. If you do ten different tasks throughout the day that each take an extra five or ten seconds on Android, by the end of the day you’ve lost ten or fifteen minutes doing things that should have taken seconds. Over a week, that’s an hour or more of your life spent waiting for your phone to catch up with you.
Bismark: But I’ve saved GH₵4,300 that I can spend on other things! Time is money, yes, but actual money is also money. And in Ghana, GH₵4,300 is a lot of money for most people.
Chapter Five: Social Media—Where Francis Really Gets Heated
Francis: Now let’s talk about social media, because this is where the differences between VoiceOver and TalkBack become really, really obvious. I’m on Twitter—or X, or whatever Elon Musk is calling it this week. I scroll through my timeline using VoiceOver. I’m moving from tweet to tweet, listening to what people are saying. I land on a tweet that makes me laugh—maybe it’s a joke, or a funny observation about something happening in Ghana. I want to like it. So I swipe down once with one finger. Immediately, VoiceOver announces the available actions: “Like, Retweet, Reply, Share, Bookmark.” I swipe right to “Like,” double-tap to activate it. Done. I never even had to open the full tweet. I stayed right there on my timeline, liked it, and kept scrolling. The whole interaction took maybe two seconds.
Bismark: (groans loudly) Please don’t remind me about this. This is the single most annoying thing about using TalkBack on social media.
Francis: Tell them what you have to do on Android.
Bismark: Fine. When I’m scrolling through my Twitter timeline with TalkBack, and I land on a tweet I want to like, I can’t just like it directly from the timeline. I have to double-tap to open the full tweet first. Then I have to navigate down through all the content—the person’s name, their username, the timestamp, the actual tweet text, any images or links attached to it—until I finally reach the interaction buttons at the bottom. Then I find the like button among all the other buttons. Then I double-tap to activate it. Then I have to navigate back out of the tweet to return to my timeline. Every. Single. Time. I want to like something.
Francis: Which means what? Be honest.
Bismark: Which means I probably don’t like as many tweets as I would if it were easier. If I see something funny or interesting but I know I’ll have to open it, navigate through everything, find the like button, activate it, and navigate back just to like one tweet, sometimes I just keep scrolling instead. It’s too much work for such a simple action. The friction kills the spontaneous engagement that makes social media fun.
Francis: Exactly! Social media platforms are designed around quick, frictionless interactions. Sighted people can like a tweet or a post with one tap. On iPhone with VoiceOver, I can do it with two quick gestures. On Android with TalkBack, it’s a whole multi-step process that takes away the spontaneity. And this isn’t just Twitter. It’s the same story on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, everywhere. VoiceOver lets me engage with social media content as quickly and naturally as sighted people do. TalkBack puts barriers between me and that natural interaction.
Bismark: Okay, you win this round completely. I have no defense here. Social media interaction is definitely smoother, faster, and more enjoyable on iOS with VoiceOver. Google and the social media app developers need to work together to fix this.
Chapter Six: The Voice Note Disaster
Francis: Now let me tell you about the thing that almost made me throw my old Android phone against the wall when I was still using it. The thing that made me genuinely angry at Google.
Bismark: What are you talking about?
Francis: Voice notes in WhatsApp.
Bismark: What about voice notes? What’s wrong with them?
Francis: On my iPhone, when I want to send a voice note in WhatsApp, I navigate to the microphone button, I press and hold it with a double-tap-and-hold gesture, I record my message, and then I release my finger to send it. During the entire time I’m recording—from the moment I start until the moment I finish—VoiceOver is completely, totally silent. No interruptions, no random announcements, no feedback sounds, nothing. Just clean, clear recording of my voice saying whatever message I want to send. The screen reader understands that I’m recording audio, so it automatically shuts up and stays out of the way. That’s exactly how it should work.
Bismark: And on Android it’s… (trails off, knowing what’s coming)
Francis: On Android with TalkBack, when you’re recording a voice note, TalkBack keeps talking in the background! It continues announcing things, reading notifications, giving you feedback about screen touches, all while you’re trying to record your voice message. And all of that TalkBack speech gets recorded into your voice note!
Bismark: (defensive) It doesn’t always—
Francis: Yes it does! I experienced this myself when I was using Android. I was recording a voice note to my sister telling her about something that happened at work, and when she played it back, she could hear this robotic voice talking in the background. She was so confused. She thought I was using some weird app or that my phone was malfunctioning. I had to explain to her that my screen reader was contaminating my voice messages because Google hasn’t figured out how to make TalkBack automatically pause when recording audio. How is that acceptable? How is that okay in the year 2025?
Bismark: Okay, that’s… yeah, you’re right. That’s genuinely embarrassing. It’s a known bug that’s been reported by TalkBack users for years. I’ve personally learned to work around it by pausing TalkBack before I record any voice notes, then turning it back on after I finish recording.
Francis: But why should you have to do that?! The phone knows you’re recording audio. The operating system is aware that the microphone is active and capturing sound. The screen reader should automatically detect that and suppress its own output during recording. Apple figured this out years and years ago. It’s not complicated technology. It’s basic functionality that should just work without the user having to think about it.
Bismark: You’re absolutely right. I have no defense for this one. It’s a genuine bug that Google needs to fix immediately. There’s no excuse for it still existing after all this time. It makes TalkBack users look unprofessional when we send voice notes with robotic speech in the background.
Chapter Seven: “But Can You Afford It?”—The Real Money Talk
Bismark: Francis, let me be very real with you for a minute. You and I—we’re lucky. We both work at the Institute of Accessible Technology. We have good jobs with decent salaries. We can afford smartphones that cost GH₵6,000, GH₵7,000, even GH₵8,000 if we really want the latest model. But we both know that most blind people in Ghana can’t afford that kind of money for a phone.
Francis: I know that. I’m very aware of my privilege.
Bismark: The cheapest iPhone that’s actually worth buying—not some ancient model from 2018—costs at least GH₵5,000. More realistically, you’re looking at GH₵6,000 to GH₵7,000 for a good iPhone with modern features and software support. Meanwhile, I can get a decent Android phone with working TalkBack for GH₵2,500 or GH₵3,000. For someone who’s unemployed, or working a minimum wage job, or supporting a family on a tight budget, that GH₵3,000 or GH₵4,000 difference is absolutely huge. It might literally be the difference between being able to afford a smartphone at all or not having one.
Francis: You’re absolutely right about that. And it genuinely bothers me that the best, smoothest, most reliable accessibility experience is locked behind an expensive device. But here’s the question I keep asking myself—is it actually better for someone to buy a cheap phone with a frustrating, slow screen reader that makes every task take longer, or would it be better for them to save up for a few more months and get a phone where accessibility actually works smoothly?
Bismark: That’s easy for you to say when you have a phone that works right now and you can afford to wait and save. What if you need a phone immediately? What if your old one breaks today and you don’t have GH₵6,000 just sitting in your bank account? What if you can’t wait three or four months to save up that extra money? Then what?
Francis: Then you get the Android phone, and you deal with TalkBack’s limitations and frustrations as best as you can. I understand that reality. I’m not saying everyone should buy an iPhone regardless of their financial situation. What I am saying is that the solution to this problem isn’t to just accept that “TalkBack is good enough for poor people.” The real solution is to push Google hard—to demand that they make TalkBack as good as VoiceOver—so that people with limited budgets aren’t stuck with an inferior experience just because they can’t afford the expensive phone.
Bismark: Now that, I can completely agree with. Accessibility shouldn’t be a premium feature that only wealthy people can access. It should be excellent on phones at every price point.
Chapter Eight: The Keyboard Waiting Game
Francis: Let’s talk about something we both do dozens of times every single day—typing. I need to send a text message, so I open my Messages app, I tap on a conversation or start a new one, I tap on the text input field. The moment—and I mean the exact moment—my finger lifts off that text field after tapping it, the keyboard appears on screen and VoiceOver starts announcing the keys. Within literally one second, I’m typing at full speed. There’s no waiting, no delay, no wondering if the keyboard is going to appear. It just works instantly every single time.
Bismark: And on my Pixel 8, the keyboard appears pretty quickly too. It’s not quite instant like you’re describing, but it’s fast enough that I don’t usually notice any frustrating delay.
Francis: But it’s not always fast enough, is it? Be completely honest with everyone reading this.
Bismark: (reluctantly) Okay, fine. Sometimes—not always, but sometimes—the keyboard takes five or six seconds to appear after I tap on a text field. And sometimes there’s an additional delay of a couple seconds before TalkBack starts reliably announcing the keys when I touch them. On my current Pixel phone, this happens maybe once or twice a day. But on my previous Android phone, which was a mid-range Samsung, it happened much more frequently. Sometimes I’d be waiting ten or even fifteen seconds for the keyboard to appear and for TalkBack to start working properly with it.
Francis: And what happens when you’re in a situation where people are watching you or waiting for you? Let me give you a real example. I was in a work meeting last month with several colleagues, both from our organization and from a partner organization we were collaborating with. Someone mentioned a phone number for a contact person, and one of the other people in the meeting asked me if I could send that number to them right away. I pulled out my iPhone, opened Messages, tapped the text field, and sent them the contact information in maybe ten or fifteen seconds total. If I’d had an Android phone with that keyboard delay, I would have been sitting there waiting while everyone watched me, wondering why it was taking so long to do such a simple task.
Bismark: That’s fair. The keyboard delay can definitely be awkward in professional situations. And you’re right that it depends heavily on which Android phone you have. On cheap Android phones—the GH₵2,000 to GH₵3,000 range—the keyboard can be frustratingly slow. On mid-range phones it’s better but not perfect. On high-end phones like the Pixel or flagship Samsung devices, it’s much smoother.
Francis: Which brings us right back to the price issue again. You said earlier that you can get a decent Android phone with working TalkBack for GH₵2,500 or GH₵3,000. But for TalkBack to really work well—smooth keyboard response, minimal lag, all the gestures working reliably—you actually need a Pixel or a high-end Samsung. And those phones cost GH₵4,000, GH₵5,000, sometimes GH₵6,000 or more. At that price point, you’re not that far from iPhone pricing anymore. So what’s really the advantage?
Bismark: The advantage is… (pauses, thinking) Okay, you have a point there. The best Android accessibility experience isn’t actually that much cheaper than iOS anymore. The price gap has narrowed significantly.
Chapter Nine: Setting Up Your Phone Alone
Francis: Remember last year when you got your new Pixel 8? We were here at the office and you opened the box. How did you turn on TalkBack for the first time on that brand new phone?
Bismark: I… (hesitates) I asked my cousin who was visiting to help me navigate to the accessibility settings and turn it on.
Francis: Exactly. You needed sighted help just to enable your screen reader. Now, when I got my iPhone 14 last year, I didn’t ask anyone for help. I didn’t need anyone. I unboxed the phone by myself, I turned it on, I waited a few seconds for the setup process to begin, and then I said “Hey Siri, turn on VoiceOver.” Siri responded immediately—”Turning on VoiceOver”—and activated it right away. From that point forward, I set up the entire phone completely independently. I connected to WiFi, I signed into my Apple ID, I restored from my backup, I set up Face ID, everything. No sighted assistance needed at any point.
Bismark: I’ll admit, that’s actually really impressive. And it’s something I genuinely envy about iPhone. I hate having to ask people for help with basic things like setting up my own phone.
Francis: It’s not just about convenience, Bismark. It’s about independence and dignity. The ability for a blind person to take a brand new phone out of the box and set it up completely by themselves, without needing to find a sighted person to help them—that’s not a small thing. That’s a fundamental statement about autonomy and respect. It says “We designed this product with the assumption that blind people would be setting it up themselves, so we made sure they could do it independently.” Apple thought about that scenario. They anticipated that need and built in a solution.
Bismark: And Google could easily add this same feature. There’s no technical reason why “Hey Google, turn on TalkBack” couldn’t work from the very first boot of a new Android phone. The Google Assistant is already built into the system. They just need to program it to respond to that specific command before any other setup happens.
Francis: But they haven’t done it. And that’s the difference I keep coming back to. Apple thinks about accessibility from the very beginning of the user experience—even before the phone is fully set up. Google treats accessibility like something you add on after the fact, something that gets enabled in settings later. That fundamental difference in philosophy affects everything.
Chapter Ten: Where Things Get Interesting—What Android Actually Does Better
Francis: Okay, I’ve been criticizing Android and TalkBack for the past half hour. Now I want to be fair and balanced. Bismark, tell me honestly—what does Android actually do better than iPhone when it comes to accessibility?
Bismark: (surprised) Wait, really? You’re actually asking me to defend Android?
Francis: Really. I want to give a complete picture. I’ve had my criticisms. Now tell me what TalkBack and Android do well.
Bismark: Alright. First and most importantly—customization. On Android with TalkBack, I can customize almost everything about how the screen reader works. I can assign custom gestures to specific actions. If I don’t like the default gesture for a particular function, I can change it to something that feels more natural to me. I can customize which information TalkBack announces and which it skips. I can adjust verbosity levels in very fine detail. On iPhone, you get Apple’s gestures and Apple’s way of doing things. You can customize a bit, but nothing like the level of control Android gives you.
Francis: That’s fair. Apple’s approach is more “we’ve designed the best way to do this, trust us.” Android’s approach is “here are all the options, set it up however you want.”
Bismark: Exactly. And second—if I genuinely hate TalkBack for some reason, I can install a completely different screen reader. There are alternatives available. On iPhone, VoiceOver is your only option. You can’t install anything else. On Android, I have actual choices. I’m not stuck with Google’s implementation if it doesn’t work for me.
Francis: Have you ever actually installed a different screen reader besides TalkBack?
Bismark: Well… no, I haven’t. TalkBack works well enough that I haven’t needed to. But the important thing is that I could if I wanted to! The option exists.
Francis: (laughs) So in theory Android is more flexible, but in practice you use TalkBack just like I use VoiceOver. You’ve never actually taken advantage of that flexibility.
Bismark: True, but the option still matters philosophically. And here’s my third point—hardware variety. Android phones come in every possible size, shape, and configuration you can imagine. If I want a phone with a huge 6.8-inch screen, I can get one. If I want a compact phone that fits easily in my pocket, I can get that too. If I want a phone with an excellent camera, or one with amazing battery life that lasts three days, or one with a physical keyboard—yes, they still make those—I can find exactly what I want. Apple gives you three or four options per year. That’s it. With Android, the whole world of hardware is open to you.
Francis: That’s a genuinely good point. But doesn’t that hardware variety also create problems? TalkBack works differently on Samsung phones versus Google Pixel versus Motorola versus OnePlus. There’s no consistency. With iPhone, I know exactly what I’m getting and exactly how VoiceOver will perform, because there’s only one manufacturer.
Bismark: True. It’s definitely a trade-off. Some people value consistency and predictability. Others value choice and flexibility. Neither approach is objectively wrong—they’re just different philosophies about what users need.
Chapter Eleven: What We Both Want to See Happen
Francis: If you could ask Google to fix just one thing about TalkBack—you can only pick one thing—what would it be?
Bismark: That’s easy. The voice note recording bug. Fix it immediately, no excuses, highest priority. It’s genuinely embarrassing that this hasn’t been addressed yet. It makes TalkBack users look unprofessional and it’s such a basic, fundamental thing that should just work correctly.
Francis: What else would you want them to fix?
Bismark: Better enforcement of accessibility standards for app developers. If Google required all Android apps to work properly with TalkBack the same way Apple requires all iOS apps to work with VoiceOver, probably half of my daily frustrations would disappear immediately. Developers wouldn’t be able to publish poorly-labeled buttons, broken gesture support, or inaccessible interfaces. Everything would just work consistently across all apps.
Francis: And what would you want Apple to do better?
Bismark: Make iPhones more affordable! Create a real budget model—not just a slightly cheaper version of last year’s phone, but an actual budget iPhone designed from the ground up to be affordable—something for GH₵3,000 or GH₵4,000 that still has full, complete VoiceOver support without any compromises. If Apple did that, price wouldn’t be an excuse anymore and we could just focus on which platform actually works better.
Francis: I would love to see that too. And I’d want Apple to keep pushing VoiceOver forward with new features. The automatic image descriptions are great, but they could be even better. The Rotor is excellent, but maybe there are new navigation methods we haven’t even thought of yet. I want Apple to keep innovating instead of just maintaining what they already have.
Bismark: Do you think Google can actually make TalkBack as fast and smooth as VoiceOver?
Francis: Technically? Yes, absolutely. It’s just software engineering. There’s nothing magical about VoiceOver that can’t be replicated. Google has brilliant engineers and massive resources. They could make TalkBack just as fast, just as smooth, just as polished as VoiceOver if they really prioritized it.
Bismark: So why haven’t they?
Francis: Because accessibility isn’t at the top of their priority list. Google has hundreds of projects and products. They’re focused on AI, on search, on advertising, on competing with Apple and Microsoft in a dozen different markets. Accessibility features for blind users—we’re important, but we’re a relatively small percentage of their user base. Apple has made accessibility part of their core brand identity. They talk about it in their keynotes, they showcase it in their advertising, they make it a point of pride. Google treats accessibility more like a checkbox they need to tick off.
Bismark: That needs to change. Blind people deserve better from both companies, honestly.
Chapter Twelve: The Real Verdict
We asked both of them the big question: If someone who’s blind came to you today asking which phone they should buy, what would you honestly recommend?
Francis: Here’s what I would tell them. If you can afford an iPhone—if you have GH₵6,000 or GH₵7,000 to spend and that won’t create financial hardship for you—get an iPhone. VoiceOver is faster, smoother, more reliable, and more polished than TalkBack. You’ll spend less time fighting with your phone and more time actually using it to get things done. Apps work more consistently. Gestures are more intuitive. Everything just feels more responsive and refined. But—and this is important—if GH₵6,000 or GH₵7,000 is genuinely out of reach for you, if that’s money you don’t have and can’t save up within a reasonable time, then get a good Android phone, preferably a Google Pixel if you can afford it, and learn TalkBack thoroughly. It’s not perfect, it has frustrations, but it’s absolutely usable. You can do everything you need to do with it.
Bismark: I would say almost the opposite, but we’d end up in the same place. Start with Android unless you have extra money to spare. A GH₵3,000 or GH₵3,500 Android phone with TalkBack will do everything you need it to do. It’ll let you make calls, send messages, use WhatsApp, browse social media, read emails, navigate with maps, listen to music, everything. Yes, it might take a few extra seconds here and there compared to iPhone. Yes, you’ll encounter some frustrations and inconsistencies. But you’ll manage, and you’ll save thousands of cedis that you can spend on other important things. However—if you’re a professional who uses your phone constantly for work, if you need maximum efficiency and reliability, if you can genuinely afford the higher price without struggling financially, then yes, iPhone might be worth the investment for you.
Francis: See, we’re not actually that different in our advice.
Bismark: No, we’re not. We both want the same ultimate thing—technology that works well for blind people, at a price that everyone can actually afford. We just approach the current reality from slightly different angles.
Francis: Exactly right.
What This Means for You
If you’re blind or visually impaired and you’re trying to decide between iPhone and Android, here’s the most honest summary we can give you based on Francis and Bismark’s experiences:
iPhone with VoiceOver is faster, smoother, and more polished. Everything works more consistently across all apps because Apple enforces strict accessibility standards. Gestures are more intuitive and efficient. Social media interaction is frictionless. You can set up the phone independently without sighted help. But it costs GH₵5,000 to GH₵8,000 or more, which is genuinely unaffordable for many people.
Android with TalkBack is more affordable, with decent phones available for GH₵2,500 to GH₵4,000. You have more hardware choices and more customization options. TalkBack is functional and continues improving with each update. But there are rough edges everywhere—small delays, inconsistencies between apps, extra steps for common tasks, occasional frustrating bugs. The experience is usable but not polished.
Neither platform is perfect. Both have clear advantages and obvious disadvantages. Your choice should honestly depend on your budget first, and your preference for either consistency or flexibility second. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about whichever choice you make. Both are valid paths to digital independence.
A Message from the Institute of Accessible Technology
At IAT, we believe every blind person in Ghana—and across the entire world—deserves technology that truly empowers them. We don’t care whether you choose iPhone or Android. What we care about is that you have access to tools that let you work, learn, connect with others, and live independently with dignity.
We’re actively pushing Apple to make iPhones more affordable for users in developing countries. We’re pushing Google to make TalkBack faster, smoother, and more reliable. We’re working with app developers to improve accessibility across all platforms. And we’re here to help you make the most of whichever device you choose.
Need help deciding which phone is right for you? Contact us through our website. We offer free consultations where we can discuss your specific needs, budget, and usage patterns to help you make an informed decision.
Already have a phone and want to use it more effectively? We provide training sessions on both VoiceOver and TalkBack. Learn gestures, discover hidden features, and become more efficient with your screen reader.
Are you a developer building apps in Ghana or West Africa? Talk to us about accessibility testing and consultation. Let’s work together to make sure your apps work excellently for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Questions or comments? Drop them below. Both Francis and Bismark are active members of our team at IAT, and they genuinely love helping people figure out technology and solve accessibility challenges.