https://www.applevis.com/blog/we-deserve-better-apple-why-i-can-no-longer-recommend-mac-fellow-blind-computer-users Skip to main content AppleVis Menu Main navigation * Apps * Forum * Blog * More + Podcast + Guides + Hardware & Accessory Reviews + Bug Tracker + Developer Resources * Log in [ ] [Search] Breadcrumb 1. Home 2. Blog We Deserve Better from Apple: Why I Can No Longer Recommend a Mac to Fellow Blind Computer Users By David Goodwin, 8 October, 2023 Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team As many of you will know from personal experience, there is a longstanding issue with VoiceOver on Mac where Safari will frequently become unresponsive with VoiceOver repeatedly announcing the message "Safari not responding." When this issue occurs, the user's Mac may become unusable for up to several minutes at a time. Sometimes it can be resolved by switching away from Safari. Sometimes restarting VoiceOver can resolve the issue. However, far too often, the user is unable to switch away from Safari or turn VoiceOver off, instead having to simply wait for their Mac to become responsive again. This "Safari not responding" behaviour when using VoiceOver dramatically impacts productivity and overall usability of Macs for blind and low vision users. Furthermore, it appears that the issue extends beyond just Safari - many other common applications that utilise Apple's WebKit browser engine can also be affected by the "not responding" problem. It is also important to point out this issue occurs regardless of the specification level of the Mac - it has been widely experienced on the latest Apple silicon-equipped Macs with 16GB or more of RAM, so even owners of top-tier new Mac hardware still face this crippling VoiceOver bug. This critical problem has persisted for years across multiple MacOS versions without a permanent fix from Apple. Given the longevity and level of disruption caused by this bug across Safari and other applications, I can unfortunately no longer in good faith recommend Macs to anyone who relies on using VoiceOver. The impact of this bug when performing routine, and often critical, tasks in Safari and other applications simply makes macOS an unreliable and frustrating platform. Macs have traditionally been popular within the blind community, and they offer some great accessibility features. However, frankly, Apple should be utterly ashamed that they have let this issue persist for so long without a permanent fix. It's a failing that raises serious questions about the company's frequently stated commitment to accessibility. There can be no doubt that if sighted users were to experience something similar, that it would receive significant media coverage and that Apple's response would be fast. I want to note that I am sympathetic to the difficulties Apple's engineering team likely faces in resolving this issue. Based on user reports, there appears to be no consistent way to reproduce the "Safari not responding" behaviour - it can occur randomly and sporadically. The same web page may work fine multiple times before suddenly triggering a freeze. There are also inconsistencies across different users, machines, and configurations. I imagine these factors make it very challenging to isolate and fix the underlying problem. However, given the engineering talent and resources available to Apple, the challenge should not be insurmountable. I believe we need to escalate out urging of Apple to prioritise and permanently solve the "Safari not responding" bug that has plagued VoiceOver users for far too long. To this end, I encourage those of you who use VoiceOver on Mac to directly contact Apple's accessibility team at accessibility@apple.com to share your own personal experiences with and frustrations about the "Safari not responding" issue. It is important we continue putting direct, polite pressure on Apple to prioritise resolving this problem. Please be constructive in expressing your concerns. Consider also copying Apple CEO Tim Cook on your email by using his publicly shared email address tcook@apple.com to ensure he sees the direct impact this ongoing bug is having on Apple's blind and low vision customers. I want to emphasise that the "Safari not responding" bug is far from the only issue effecting VoiceOver users on Mac. As our recent post on problems in macOS Sonoma and the replies outline, there are numerous other VoiceOver frustrations and failures impacting users. However, it has become a yardstick by which Apple's overall performance on and commitment to accessibility is being judged. It is a yardstick against which Apple has failed for some considerable time. I know many of you share my frustration. I welcome your perspectives and discussion in the comments. Collectively, we need to apply consumer pressure by being vocal about this issue and not purchasing new Macs until the "Safari not responding" issue is fixed once and for all. Apple simply must do better and restore our trust that Macs provide a stable and fully accessible experience for its blind and low vision customers. Tags Advocacy Apple macOS Opinion Options * Log in or register to post comments Comments My opinion By Dominic 2 hours 59 min ago The only matter I had the supplier not responded she is on the MacBook Pro 2012. I've also had it happen either 2017 MacBook Air, but not with my Apple Silicon MacBook Air. The only reason I use my Mac is for music creation and even Matts becoming a hassle * Shared to HackerNews By Devin Prater 2 hours 37 min ago I shared this to Hacker news. If you have an account there, maybe upvote for visibility. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37813895 * I agree. By Brad 2 hours 11 min ago I've been a windows user for most of my life and don't plan on switching to a mac at all. I tried it once, never again. * This major problum is just not ok By Joshua 2 hours 3 min ago I use windows and never used a mac nor do i want to If i am understanding this correctly vo will say safari not responding and then the keyboard doesnt work, is this correct? If so thats unacceptable * Safari Not Responding By Wayne A 1 hour 54 min ago Club AppleVis Member Maybe I have been very lucky, but I have not experienced the same level of frustration with my Mac. I have been using a MacBook Air since 2013, and my current Mac is a 2020 M1 MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM. While I have occasionally encountered the "Safari not responding" issue, I could easily work around this by turning VO off and on. I use my Mac for creating documents, working with spreadsheets, using the Internet, managing my music library, handling emails, among other things. Based on my experience, I would have no problem recommending a Mac to a blind user. Of course, each person must determine their own use case. Over the past ten years, I have encountered numerous bugs but none of them were show stoppers for me. I imagine that Windows with JAWS or NVDA also has its share of bugs. Given that this bug seems to not affect all Mac users with the same severity, this may make it a more difficult issue for Apple to address. However, given the comments that I have read on Applevis, I agree that this should be a priority for their Accessibility team. * Upgrade to latest Mac Mini on hold By PaulMartz 1 hour 49 min ago Member of the AppleVis Blog Team I was looking forward to upgrading my 2018 Mac Mini - just waiting for the M3 to be released. But that's now tabled. I stand in solidarity with David. No more new Apple hardware until this long-standing and unacceptable issue is resolved. * My experience with jaws By Joshua 1 hour 24 min ago Hi I used jaws for 5 years and dont remember any major bugs with it I am having a problem with the computer i use at work where jaws sometimes crashes, HP laptop running windows 10 and jaws 2021 but that doesnt happen offten * For those of you not experiencing this issue By PaulMartz 1 hour 6 min ago Member of the AppleVis Blog Team I can't speak for David, but I personally feel this post will have more impact if those of you not experiencing this issue please discuss your system config in any of the numerous posts devoted to trying to find a solution. And I'll warn you in advance, lots of suggestions have been made over the years, and there is no silver bullet. Most of us have been experiencing this issue for years. Please don't pretend this issue doesn't exist. * Curious About Safari on Big Sir Vs Now By Scott Duck 35 min 5 sec ago I am still running Big Sir on my 2015 13 inch MBP (with Core I7, 16 gig RAM, and one terabyte SSD). I do not have a lot of trouble with the not responding bug with Safari, enough to be aggravating at times but not enough to significantly effect productivity, and I almost never encounter it with other applications. Overall, I do have some issues with Safari but no more than I had using Internet Explorer under Windows 8 with JAWS 16, before I switched to the Mac in 2016. For me, using the Mac, there are not more internet browsing issues, just different issues, and there will always be issues of some sort. With Safari, there are some aggravations but it is certainly very usable. Again, this is using Big Sir. I am genuinely curious as to whether things have gone down hill significantly with Safari sense Big Sir. I can update my MBP to Monterey but I have stayed with Big Sir in order to remain on the same OS version as my wife, who has a 2014 MBP and cannot update past Big Sir. I had planned, in about a year or so, to purchase a new MacBook pro but I find posts like this one making me wonder if that is wise. If it turns out that Mac OS no longer meets the needs of my use case, then I will not purchase another mac, for myself, until that is resolved. I do have to remain productive. However, I don't plan to boycott Apple, in order to make a statement. I don't think we make up a large enough portion of their user base for that to work. I do not know the statistics but I suspect that Voice Over users probably make up less than one percent of Apple's user base. We are in the overwhelmingly vast minority here and, as such, we have little leverage with which to economically influence them. If every Voice Over user stopped purchasing Apple products tomorrow, I suspect that it would have no meaningful impact on Apple's bottom line. I think making them aware of the issues, respectfully but persistently, is all we can really do. * More Like This Duel Voiceover Interference (Forum Topic) Webkit doesn't check for updates on Mac os X 10.11.1 (Forum Topic) Send all your frustration courteously to Apple Accessibility. (Forum Topic) Soundings for Weather Gods subscriptions (Forum Topic) Windows on iMac (Forum Topic) Accessibility of Discord (Forum Topic) Ventrilode (Forum Topic) GroupMe (iOS and iPadOS App Directory) Site Information * About * Club AppleVis * FAQ * Contact Unless stated otherwise, all content is copyright AppleVis. All rights reserved. (c) 2023 | Accessibility | Terms | Privacy