Each Android update brings with it APIs (Application Programming Interface) updates and framework updates. One such API plus framework combo that gets updated with every Android release is the accessibility API. The accessibility API, among supporting accessibility standards like multi finger gestures and more, is also responsable for the way a screen reader interprets and interacts with content that it sees, it’s responsable for what content and what elements are sent to the screen reader, and many more. The technical explanation goes deep down, as deep as the way the elements and the UI itself have been coded by app developers.
Even though Google releases the Accessibility API for each Android release in the Android OpenSource Project, Samsung comes with their own iteration of this API and it’s frameworks.
When it comes to Samsung devices, the initial OneUI5.0 update was a nightmare for screenreader users. Some devices had the bugs, while others didn’t. I remember that the device I had at that time, the A72, was receiving the full force of the blow.
OneUI 5.0 is gone though. At the time this article’s being written, there’s no device to still be left out on OneUI 5.0. And that’s a good thing, as OneUI 5.1 fixed a lot of the issues present in 5.0, such as left and right shortcuts in Jieshuo not working or opening the notification shade with a screen reader on would reboot the phone. You heard it right, that bug was actually there.
Although OneUI 5.1 fixed a lot of these bugs and issues that weren’t happening to all the devices, one issue still remains until later. There are a few devices that do this, not all of them do. The devices released this year, for example, don’t do this at all.
Table of Contents
What’s the bug about?
When opening quick settings with a screen reader on, they close on their own after about 2-3 seconds. Some workarounds included exploring the quick settings by swiping left instead of right or starting notification shade by swiping down from your homescreen, not the top of the screen. Although sometimes working, these 2 workarounds weren’t working all the time. The worst nightmare is when quick settings doesn’t close automatically, but they close right as you direct touch something or when exploring the screen.
Affected Devices:
- S20 series, including FE,
- S21 FE,
- A51,
- A32,
- A72
- A52. Strangely enough, A52S doesn’t do it.
- Plus others I don’t kno.
The permanent fix:
The June update came with the update to the accessibility API that fixed a lot of these devices. Some of the devices who got the July update received the update, as they might’ve skipped the June one. So starting with the July update, pretty much all devices received this update.
Sidenote:
One UI5.1.1, the version that came with the foldables and tablets, but was kind of introduced to the S23, 22, 21 and 20X series fixed way more accessibility issues, including further improvements to progress bar handeling and auto updatable content detection. These improvements, although global, can better be seen with Jieshuo.
Issue: My phone isn’t receiving software updates. What should I do?
Most likely you’ve dealed with manual flashing when the last update was installed on your phone. Although it doesn’t happen all the time, it happens sometimes. While you’re flashing an update from another region than the one that’s recognised by your phone currently, the phone will refuse to download updates and even check for available updates, the message simply announcing, “Your software is up to date”.
To fix this issue, simply download a Samsung firmware downloader like
samfirm
or
Bifrost
Samfirm is for Windows, while Bifrost is for all platforms, although on Windows it has some requirements which I can’t find a way to get.
Next, search for Samsung’s country specific code. If you’re in the situation of not receiving updates at the moment, don’t look in settings>about phone for your CSC code. Instead, you can google them. search examples can include: Country_name Samsung CSC codes or Country_name unlocked CSC codes, which I’d highly recommend.
The unlocked code for Romania, for example, is ROM. SER for Russia, CRO for Croatia, XEF for France, etc. After you know your country’s CSC code, it’s time to download and flash the firmware onto your phone. To flash, you need a Windows PC and the Odin app installed. After you flash the firmware, you’ll receive over the air updates going further, as the CSC issue has been fixed.
Thank you for this valuable article.