In this episode, Thomas Domville demos the new Copied Speech rotor option in iOS 26 for VoiceOver. Think of it as a lightweight clipboard history: it remembers what you copied with VoiceOver and lets you paste from the last ten copied items directly via the rotor, making multi-item copy/paste (like app titles and release notes) fast and accessible.
What’s covered / why it matters
- What Copied Speech is: a new rotor item in iOS 26 that surfaces your recent VoiceOver copies (described as a “clipboard history”).
- How much it stores: the last 10 clipboard items.
- The workflow boost: copy multiple elements (e.g., an App Store title and its version notes) and paste them into a text field without bouncing back and forth.
- Gesture requirement (important): items only appear in Copied Speech if you copy using VoiceOver’s three-finger quadruple-tap; standard Edit > Copy or Select All → Copy won’t show up.
- Real-world demo context: App Store → Mail compose; selecting “Copied speech” in the rotor, navigating items, and inserting them.
Step-by-step: Using Copied Speech with VoiceOver
- Copy with VoiceOver: On any selectable text, perform a three-finger quadruple tap. You’ll hear confirmation that it was copied. (This is required for Copied Speech.)
- Open a text field: For example, compose an email in Mail (or use Messages/Notes). Place the insertion point where you want to paste.
- Turn the rotor to “Copied speech”: Rotate counterclockwise through rotor items until you hear “Copied speech.”
- Choose the item: Swipe up/down to move through your recent copied entries (up to ten).
- Paste it: One-finger double-tap to insert the selected item at the cursor.
- Repeat as needed: Switch items and insert again to build your note or message from multiple copies.
Tips & caveats
- Only VoiceOver copies appear: Copies made via text selection + Edit > Copy won’t show up in Copied Speech (even though they’re on the system clipboard). Use the three-finger quadruple-tap to capture items for the rotor.
- Great for research/notes: Thomas’s example pulls an app title and its version notes from the App Store into Mail in seconds.
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.
Thomas: Hello and welcome. My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse. There is a new feature in iOS 26 that I'm just very excited that they introduced for us to use. There is a new rotor option called Copy Speech. Essentially, in a nutshell, I kind of refer to that as a clipboard history. Yeah, so in the past, in the older version of iOS, one annoying thing that I found that is just completely frustrating is that I am only able…