Issues with custom UILongPressGestureRecognizer not Working with VoiceOver

Question

I'm having issues getting a custom long press handler to work when VoiceOver is running.

In the custom UITableViewCell code below, I am adding a long press gesture recognizer with a UITableViewCell and calling handleVoiceOverLongPress() upon a long press.

// called when this custom UITableViewCell class is initialized
func initializeVoiceoverCellView() {
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                           selector: #selector(voiceOverStatusChanged),
                                           name: UIAccessibility.voiceOverStatusDidChangeNotification,
                                           object: nil)
    if UIAccessibility.isVoiceOverRunning {
        addLongPressGestureRecognizer(withTarget: self, action: #selector(handleVoiceOverLongPress), duration: 1.0)
    }
}

@objc func voiceOverStatusChanged() {
    if UIAccessibility.isVoiceOverRunning {
        addLongPressGestureRecognizer(withTarget: self, action: #selector(handleVoiceOverLongPress), duration: 1.0)
    } else {
        removeLongPressGestureRecognizer()
    }
}

With the code above, handleVoiceOverLongPress() never gets called when long pressing while VoiceOver is on. I tried a single long press, and a

Answer 1

I'm having issues getting a custom long press handler to work when VoiceOver is running.

Try the code hereafter to implement a long press gesture on you table view cell:

//Gesture definition in your cell implementation for instance.
var yourLongPressGesture: UILongPressGestureRecognizer
yourLongPressGesture = UILongPressGestureRecognizer(target: self,
                                                    action: #selector(handleVoiceOverLongPress))
yourLongPressGesture.minimumPressDuration = 0.5
yourLongPressGesture.delaysTouchesBegan = true
yourLongPressGesture.delegate = yourCell
yourCell.addGestureRecognizer(yourLongPressGesture)


//Define what the long press triggers in the following function.
@objc func handleVoiceOverLongPress(gestureReconizer: UILongPressGestureRecognizer) {
    if gestureReconizer.state == UIGestureRecognizer.State.ended {
        print("LONG PRESS ENDED")
    }
    else {
        print("LONG PRESS IN PROGRESS...")
    }
}

Don't forget that a long press in the VoiceOver world isn't the same as the one when this feature isn't running: double tap and hold the pressure to get the same result, that's very important.

Following this rationale with the code snippet above should help you make UILongPressGestureRecognizer work with VoiceOver.