VoiceOver Audio Split 1.1

• Fixed: the app closed as soon as it opened on some Macs with voice commands on (seen on a MacBook Air with macOS 27). Connecting to the microphone could fail with an error the app didn't catch. Now, if the microphone can't be used, voice commands stay off and say why, and the rest of the app works. The microphone check is protected the same way.
• Keep this sound setting? After a change that could stop you hearing your Mac (the output device, one-ear mode, ear balance, the volume limit, the hearing profile, the layout, call audio, ducking, the speech device, or a preset chosen by hand), a window asks whether to keep it. Return keeps it; Escape, closing the window, or doing nothing for 60 seconds puts everything back. "Audio Split, keep it" and "Audio Split, go back" work too. Everyday keys and automatic presets don't ask. Turn it off in Settings, under Where sounds go.
• Clearer permissions: for camera, microphone, speech recognition and controlling VoiceOver, the buttons in Settings and the setup guide now ask your Mac directly, because macOS only lists an app on those pages after it has asked. The setup guide explains step by step where VoiceOver Utility's AppleScript checkbox is, and its test says exactly what's missing.
• Six new lessons in a fifth level, Everyday apps 2: Messages, Calendar, managing files in Finder, Zoom and Teams, braille displays, and VoiceOver Utility. The course now has 30 lessons.
• Lessons by trainers: write a lesson as a .voalesson file and import it (docs/CUSTOM-LESSONS.md).
• Students: keep progress for several learners on one Mac, and export each one's session reports as text or CSV.
• Call captions: see what the other people in a Zoom, Teams or FaceTime call say, in large print, recognized on your Mac. "Read the Last Caption" speaks the newest one, and the transcript can be copied.
• Meeting helpers: Am I Muted, Mute or Unmute, Camera On or Off, Raise or Lower Hand, Who's Talking, Read the Chat, new chat messages read as they arrive, and Leave the Meeting (which always asks first), for Zoom, Teams and FaceTime, without leaving where you are.
• Hearing profile: boost the frequencies you hear less well, for each ear, from an audiogram or a quick listening test.
• Contracted braille: braille files can now be contracted (grade 2) Unified English Braille, using liblouis.
• Timers and reminders: "Audio Split, set a timer for 10 minutes", "remind me at 3 pm to call the doctor". They survive a restart.
• Clipboard history: the last 20 things you copied, to hear and copy again (off until you turn it on).
• Window switcher: every open window by name, filtered as you type.
• Object finder: look for a person, a pet, a cup, a door or a word with the camera, with left, ahead and right guidance.
• Accessible PDFs: scan pages, or a picture or PDF file, into a PDF with real text, headings, a title and a language.

SHA-256 of the installer: 0916b38f557c1a02ef3d20647ba96d12352a7fed0f43e63363296f0b12ef02b5

Build 202610281000

VoiceOver Audio Split 1.0.2

• Safer updates: Check for Updates now installs an update only if it's signed with Full Circle AT's Developer ID and notarized by Apple, as well as matching its checksum.
• Feedback by email: Settings, About has "Email a problem or an idea", so no GitHub account is needed. Reporting on GitHub is still there for people who have an account.
• Clearer permission messages: the microphone and speech recognition prompts now describe the "Audio Split" voice commands, and say that only "find" requests are sent, to Anthropic.

SHA-256 of the installer: c7f12f66098fd3cef22e1876b7e9ca86dfac976d003d7034f0a908bc3da6f23a

Build 202610251200

VoiceOver Audio Split 1.0.1

• Check for updates: the app looks on GitHub once a day for a newer version, or when you choose Check for Updates in the menu, the command palette, Settings, or say "Audio Split, check for updates". It asks before downloading, checks the download, then opens Apple's Installer. Copies from TestFlight or the App Store update there instead.
• Coming from 1.0: install this version by hand once, from the download below. After that, updates come from Check for Updates.
• Installers built in folders that macOS adds Finder information to (such as Documents) now sign correctly.

SHA-256 of the installer: aff55bf81d25d9e0740cb6e0110c6ad58fc5849ff8bae4c74ddb9f6e558ed995

Build 202610242200

VoiceOver Audio Split 1.0

The first release of VoiceOver Audio Split: VoiceOver's speech in one ear and everything else in the other, like the audio split in JAWS, plus favorite features from JAWS, NVDA and SuperNova. Everything works from the keyboard.

Install

1. Download VoiceOver-Audio-Split.pkg below.
2. Open it and follow the installer. The app goes into your Applications folder.
3. Open VoiceOver Audio Split. The setup guide walks you through the permissions it needs.

Needs macOS 14.2 or later. The installer is signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a security warning.

What's in it

• Audio split: layouts, volume balance, call handling, and speech on a separate device.
• Sound control: quiet everything but VoiceOver, per-app volume, output switching, microphone mute, and presets that switch for each app or website.
• Hearing and clarity: speech clarity boost, leveler, volume limit, one-ear mode and ear balance.
• Speech, reading and low vision: speech history, captions, Doc Reader, Scan and Read, and a focus frame.
• Everyday tools: barcode, label and money readers, color identifier, light detector, document accessibility check, and braille files.
• Learning: VoiceOver Lessons (24 lessons from the beginning to Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Safari), VoiceOver practice and a talking typing trainer.
• Voice commands: say "Audio Split" and a command; speech is recognized on your Mac.

Full details are in the README and the changelog.

SHA-256 of the installer: 6ad579581646d62ee79bf15a3202ddaf635b60466810a2957b5bcf22fd693896

Build 202610241900

VoiceOver Audio Split 1.0

• Check for updates: the app looks on GitHub once a day for a newer version, or when you choose Check for Updates in the menu, the command palette, Settings, or say "Audio Split, check for updates". It asks before downloading, checks the download, then opens Apple's Installer. Copies from TestFlight or the App Store update there instead.

• Audit fixes:

  • Voice commands ignore the app's and VoiceOver's own speech, so reading "VoiceOver Audio Split" or the help no longer sets off a command.
  • "Launch VoiceOver training" needs a word like launch or open, and doesn't restart an open lesson.
  • One-word commands such as "time" or "help" work only on their own.
  • A press asked for by voice is confirmed by a spoken yes, which must come after the question.
  • Lessons work with Caps Lock switched on, and Caps Lock counts as VO only while it's held.
  • Escape and letters reach VoiceOver's rotor and menus during lessons; Escape twice stops a lesson.
  • Keys pressed before a step has been said no longer count as answers.
  • Quick-check scores and reports no longer count retries or repeated questions as right first time.
  • The one-minute challenge and the typing speed test end on time.
  • Practice works with Caps Lock as the VO key and only takes keys while its window is in front.
  • Automatic presets keep working after a restart, after restoring defaults, and after choosing a preset by hand.
  • Copy and paste work in text fields.
  • The talking clock no longer repeats non-stop in the hour the clocks go back.
  • The document check handles table of contents headings, empty lines between tables, tables in tables, and password-protected PDFs.
  • Braille files include more symbols and say how many characters were left out.
  • A mono main device no longer silences one side of a separate speech device; failed audio setups don't retry in a loop.
  • Smaller fixes to the camera readers, Doc Reader, downloads, podcasts, diagnostics, the tutorial and the installer.

• Keep audio awake, so the first words VoiceOver says aren't cut off by sleeping headphones.

• Restart VoiceOver with one key (Right Option + K).

• Compare text to hear every change between two versions (Right Option + E).

• Text Checker steps through each formatting problem with its sentence (Right Option + T).

• Presets for websites in Safari and Chrome.

• Find a VoiceOver command (Right Option + V), and report a bug to Apple (Right Option + Comma).

• Keys you choose are no longer replaced when a new command uses the same default key.

• Spoken events: downloads finished, devices connected and disconnected, network lost and back, low battery and charging, and screen locked. Also a talking clock.

• Read the front window's text (Right Option + Z), for shared screens and apps without accessibility.

• Describe what's happening in a video (Right Option + Left Bracket).

• Microphone check (Right Option + Semicolon) and open the latest download (Right Option + Period).

• Color identifier (Right Option + Right Bracket) and light detector (Right Option + Backslash).

• Save scanned or Doc Reader text as a text or Word file.

• Command palette (Right Option + Return), input help (Right Option + Grave Accent) and a spoken tutorial.

• Your commands: AppleScripts and Shortcuts on keys. Export and import settings.

• Beeps while VoiceOver is silenced, say what you copy, the audio mouse, and on-device translation (Right Option + Apostrophe, macOS 15).

• Camera tools prefer a nearby iPhone (Continuity Camera).

• Diagnostics report, app performance, and a testing checklist for VoiceOver testers.

• Any command can be set to "No key"; some new commands have no key by default.

• Camera and microphone alerts: hear when another app turns the camera on or off, or starts or stops using the microphone, and which app it is.

• Sound for each app: a position anywhere between your ears, and bass and treble.

• Custom labels for unlabeled controls, and place markers to jump back to a spot on a web page.

• Do it for me: ask for a control by name and the VoiceOver cursor goes there; pressing always asks first.

• Document accessibility check for Word documents and PDFs, and save as braille (.brf, uncontracted UEB).

• Barcode and QR code reader, medicine label reader and money identifier.

• VoiceOver practice: learn and quiz modes for VoiceOver's keys.

• Typing trainer: talking lessons from the home row up, finger hints, words per minute and accuracy, best scores, and a one-minute speed test. A soft click for each right key (or a soft tone, or no sound), and a gentle low sound for a wrong one.

• In Spanish, French and German: the app follows your Mac's language. Translations are new; corrections from native speakers are welcome.

• Voice commands with the wake word "Audio Split": rescue (turn on or restart VoiceOver, where am I, stop talking), hands-free camera readers, sound control, quick questions, learning, presets by name, and "find…" for Do It for Me. Risky commands ask for a yes or no. A push-to-talk command listens for one command without the wake word or an always-on microphone.

• "Launch VoiceOver training": an optional voice command that opens the lessons from anywhere, recognized on the Mac through the built-in microphone.

• A spoken welcome to the lessons: choose on your own (1) or with a trainer (2), then Return starts your next lesson.

• VoiceOver Lessons, on your own or with a trainer:

  • On your own: fuller explanations, step numbers, exact feedback on wrong keys, hints that build up, praise that names the keys, recaps, and advice on what to do next.
  • With a trainer: short prompts, hints on request, trainer notes for every lesson, and a session report that can be copied.
  • Both modes: every lesson states its goals, ends its quick check with one more round on anything missed, and lets you go back (B), get a hint (H) or skip (S). Lessons speak through VoiceOver's announcement queue, so they also appear on braille displays and don't cut VoiceOver off.

• VoiceOver Lessons: a 24-lesson course in four levels for learning VoiceOver from the beginning, through Finder, Safari, dialogs, Spotlight, Mail, customizing VoiceOver, what VoiceOver's descriptions mean, TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, System Settings, and Safari tabs, bookmarks, Reading List and history. It adds multiple-choice questions, daily spaced practice and a one-minute challenge. It has explanations, real practice in a practice area and on a practice web page, real tasks it notices you doing in any app, step-by-step hints after two misses, quick checks, remembered mistakes with Practice What I Missed, a glossary, links to more help, and saved progress. VoiceOver Lessons and VoiceOver Practice go by the letter typed, so French (AZERTY) and German (QWERTZ) keyboards work. The setup guide points new VoiceOver users to it.

• Fixes from a full code audit:

  • Sound: AirPods in a call (and other one-channel devices) no longer lose one ear; silencing VoiceOver no longer silences calls set to go with speech; connecting a device rebuilds the sound once instead of several times; a split that can't start now says so; choosing speakers yourself is no longer undone.
  • Keys: held shortcut keys no longer leak repeats to VoiceOver; closing VoiceOver practice or the typing trainer always gives the keys back; practice can't score twice, and the trainer only takes keys while its window is in front.
  • Camera: tools can't leave the camera on when stopped quickly, can't start twice while macOS asks for permission, and say so if the camera sends no picture.
  • Reading and documents: the medicine label reader no longer skips dosing lines; the document check reads PDF tags and language properly, finds headings in non-English Word documents, and no longer reports empty table cells, page breaks or decorative pictures; large or damaged Word files can't crash it.
  • Other: pictures sent for descriptions are sized to fit, plain-http radio streams and podcast feeds play, playback failures are announced, "Say what you copy" never reads passwords copied from a password manager, Firefox downloads are announced when they finish, "C++" searches work, and Do It for Me always acts on the app you came from and can't press twice.

• Permissions in Settings: see what the app is allowed to do, and open the right page of System Settings for each permission.

• An easier menu: the split stays at the top, and everything else is grouped in submenus: Sound and Devices, Presets, Speech, Reading and Text, Camera, Assistant and Research, VoiceOver Help, Learning and Everyday Tools.

• Installer package for the app: ./build.sh now builds an installer that puts the app in the Applications folder and removes the older script version, whose shortcuts clashed. The older script version is retired and its source removed.

SHA-256 of the installer: 6b702d11b09bb7d0ef1e264d9494329aee4f4a3f4c677bb7231adead6e907a4d

Build 202610242100