Klangten for Android and iPhone
TWhisk, the developer of Klango, first developed Elten Touch, but then stopped working on Elten. The mobile adaptations are now developed exclusively for Klangten. They are open source, though, so they probably run with the original Elten as well.
Download
iPhone
The iPhone version is a test version and runs through Apple's TestFlight app. Expect bugs.
- Install Apple's "TestFlight" app from the App Store.
- Open this link on the iPhone and tap "Join the beta": Install Klangten for iPhone through TestFlight
- Install Klangten in TestFlight. Afterwards you start Klangten like any other app from the home screen.
New versions arrive through TestFlight: TestFlight announces them and can install them automatically.
Android
Warning: the Android version is highly experimental. Expect bugs and crashes, and do not rely on it for everyday use yet.
Download Klangten for Android (APK)
The app updates itself from the GitHub releases. When a new version is out, Klangten asks whether to download it, downloads it, checks the file and then hands it to the Android installer, which asks you once more to confirm.
The first time, Android opens a page instead on which you have to allow Klangten to install apps. Afterwards, check for updates again: Settings, Auto updater, "Check for updates now".
Screen readers
On Android, Klangten speaks by itself, through Android's text-to-speech. While Klangten is running, TalkBack must be turned off — otherwise TalkBack catches the gestures and Klangten never gets them.
On the iPhone, VoiceOver can stay on: Klangten makes its surface a direct touch area, so the gestures still reach Klangten. You can also turn VoiceOver off — Klangten speaks for itself either way.
Gestures
Klangten is operated like on the computer with the keyboard; each gesture stands for a key. The gestures are the same on Android and iPhone. A single tap with one finger does nothing. Android's back button or back gesture acts like Escape.
One finger
- Swipe right or left: Right or Left arrow.
- Swipe up or down: Up or Down arrow.
- Double tap: Enter (activate). On a checkbox and in lists where several items can be chosen it ticks or unticks; in a player and on a recording it plays or pauses — wherever the space bar does that on the computer.
- Long press: context menu.
Two fingers
- Tap: stop speech.
- Swipe left, right or down: back (Escape).
- Swipe up: context menu.
- Double tap: main menu.
- In a player, swiping up and down changes the pitch instead (like Shift+Up or Shift+Down).
Three fingers
- Swipe right or left: next or previous control (Tab or Shift+Tab).
- Swipe up or down: to the first or last item (Home or End).
- Tap: space bar, for instance to play the spoken title of a thread or a file in the file manager.
- Double tap: show or hide the on-screen keyboard.
Four fingers
- Swipe up or down: Page Up or Page Down.
- Double tap: show or hide the on-screen keyboard (same as with three fingers).
Typing with the on-screen keyboard
iPhone
On the iPhone typing is easier: you do not have to turn VoiceOver on and off. Klangten opens the normal iOS on-screen keyboard, and VoiceOver moves into the edit field by itself.
- In Klangten, move to the edit field.
- Double tap with three fingers. The on-screen keyboard opens.
- Type your text with VoiceOver and confirm it with the Done key. The text goes into the edit field, the keyboard closes, and Klangten responds to its gestures again.
In password fields both systems open a password keyboard: it hides what you type and suggests nothing.
Android
Klangten uses Android's normal on-screen keyboard. This is how you type text into an edit field:
- In Klangten, move to the edit field.
- Double tap with three fingers. The on-screen keyboard opens.
- Turn TalkBack back on. Without TalkBack you cannot use the keyboard.
- Type your text and confirm it with the keyboard's Done or Enter key. Only then does the whole text go into the edit field, and the keyboard closes.
- Turn TalkBack off again. Only then does Klangten respond to its gestures again.
Important: turn TalkBack on to type and off again afterwards — this is easy to forget at first.
I know that this way of using the keyboard is not ideal, and I am looking for a better solution. If you know one, please get in touch — the easiest way is a private message to TWhisk in Klango or Klangten.
— TWhisk, developer of Klango and Klangten