How to Fix a Mac Stuck in VoiceOver Mode & Talking

Have you suddenly discovered your Mac reading everything out loud on the screen, and then navigating with a thick black box around elements, and not acting normally with mouse clicks and keyboard input? Your Mac might be stuck in Voice Over mode. Voice Over mode is a powerful accessibility tool intended for visually impaired users, but it can be enabled by accident by just about anyone, which can lead to some very unusual behavior if you’re unaccustomed to the feature. Some users might panic and think their computer spazzed, or maybe that the Mac has been hacked or hijacked, when in fact it’s just a system setting that you may have accidentally triggered.

If you’re stuck in VoiceOver Mode on your Mac, read along and we’ll show you how to get out of it, as well as prevent it from happening again.

Quick Fix: Turn Off VoiceOver on Mac Instantly with a Keyboard Shortcut

If your Mac is stuck in VoiceOver mode and behaving abnormally, you’re almost certainly trying to figure out how to get it back to normal as soon as possible. The easiest and fastest solution is to press the Keyboard shortcut: Command + F5

Command+F5 is the fastest way to toggle VoiceOver off on nearly every Mac.

Some Macs may require you to press the function (fn) key as well, meaning the keyboard shortcut would be fn+Command+F5

System Settings Fix: Disabling VoiceOver in MacOS

Another option is to use the System Settings to disable VoiceOver completely on the Mac. You might want to do this if the shortcut doesn’t work, or you want to confirm the feature is off:

For macOS Tahoe, MacOS Sequoia, macOS Sonoma, MacOS Ventura, or later with System Settings:

1. Go to System Settings
2. Navigate to Accessibility > VoiceOver
3. Toggle VoiceOver to Off

For macOS Monterey and earlier versions of MacOS with System Preferences:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Choose Accessibility
3. Select VoiceOver in the sidebar
4. Uncheck Enable VoiceOver

Why Does This Happen? Why Did My Mac Get Stuck in VoiceOver?

Many Mac users trigger the activation of VoiceOver unintentionally by pressing the keyboard shortcuts unbeknownst to them, especially on laptops without a physical F5 key.

This typically can happen in an accidental situation, like holding down keys while cleaning a keyboard, accidentally pressing function keys or improper key presses, and sometimes even in situations where there’s a conflict with another keyboard shortcut within an app.

Prevent VoiceOver from Being Enabled Again

If you don’t use VoiceOver on the Mac and want to avoid accidentally enabling the feature in the future, you can disable the keyboard shortcut:

1. From  Apple menu, go to System Settings, then to “Keyboard” and then to “Keyboard Shortcuts”
2. Click Accessibility and scroll to find “Turn VoiceOver On or Off”
3. Uncheck the box for “Turn VoiceOver on or off” to disable it

Still Stuck in VoiceOver?

If VoiceOver remains enabled or your Mac behaves oddly and is still speaking onscreen elements out loud, you might want to restart the Mac. Just go to the  Apple menu and choose Restart.

VoiceOver is an incredibly useful and powerful tool on the Mac when it’s needed, but if you accidentally activated the feature, it can be really disorienting and unusual experience when your Mac starts talking to you unexpectedly. Now that you know this can happen unintentionally, and you know how to disable VoiceOver on your Mac, how to prevent it from happening again, and what to do if it gets stuck, you’re pretty much good to go with this full knowledge stack.

Did this tip help you? Did you find another troubleshooting solution? Share your thoughts or any unique own fixes in the comments.