Hello everyone,
I am currently evaluating my app's accessibility features to accurately display the "Accessibility" information on the App Store. I have encountered two specific issues regarding Voice Control testing and would appreciate any guidance.
Voice Command for "Stop Recording" According to the evaluation criteria, if an app supports audio recording or dictation, users must be able to start and stop recording using only their voice.
Behavior: I can successfully trigger the recording using the command "Start Recording". However, I cannot find a command to stop it. Commands like "Stop Recording" or "Stop" are not recognized by the system.
Question: Is there a specific standard voice command intended for stopping a recording?
Item Number Overlays on Non-Interactive Web Elements (WKWebView) I noticed an inconsistency between native views and web content regarding Voice Control item numbering.
Behavior: When testing web content within the app (WKWebView) or in Safari, Voice Control displays item number overlays on non-interactive text elements (such as standard or tags). In native views, static labels do not receive item numbers.
Question: Is this expected behavior for web content? Since these elements are not interactive, I am unsure if this should be considered a bug (fail) or an acceptable exception for the accessibility evaluation.
Has anyone experienced similar issues or know the correct criteria for these cases?
Thank you.
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I remember that Vision Pro's dwell control could previously be set to 0.1 seconds, but now it can't. Is there a way to adjust it?
On iOS, there is accessibilityLanguage.
Since the last bet upgrade for iPad to 26.3 labels have disappeared.
Going into system/accessibility the toggle setting for labels makes no difference whether on or off.
labels are permanently not there/missing.
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
When VoiceOver reads decimal numbers with six or more digits after the decimal, it stops announcing the decimal separator and also adds pauses between each digit.
Text("0.12345") // VoiceOver: "zero **point** one two three four five"
Text("0.123456") // VoiceOver: "zero one, two, three, four, five, six"
How can I force VoiceOver to announce the decimal separator ("point") and not insert pauses regardless of the number of decimal digits?
Hi Community,
I'm excited to share R Helper, a speech practice app I built with accessibility as the core focus from day one.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/speak-r-clearly/id6751442522
WHY I BUILT THIS
I personally struggled with R sound pronunciation growing up. It affected my confidence in school and job interviews. That experience taught me how important accessible practice tools are.
R Helper helps children and adults practice R sounds with full accessibility support.
ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES IMPLEMENTED
VoiceOver - complete navigation and feedback
Voice Control - hands-free operation
Dynamic Type - scales to large accessibility sizes
Reduce Motion - respects user preference
Dark Mode - user controllable
High Contrast compatibility
Differentiate Without Color
THE CHALLENGE
Most speech practice apps ignore accessibility. I wanted to change that and prove that specialized educational apps can be fully accessible.
KEY FEATURES
Works 100% offline, no internet needed
Zero data collection, privacy first
Generous free tier with all accessibility features included
10 story missions with gamification
7 languages supported including RTL for Arabic
LESSONS LEARNED
Accessibility is not hard when you prioritize it from the start. VoiceOver labels and hints make a huge difference. Testing with accessibility features enabled is essential. Standard SwiftUI components handle most accessibility automatically. Reducing motion significantly helps users with vestibular issues.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Built with SwiftUI, targets iOS 17 and up. Universal app for iPhone and iPad. Fully offline using CoreData and local storage. No third party analytics, privacy focused.
QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY
What accessibility features do you find users request most? How do you test accessibility features efficiently?
WHATS NEXT
I'm currently working on expanding the word library, adding more story content, improving haptic feedback
Thanks for reading.
Nour
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Education and Kids
Education
Machine Learning
Apple Intelligence
I have the following method to insert @mentions to a text field:
func insertMention(user: Token, at range: NSRange) -> Void {
let tokenImage: UIImage = renderMentionToken(text: "@\(user.username)")
let attachment: NSTextAttachment = NSTextAttachment()
attachment.image = tokenImage
attachment.bounds = CGRect(x: 0, y: -3, width: tokenImage.size.width, height: tokenImage.size.height)
attachment.accessibilityLabel = user.username
attachment.accessibilityHint = "Mention of \(user.username)"
let attachmentString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: NSAttributedString(attachment: attachment))
attachmentString.addAttribute(.TokenID, value: user.id, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: 1))
attachmentString.addAttribute(.Tokenname, value: user.username, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: 1))
let mutableText: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: textView.attributedText)
mutableText.replaceCharacters(in: range, with: attachmentString)
mutableText.append(NSAttributedString(string: " "))
textView.attributedText = mutableText
textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: range.location + 2, length: 0)
mentionRange = nil
tableView.isHidden = true
}
When I use XCode's accessibility inspector to inspect the text input, the inserted token is not read by the inspector - instead a whitespace is shown for the token. I want to set the accessibility-label to the string content of the NSTextAttachment. How?
I have a view dynamically overlaid on a UITableView with proper padding (added when certain conditions are met). When VoiceOver focuses on a cell beneath this overlay, the focused element does not scroll into view. I’ve noticed similar behavior in Apple’s first-party Podcasts app.
Please find the attached image for reference. How can I resolve this issue and ensure VoiceOver scrolls the focused cell into view?
I'm developing a macOS app using NSView and trying to make my content navigable via VoiceOver. I'm expecting the built-in rotor category "Content Chooser" (accessed via VO + U) to list my accessible elements — just like how it shows message items in the Mail app. However, in my app, this rotor appears empty, even though:
My views return proper accessibilityChildren() or accessibilityContents() with valid NSAccessibilityElements
Each child has correct AXRole, AXLabel, etc.
The window is key and visible
VoiceOver navigation works for the elements
I've also tried:
Using both accessibilityChildren() and accessibilityContents() in container views
Setting roles like .group, .staticText, .button, etc.
Avoiding hidden elements
Ensuring all elements are visible and labeled
Still, "Content Chooser" rotor is empty.
What exact conditions must be met for an element to appear in the "Content Chooser" rotor in a macOS app?
Any Apple-specific guidance, hidden requirements, or sample code would be appreciated.
I'm facing a bizarre issue with the Apple's Accessibility APIs. I am registering an AXObserver that listens for, among other things, the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotification. For many new users, the kAXSelectTextChangedNotification is not triggered, even though they have enabled Accessibility permission for the app. Other notifications are getting through (kAXWindowMovedNotification, kAXWindowResizedNotification, kAXValueChangedNotification etc - full list here), just not the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotification!
We've found that we can reproduce the error by removing accessibility permission for the app and rebooting our computers. After restarting and reenabling accessibility permissions, the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotification was not received, even though other notifications were fine.
Strangely, the issue can be resolved by launching Apple's Accessibility Inspector app on an impacted computer. Once the Accessibility Inspector is loaded, the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotifications start coming through as expected. This implies to me that either:
We are missing some needed setup when starting the observers. Accessibility Inspector gets it right, thus ‘starting’ the system properly.
Accessibility Inspector is using some Apple private APIs that we don’t have access to.
Things I’ve tried:
I've tried subscribing the AXSelectedTextChangedNotification to different AXUIElements, including the SystemWide element, the Application element, and children elements from the AXApplication. None of these received the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotification, until Accessibility Inspector is booted up. No surprises here, as Apple's documentation confirms that you should add the notification to the root Application AXUIElement if you want to receive notifications for all its children.
I had a theory that the issue might be due to my code calling AXUIElementCreateApplication multiple times, possibly creating multiple "Applications" in Apple's Accessibility implementation. If that’s the case, the notifications might be sent to the wrong application AXUIElement. However, refactoring my code to only call AXUIElementCreateApplication once didn't resolve the issue.
I thought the issue may be caused by subscribing the AXSelectedTextChangedNotification on the high-level application element (at odds with Apple's documentation). I've tried traversing the child AXUIElements until we find one with the kAXSelectedTextAttribute and then subscribing to that. This did not resolve the issue. I don’t think it's the correct path to continue exploring, given that the notifications are received correctly after AccessibilityInspector is launched.
There is one exception to the above: if I add the kSelectedTextChangedNotification listener to a specific text field AXUIElement, I do receive the notification on that text field. However, this is not practical; I need a solution that will work for all text fields within an app. The Accessibility Inspector appears to be doing something that causes the selected-text-changed notifications to be correctly passed up to the high-level application AXUIElement.
Another thought is that I could traverse the entire Accessibility hierarchy and add listeners to every subview that has the kAXSelectedTextAttribute. However, I don’t like this long-term solution. It will be slow and incomplete: new elements get added and removed frequently. I just want the kAXSelectedTextChangedNotification to be received by the high-level Application AXUIElement, which the documentation suggests it should be. I also have evidence that this can work, since notifications start coming through after Accessibility Inspector is launched. It’s just a matter of discovering how to replicate whatever Accessibility Inspector is doing.
An interesting wrinkle: I implemented the 'traverse' strategy above, but was surprised by how few elements were in the hierarchy. Most apps only go down ~2-3 levels, which didn't seem right to me. Perhaps the Accessibility tree isn't fully initialized? I tried adding a 5-second delay to allow more initialization time, but it didn't change anything.
Does anyone have any ideas? Here's our file.
i would like to ask what are the new touchpad shortcuts in the latest os for ipad using a trackpad. The three fingers swipe to the right and left seemed to be removed. Thank you
I am building a language learning app for a Unlisted Primary Language. Any suggestions or heads ups? My plan is to select english and go with it.
Its unfortunate that I have to list a language learning app incorrectly and a tag for that language probably does not exist across the apple system.
Hi everybody,
I'm trying to build a QR-Code Scanner and Generator App for IOS.
Whenever I try to implement the camera the app crashes with this comment:
This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSCameraUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.
I tried to reduce the app to the minimum of nothing but camera with the same result.
Any ideas?
Tank you and
best Regards
Horst Schippers
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Amogst the two languages my app would have lets say 10% and 90%.
I am launching an app for a unlisted Primary Language. I consider whatever is inside the app as the primary and that wont be English. The secondary language
I'm reposting here my FB17602742, submitted yesterday:
The strong wording of this message comes from years of Apple ignoring the needs of users who can't tolerate UI animations and convulsions.
At this point, it's clear that Apple is either intentionally harming users like me or simply doesn't care about meeting even the most basic accessibility standards on macOS.
Yes, many UI animations and convulsions can, fortunately, be disabled - but not through straightforward UI controls. Instead, users are forced to look for obscure Terminal commands found scattered across the Internet.
The "Reduce motion" checkbox in System Settings is simply a fake control that doesn't do anything - instead of actually disabling all UI animations and convulsions.
What's worse, two of the most offensive UI animations cannot be disabled at all. Apple has consistently dismissed requests to let users disable the following UI animations:
Scroll bar rollover highlight effect (introduced on macOS 10.7.3). Every time the cursor passes over a scroll bar, it gets highlighted. This draws the user's attention to random scroll bars for no reason - just because the cursor happened to pass over them. It results in HUNDREDS of unnecessary, annoying events of distraction daily!
Expand/collapse animation of NSOutlineView (e.g., when opening/closing folders in the list view in the Finder, or any other app using outline views). This animation is extremely distracting, irritating, and time-wasting.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is approaching.
Dear Apple,
Please adhere to the most basic accessibility standards. Stop the needless suffering of countless users like me. Let us disable the two aforementioned UI convulsions.
Thank you for your attention to the issue.
Hi,
I’ve been reviewing the Apple Wallet provisioning documentation (Getting Started with Apple Pay In-App Provisioning_ Verification_Security_Wallet Extensions )and had a few questions regarding the color path recommendation (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) returned during the in-app provisioning flow:
Who determines the color path—is it Apple directly, the Payment Network Operator (PNO), or both?
What criteria are used to determine the color path (e.g., device info, Apple ID reputation, past provisioning attempts)?
At what point in the provisioning flow is the color path recommendation received?
Is it included in the response after the PKAddPaymentPassRequest is submitted?
Is it accessible through any specific property or callback in the delegate method?
Additionally, for Orange Path with Reason Code 0G, I understand that in-app verification is not allowed and must be handled via tenured channels (e.g., SMS/email). Can you confirm if this logic still applies for requests initiated from within the issuer's iOS app?
Would appreciate any clarification or pointers to related documentation.
I have some doubts about how VoiceOver handles focus when the screen updates.
When a new UIViewController is pushed onto a UINavigationController or presented modally, how does VoiceOver decide which element to focus on? Is there a way to control or customize this behavior?
In a UISplitViewController, when an item is selected in the primary view controller, the focus should shift to the relevant content in the secondary view controller. How can we ensure that VoiceOver correctly moves focus to the right element in the secondary panel?
I have an HTML select that has Spanish text in the options.
When VoiceOver reads the selected option (unopened), it switches to Spanish as expected.
However, when you open the select box and browse through the options, it uses the English voice to read the Spanish text.
I have tried adding lang on to the select tag and the option tag but neither helps
https://codepen.io/grahamfowles/pen/VYYRxMK
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Hey everyone!
I am developing a screen time limit app to help people spend less time in distracting apps.
It works this way: people choose unhealthy apps for them and opposite productivity apps. In the app you can exchange time spent on healthy habits to scroll or use other distracting apps.
This idea was loved by social media, and the app already has 100k followers on social media without even being launched yet.
So I am waiting just for one feature permission from Apple, and they have not given me any answer since I applied 3 weeks ago.
There are a lot of similar apps on the market, and this feature exists in other screen time limit apps.
Why is app blocking permission needed?
Time Exchange Functionality:
Users independently select which apps are productive and which are distracting for them.
The system blocks the "negative" apps until the user accumulates enough time in the "positive" ones. This encourages healthy device usage.
Full User Control:
All apps to be blocked are manually selected by the user in the settings.
The extension does not impose any restrictions without explicit permission.
Transparency and Security:
Blocking happens locally, with no data collected about app usage.
We adhere to Apple’s privacy policy.
Compliance with App Store Guidelines:
We understand that app blocking is a sensitive feature, but in our case it:
Is used for the benefit of the user (digital detox, productivity improvement).
Does not interfere with system processes or other developers’ apps.
Does not misuse access to APIs.
My question to the forum is:
Did you have similar problems, and how did you resolve them?
Are there any ways to speed up the process or contact someone from the approval team directly?
Should I give up and release it on Android?
I am very disappointed and frustrated. Hope to get some useful tips.
Thank you very much!
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Hello
I tried implementing the ASAM for macOS as per apple guidelines with configuration profile mentioned here but didn't had any success.
Then Apple suggested to use requestGuidedAccessSession in macOS but that is only supported in macOS Catalyst but that also didn't work with valid config profiles too.
Did anyone get success with ASAM mode without assessment entitltlement?
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General