How accessibility works in app development platforms
A lot has been talked about Accessibility in the context of digital interface design, but how are these principles implemented in app development?
When it comes to mobile app development, many UX designers and developers overlook the importance of accessibility. And is paramount to understand that building your mobile application with accessibility in mind will drastically improve the chances of more people using your app and maximize revenue.
Concerning stats about accessibility
Web or digital accessibility is something that has become a pressing topic for virtually every business. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 2 billion people live with a disability, 20% of whom live with great functional difficulties in their day-to-day lives.
Although the digital divide presented by Internet accessibility today may seem small, the number of people in the United States alone who will have a visual impairment is expected to double by 2050 as the population ages.
However, despite the growing number of accessibility lawsuits, many businesses have been slow to adopt an accessibility strategy. Today, It’s estimated that companies without accessible sites are losing $6.9 billion a year to competitors whose sites are accessible.
“We need to make every single thing accessible to
every single person with a disability.” —Stevie Wonder
In this video, we can see how the World Economic Forum shows the case of accessibility and how can we design a truly inclusive world that recognizes the value and worth of people living with a disability.
Apple and Android are two of the biggest app development platforms. If you own a smartphone, there is a good chance that it's either running iOS or Android operating systems, today we are focusing this article on this two.
First, we have iOS the mobile operating system developed by Apple and runs on the iPhone and iPad. On the other hand, we have Android which is developed by Google and runs on many non-Apple mobile devices.
Both operating systems have developed their Accessibility guides, for the intended use with app development on their platforms. Here I’ll highlight how both companies are helping people with disabilities through the use of technology.
Apple
Apple has focused on four main categories of disabilities and the accessibility features to address them.
Vision
For users with vision disabilities, Apple provides VoiceOver on every platform and supports display accommodations such as color inversion, color blindness, larger text, zoom, and magnifier.
Hearing
Apple provides alternatives to aural interaction with features such as closed captioning, visual and haptic notifications, and Type to Siri mode.
Physical and Motor
Apple provides several accommodations to help people use their devices without the need for fine motor control:
- Switch Control integrates adaptive devices with iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV
- Siri helps people control apps and devices using their voices
- Assistive Touch makes standard gestures easier to perform
Literacy and Learning
To reduce cognitive load and support people with literacy and learning challenges, Apple provides features such as Speak Screen, Typing Feedback, and Safari Reader.
Here’s a video that will show you how Apple integrated these features into everyday life situations for people with impairments.
Apple provides the above features alongside best practice guidelines for implementing them. These best practices can help you create an inclusive app:
- Design with Accessibility in Mind
- Support Personalization
- Audit and Test your app for Accessibility
Android
Android has focused its features to address accessibility problems with visual and motor disabilities.
Visual
- To help visually impaired users, Android includes features such as Talkback which provides feedback as the app is used.
- To increase visual accessibility, the developer is also advised to group similar content together to make use of increased font size and magnification.
Motor
To increase motor accessibility, Switch, and Voice access are available on Android devices.
- Voice access allows the user to operate the device by speaking into the microphone. The commands are translated into physical functions.
- Switch access allows the user to use physical buttons instead of touchscreen.
In this video, we can see how these features are been used by a person with visual impairment with an Android phone.
Android apps aim to be usable by everyone, thats why it has a set of guides that can help developers make apps more accessible. Here I leave you the key elements of accessibility they provide:
- Increase text visibility
- Use large, simple controls
- Describe each UI element
Technology is most powerful, when it empowers everyone
I hope this article shines a light into the world of Accessibility and how important it is to be implemented in our products and I encourage you to embrace diversity to build with accessibility in mind.
Conclusion
Remember that our goal in product development should be to create products with accessibility to ensure that our products can be used by many people as possible. Always take into consideration while designing the POUR (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) principles of Accessibility, and remember that Accessibility is a journey, not a destination.
Accessibility isn’t just a nice to have feature. It’s a necessity for every mobile application.
References
- Apple | Human Interface Guidelines — Accessibility. (n.d.). Https://Developer.Apple.Com/. https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/accessibility/overview/introduction/
- Apple. (2016, October 27). Apple — Accessibility — Sady. Youtube/Apple. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB4cjbYywqg&ab_channel=Apple
- Android | Build more accessible apps. (n.d.). Https://Developer.Android.Com/. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/accessibility
- Android. (2017, May 17). Adding accessibility features to apps for blind and visually-impaired users. Youtube/Android Developers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1by5J7c5Vz4&t=43s&ab_channel=AndroidDevelopers
- Wettemann, R., & White, T. (2019). THE INTERNET IS UNAVAILABLE: Vol. T 103 (Enterprise Applications ed.). Nucleus Research. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/153358/Nucleus-The%20Internet%20is%20unavailable.pdf
- 33 Accessibility Statistics You Need to Know in 2021. (2021, May 12). Https://Monsido.Com/Blog/Accessibility-Statistics. https://monsido.com/blog/accessibility-statistics
