iOS

Developer Notes

• An alert gives users critcal information they need right away, usually appearing over an existing screen
• Use native alerts when at all possible vs a custom element, as it will handle expected behavior without additional development effort
• Options to close the alert for the screen reader user:
  • A close button
  • CTA
• Tapping outside the alert to close cannot be the only option for screen reader users

Name

• Programmatic name describes the purpose of the alert.
• For alerts and modals, the programmatic name is the title of the alert/modal.
• If visible text label exists, the programmatic name should match the visible text label.
  • Note: Setting a programmatic name while a visible text label exists may cause VoiceOver to duplicate the announcement of the name. If this happens, hide the visible text label from VoiceOver recognization.
• UIKit
  • The visible label is the programmatic name of the alert.
  • If a visible label is not applicable in your case, set the alert’s accessibilityLabel to the label of your choice.
    • To do this in Interface Builder, set the label using the Identity Inspector
  • To hide labels from VoiceOver programmatically, set the label’s isAccessibilityElement property to false
  • To hide labels from VoiceOver using Interface Builder, uncheck Accessibility Enabled in the Identity Inspector.
• SwiftUI
  • The visible label is the programmatic name of the alert.
  • If no visible label, use view modifier accessibilityLabel(_:).
  • If button has icon(s), hide the icon(s) from VoiceOver by using view modifier accessibilityHidden(true).

Role

• Required: Screen reader user is confined inside the alert, communicating an alert is present

• UIKit
  • Use UIAlertController and add actions per your use case
• SwiftUI
  • Use view modifier alert(_:isPresented:presenting:actions:message:)
  • If applicable, use view modifier accessibilityRemoveTraits(:) to remove unwanted traits.

Groupings

• For a native alert, do not modify native grouping logic

• UIKit
  • Use UIAlertController grouping and ordering as is
• SwiftUI
  • Use the native alert’s grouping and ordering as is

State

• Alerts that have an open/close state must be announced. Add logic and announcement to the programmatic name for the state

• Usually no one button is disabled in native alerts.

• UIKit
  • When the focus lands on the alert’s title, it is implied to the user that the alert is open.
• SwiftUI
  • When the focus lands on the alert’s title, it is implied to the user that the alert is open.

Focus

• Use the default focus functionality of the alert

• The screen reader focus must be confined within the alert. When the alert appears, the initial focus should be to a logical place or to where the default focus is for the device within the alert.

• UIKit
  • If needed, follow the below for focus management.
  • If VoiceOver is not reaching a particular element, set the element’s isAccessibilityElement to true
    • Note: You may need to adjust the programmatic name, role, state, and/or value after doing this, as this action may overwrite previously configured accessibility.
  • To move screen reader focus to newly revealed content, use UIAccessibility.post(notification:argument:) that takes in .screenChanged and the newly revealed content as the parameter arguments.
  • To NOT move focus, but dynamically announce new content: use UIAccessibility.post(notification:argument:) that takes in .announcement and the announcement text as the parameter arguments.
  • UIAccessibilityContainer protocol: Have a table of elements that defines the reading order of the elements.
• SwiftUI
  • If needed, follow the below for focus management.
  • For general focus management that impacts both screen readers and non-screen readers, use the property wrapper @FocusState to assign an identity of a focus state.
    • Use the property wrapper @FocusState in conjunction with the view modifier focused(_:) to assign focus on a view with @FocusState as the source of truth.
    • Use the property wrapper @FocusStatein conjunction with the view modifier focused(_:equals:) to assign focus on a view, when the view is equal to a specific value.
  • If necessary, use property wrapper @AccessibilityFocusState to assign identifiers to specific views to manually shift focus from one view to another as the user interacts with the screen with VoiceOver on.

Announcement examples

• Three separate focus areas
  • “Alert, title” (When alert appears with an audible ping)
  • “Body content”
  • “CTA, button”

Android

Developer Notes

-An alert gives users ciritcal information they need right away, usually appearing over an existing screen

• Use native alerts when at all possible vs a custom element, as it will handle expected behavior without additional development effort
• Options to close the modal for the screen reader user:
  • Two/three finger swipe
  • A close button
  • CTA
  • Tapping outside the alert to close cannot be the only option for screen reader users

Name

• Programmatic name describes the purpose of the alert dialog

• For alerts, the programmatic name is the title of the alert.

• Android Views
  • Use Android view component AlertDialog for the alert, its default accessibility behavior will cover the programmatic name by using the title text.
• Jetpack Compose
  • Use composable AlertDialog which uses the title as the programmatic name

Role

• Required: Screen reader user is confined inside an alert, communicating an alert is present.

• Android Views
  • Android view component AlertDialog has the dialog role defined
• Jetpack Compose
  • Composable AlertDialog has dialog role defined

Groupings

• If you are implementing a native alert, do not modify native grouping logic

• If you require a custom alert, follow the steps below.

• Android Views
  • ViewGroup
  • Set the container object’s android:screenReaderFocusable attribute to true, and each inner object’s android:focusable attribute to false. In doing so, accessibility services can present the inner elements’ contentDescription or names, one after the other, in a single announcement.
• Jetpack Compose
  • Modifier.semantics(mergeDescendants = true) {} for the child elements grouping/merging
  • FocusRequester.createRefs() helps to request focus to inner elements with in the group

State

• Follow button state guidance if applicable
• Android View
  • Active: android:enabled=true
  • Disabled: android:enabled=false
• Jetpack Compose
  • Active: default state is active and enabled. Use Button(enabled = true) to specify explicitly
  • Disabled: Button(enabled = false) announces as disabled
  • Alternatively can use modifier = Modifier.semantics { disabled() } to announce as disabled

Focus

• Use the default focus functionality of the native alert

• The screen reader focus must be confined within the alert. When the alert appears, the initial focus should be to a logical place or to where the default focus is for the device within the alert

• Android View
  • importantForAccessibility makes the element visible to the Accessibility API
  • android:focusable
  • android=clickable
  • Implement an onClick( ) event handler for keyboard, as well as onTouch( )
  • nextFocusDown
  • nextFocusUp
  • nextFocusRight
  • nextFocusLeft
  • accessibilityTraversalBefore (or after)
  • To move screen reader focus to newly revealed content: Type_View_Focused
  • To NOT move focus, but dynamically announce new content: accessibilityLiveRegion(set to polite or assertive)
  • To hide controls: Important_For_Accessibility_false
• Jetpack Compose
  • Modifier.focusTarget() makes the component focusable
  • Modifier.focusOrder() needs to be used in combination with FocusRequesters to define focus order
  • Modifier.onFocusEvent(), Modifier.onFocusChanged() can be used to observe the changes to focus state
  • FocusRequester allows to request focus to individual elements with in a group of merged descendant views
  • Example: To customize the focus events behaviour
    • step 1: define the focus requester prior. val (first, second) = FocusRequester.createRefs()
    • step 2: update the modifier to set the order. modifier = Modifier.focusOrder(first) { this.down = second }
    • focus order accepts following values: up, down, left, right, previous, next, start, end
    • step 3: use second.requestFocus() to gain focus

Code Example

• Jetpack Compose

// Alert should not allow auto-dismiss on touching outside of the dialog view, a user action is required by displaying the Alert.
AlertDialog(
    onDismissRequest = {},
    title = { Text(text = "Title") },
    text = { Text(text = "Message") },
    confirmButton = { Button(onClick = { }) { Text(text = "Confirm") } },
    dismissButton = { Button(onClick = { }) { Text(text = "Cancel") } }
)

Announcement examples - Announcements vary by device and version.

• TalkBack often announces the entire alert altogether in one announcement while focus is on the CTA.
• “Title, body copy, CTA button, double tap to activate”
• Alerts can also be announced in several swipes, separating content. Initial focus can be on the first element.
  • “Title” (if any)
  • “Body copy”
  • “CTA button, double tap to activate”