Testing with VoiceOver on iOS
After you have learnt to turn VoiceOver on and off you can now test with VoiceOver on iOS.
Gestures
VoiceOver changes your gestures on the iPhone so it takes some getting used to. The first thing people notice that with VoiceOver turned on, tapping anything only selects that item, it does not perform the action associated with it.
Selecting items
To select an item, tap it. it will get the black focus ring and the screen-reader will announce its contents.
If the user taps a button with an onPress event that navigates the user to a new screen, then a single tap will not navigate the user. It just adds a black ‘focus-ring’ around the item; it also reads the text content of the element (or accessibilityLabel) as well as its semantics plus its state and/or value if applicable e.g.
‘Book a journey, button’
A focused checkbox might read:
Are you over 18?, button, checked, dimmed
To indicate this is a disabled (dimmed) button in its checked state. Note: iOS does have ‘checkboxes’ in its list of accessibility traits. Almost everything is a ‘button’. Interacting with items e.g. tapping buttons/links
To action the element (if it’s a button, link or similar) then tap it once to focus it and then double-tap it for its event to run.
It is important that elements with events have the correct semantic role otherwise a screen-reader user won’t realise they can double-tap the element to perform the action; they will think the element is a basic text node that doesn’t do anything.
Navigating items
To move between items you swipe horizontally left to right with one finger. This will move that black focus-ring to the next selectable element. In the screenshot above, this swipe would highlight/focus the ‘Enter a booking reference’ link. To go backwards you swipe in the opposite direction, right to left.
Scrolling
To scroll up/down/left/right you must swipe with 3 fingers at once. If you are on a horizontal scrolling element you will need to have an element inside the scrolling area focused for this to work. It is quite tricky for the scrolling to work and you have limited control over it.
Dismiss alert/Go back
To go back/revert to the previous screen, with two fingers you can make a 'Z' shape on your phone. Apple calls this the 'two-finger scrub'. Note: this will only work within your app. If the user taps a link which takes them outside of your app, this gesture will not work.
Further reading
Apple - Use VoiceOver gestures on iPhone
Changing font sizes
All components should scale and remain legible as the user increases the font size in their operating system.
Hopefully you have set ‘Text Size’ to Settings > Control Centre > Included Controls on your iPHone. Once you’ve done that. Increase the font size in Control Centre.
Text size should increase to match the operating system settings. It is an issue if the font does not increase becuase we assume a user who increases their text size wants important interactive items to be bigger.
Further reading
More from Apple: Make iPhone text easier to read with accessibility features
Using a keyboard
Some users will use a keyboard (or similar device) to navigate their phone so connect your keyboard into the phone and use it to access the app and the specific component. Does it work?
This section about keyboard-use is a work in progress.
Further reading
More from Apple: Control iPhone with an external keyboard
Using a switch control the app
Switch Control is an assistive technology for anyone with limited mobility. It enables you to interact with iPhone by activating a switch, such as pressing an external adaptive button, performing a head movement, or making a voiced or voiceless sound.
This section about switch control-use is a work in progress.