React NativeAccessibility
iOS #
Accessibility on iOS encompasses many topics, but for many, accessibility is synonymous with VoiceOver, a technology available since iOS 3.0. It acts as a screen reader, allowing people with visual impairments to use their iOS devices. Click here to learn more.
Android #
Accessibility on Android involves many diverse topics, one of which is enabling people with vision loss to use your application. For this community, Google provides a built-in screen reader service with Android called TalkBack. With TalkBack, you can use touch exploration and gestures to navigate a mobile device and application. TalkBack will read back the content on screen using text-to-speech and alert users to important notifications within your application. Click here to learn more about Android accessibility features and here to learn more about making your native applications accessible.
Making Accessible Apps #
Accessibility properties #
accessible (iOS, Android) #
When true, indicates that the view is an accessibility element. When a view is an accessibility element, it groups its children into a single selectable component. By default, all touchable elements are accessible.
On Android, ‘accessible={true}’ property for a react-native View will be translated into native ‘focusable={true}’.
Accessibility
Native App Accessibility (iOS and Android) #
Both iOS and Android provide APIs for making apps accessible to people with disabilities. In addition, both platforms provide bundled assistive technologies, like the screen readers VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android) for the visually impaired. Similarly, in React Native we have included APIs designed to provide developers with support for making apps more accessible. Take note, iOS and Android differ slightly in their approaches, and thus the React Native implementations may vary by platform.
Making Apps Accessible #
Accessibility properties #
accessible (iOS, Android) #
When true, indicates that the view is an accessibility element. When a view is an accessibility element, it groups its children into a single selectable component. By default, all touchable elements are accessible.
On Android, ‘accessible={true}’ property for a react-native View will be translated into native ‘focusable={true}’.
In the above example, we can't get accessibility focus separately on 'text one' and 'text two'. Instead we get focus on a parent view with 'accessible' property.
accessibilityLabel (iOS, Android) #
When a view is marked as accessible, it is a good practice to set an accessibilityLabel on the view, so that people who use VoiceOver know what element they have selected. VoiceOver will read this string when a user selects the associated element.
To use, set the accessibilityLabel property to a custom string on your View: