Introduction to App Accessibility

Frictionless accessibility testing for iOS and Android mobile apps.

App accessibility ensures all users, including those with disabilities, can effectively use your mobile applications. Accessibility testing is crucial to make your app usable by everyone, including individuals with impairments, such as:

• Cognitive: difficulty focusing, understanding complex information, needing simpler interfaces.
• Hearing: deafness, hearing loss, relying on captions and transcripts.
• Motor : difficulty using a mouse or keyboard, relying on assistive technologies.
• Visual : blindness, low vision, color blindness.

By following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), you can create an inclusive experience that addresses these needs. Proper implementation involves using correct labels, appropriate touch target sizes, text magnification support, and many more, enabling effective app interaction for all users.

Understanding WCAG guidelines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) serve as a global standard for making digital content accessible. These guidelines ensure apps are compliant with the key WCAG principles, known as POUR:

• Perceivable
  Ensure information and user interface components are presented in ways that users can perceive. This includes providing text alternatives for non-text content.
  
• Operable
  Make sure all interface components are operable and that navigation is accessible. For instance, all functionality should be available from a keyboard.
• Understandable
  Ensure users can understand the information and the operation of the user interface. This involves making text readable and understandable.
  
• Robust
  Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
  

WCAG success criteria are divided into three levels of conformance:

• Level A: These are the essential and minimum accessibility requirements that must be met.
• Level AA: This level balances comprehensive accessibility with practical implementation. It is the preferred conformance level for accessibility testing.
• Level AAA: These are the highest and most stringent accessibility requirements, offering the greatest level of accessibility.

BrowserStack App Accessibility testing

BrowserStack App Accessibility Testing is a powerful tool designed to help you evaluate and enhance the accessibility of your mobile applications and achieve WCAG compliance. By leveraging BrowserStack’s cloud platform, you can conduct comprehensive accessibility testing on real Android and iOS devices with zero setup effort. This service ensures that your app complies with accessibility standards, including WCAG, and delivers an inclusive experience to all users.

Key benefits

• App workflow scanner:
  The App Workflow Scanner automatically identifies and documents common accessibility violations using BrowserStack’s proprietary rule engine, such as missing accessibility labels, improper touch target sizes, and inadequate color contrast. It streamlines the accessibility evaluation process, allowing you to navigate your app and perform targeted scans on specific screens with ease.

• Proprietary Rule Engine:
  Delivers unparalleled coverage of WCAG standards, ensuring your app meets comprehensive accessibility guidelines and maintains high compliance levels.

• Screen reader testing on real devices:
  Access real devices equipped with TalkBack on Android and VoiceOver on iOS for thorough screen reader testing. This feature enables you to ensure that your app is fully compatible with assistive technologies, providing a seamless experience for visually impaired users.

• Zero setup with real device cloud:
  Unlike other tools that require complex setups or desktop apps, BrowserStack allows you to start testing immediately with one-click access to real mobile devices. This hassle-free setup ensures that you can focus on improving your app’s accessibility without any technical barriers.

• Detailed accessibility reports:
  After each test, BrowserStack generates comprehensive reports with annotated screenshots. These reports provide detailed descriptions of the identified issues, specify the affected elements, and offer actionable recommendations for resolving them.

• Central reporting dashboard:
  Manage and monitor all your accessibility reports from a single interface. The central dashboard simplifies the review process, enabling easy collaboration and efficient resolution of issues.