Special Character Accessibility Label

In app accessibility, a Special-Character element refers to UI components that use special characters (glyph characters or emojis) in their accessibility labels. Screen readers and other assistive technologies use these labels to describe the element to users with visual impairments. Special characters in these labels can cause confusion or be misinterpreted, leading to a poor user experience.

Success criteria

The rule checks for emoji and other glyph characters must not be present in accessibility labels.

How to fix

To prevent special characters violations, ensure the following:

1. Identify special characters
   Review the accessibility labels of UI elements to identify any glyph characters or emojis.
2. Replace with descriptive text
   Replace special characters with descriptive text that conveys the purpose of the element clearly.
3. Test with app acessibility screen reader
   Use our screen reader to test the revised labels to ensure they are read correctly and provide meaningful information.

Example

In the following example report, various elements have accessibility labels that include special characters (e.g., “♯”, “♭”) are identified.

Violation:
The screen reader may misinterpret or incorrectly read the special character, making it unclear to the user.

Fix:
Change the label from “♯” or “♭” to descriptive text like “Sharp” or “Flat” to ensure the screen reader provides clear and understandable information.