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Accessibility

Both Android and iOS provide APIs for integrating apps with assistive technologies like the bundled screen readers VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android). React Native has complementary APIs that let your app accommodate all users.

info

Android and iOS differ slightly in their approaches, and thus the React Native implementations may vary by platform.

Accessibility properties​

accessible​

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}.

<View accessible={true}>
<Text>text one</Text>
<Text>text two</Text>
</View>

In the above example, accessibility focus is only available on the parent view with the accessible property, and not individually for 'text one' and 'text two'.

accessibilityLabel​

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 or TalkBack know what element they have selected. A screen reader will verbalize this string when the associated element is selected.

To use, set the accessibilityLabel property to a custom string on your View, Text, or Touchable:

<TouchableOpacity
accessible={true}
accessibilityLabel="Tap me!"
onPress={onPress}>
<View style={styles.button}>
<Text style={styles.buttonText}>Press me!</Text>
</View>
</TouchableOpacity>

In the above example, the accessibilityLabel on the TouchableOpacity element would default to "Press me!". The label is constructed by concatenating all Text node children separated by spaces.

accessibilityLabelledBy
Android
​

A reference to another element nativeID used to build complex forms. The value of accessibilityLabelledBy should match the nativeID of the related element:

<View>
<Text nativeID="formLabel">Label for Input Field</Text>
<TextInput
accessibilityLabel="input"
accessibilityLabelledBy="formLabel"
/>
</View>

In the above example, the screen reader announces Input, Edit Box for Label for Input Field when focusing on the TextInput.

accessibilityHint​

An accessibility hint can be used to provide additional context to the user on the result of the action when it is not clear from the accessibility label alone.

Provide the accessibilityHint property a custom string on your View, Text, or Touchable:

<TouchableOpacity
accessible={true}
accessibilityLabel="Go back"
accessibilityHint="Navigates to the previous screen"
onPress={onPress}>
<View style={styles.button}>
<Text style={styles.buttonText}>Back</Text>
</View>
</TouchableOpacity>
iOS

In the above example, VoiceOver will read the hint after the label, if the user has hints enabled in the device's VoiceOver settings. Read more about guidelines for accessibilityHint in the iOS Developer Docs

Android

In the above example, TalkBack will read the hint after the label. At this time, hints cannot be turned off on Android.

accessibilityLanguage
iOS
​

By using the accessibilityLanguage property, the screen reader will understand which language to use while reading the element's label, value, and hint. The provided string value must follow the BCP 47 specification.

<View
accessible={true}
accessibilityLabel="Pizza"
accessibilityLanguage="it-IT">
<Text>πŸ•</Text>
</View>

accessibilityIgnoresInvertColors
iOS
​

Inverting screen colors is an accessibility feature available in iOS and iPadOS for people with color blindness, low vision, or vision impairment. If there's a view you don't want to invert when this setting is on, possibly a photo, set this property to true.

accessibilityLiveRegion
Android
​

When components dynamically change, we want TalkBack to alert the end user. This is made possible by the accessibilityLiveRegion property. It can be set to none, polite, and assertive:

  • none Accessibility services should not announce changes to this view.
  • polite Accessibility services should announce changes to this view.
  • assertive Accessibility services should interrupt ongoing speech to immediately announce changes to this view.
<TouchableWithoutFeedback onPress={addOne}>
<View style={styles.embedded}>
<Text>Click me</Text>
</View>
</TouchableWithoutFeedback>
<Text accessibilityLiveRegion="polite">
Clicked {count} times
</Text>

In the above example method addOne changes the state variable count. When the TouchableWithoutFeedback is triggered, TalkBack reads the text in the Text view because of its accessibilityLiveRegion="polite" property.

accessibilityRole​

accessibilityRole communicates the purpose of a component to the user of assistive technology.

accessibilityRole can be one of the following:

  • adjustable Used when an element can be "adjusted" (e.g. a slider).
  • alert Used when an element contains important text to be presented to the user.
  • button Used when the element should be treated as a button.
  • checkbox Used when an element represents a checkbox that can be checked, unchecked, or have a mixed checked state.
  • combobox Used when an element represents a combo box, which allows the user to select among several choices.
  • header Used when an element acts as a header for a content section (e.g. the title of a navigation bar).
  • image Used when the element should be treated as an image. Can be combined with a button or link.
  • imagebutton Used when the element should be treated as a button and is also an image.
  • keyboardkey Used when the element acts as a keyboard key.
  • link Used when the element should be treated as a link.
  • menu Used when the component is a menu of choices.
  • menubar Used when a component is a container of multiple menus.
  • menuitem Used to represent an item within a menu.
  • none Used when the element has no role.
  • progressbar Used to represent a component that indicates the progress of a task.
  • radio Used to represent a radio button.
  • radiogroup Used to represent a group of radio buttons.
  • scrollbar Used to represent a scroll bar.
  • search Used when a text field element should also be treated as a search field.
  • spinbutton Used to represent a button that opens a list of choices.
  • summary Used when an element can be used to provide a quick summary of current conditions in the app when the app first launches.
  • switch Used to represent a switch that can be turned on and off.
  • tab Used to represent a tab.
  • tablist Used to represent a list of tabs.
  • text Used when the element should be treated as static text that cannot change.
  • timer Used to represent a timer.
  • togglebutton Used to represent a toggle button. Should be used with accessibilityState checked to indicate if the button is toggled on or off.
  • toolbar Used to represent a toolbar (a container of action buttons or components).
  • grid Used with ScrollView, VirtualizedList, FlatList, or SectionList to represent a grid. Adds the in/out of grid announcements to Android's GridView.

accessibilityState​

Describes the current state of a component to the assistive technology user.

accessibilityState is an object. It contains the following fields:

NameDescriptionTypeRequired
disabledIndicates whether the element is disabled or not.booleanNo
selectedIndicates whether a selectable element is currently selected or not.booleanNo
checkedIndicates the state of a checkable element. This field can either take a boolean or the "mixed" string to represent mixed checkboxes.boolean or 'mixed'No
busyIndicates whether an element is currently busy or not.booleanNo
expandedIndicates whether an expandable element is currently expanded or collapsed.booleanNo

To use, set the accessibilityState to an object with a specific definition.

accessibilityValue​

Represents the current value of a component. It can be a textual description of a component's value, or for range-based components, such as sliders and progress bars, it contains range information (minimum, current, and maximum).

accessibilityValue is an object. It contains the following fields:

NameDescriptionTypeRequired
minThe minimum value of this component's range.integerRequired if now is set.
maxThe maximum value of this component's range.integerRequired if now is set.
nowThe current value of this component's range.integerNo
textA textual description of this component's value. Will override min, now, and max if set.stringNo

accessibilityViewIsModal
iOS
​

A boolean value that indicates whether VoiceOver should ignore the elements within views that are siblings of the receiver.

For example, in a window that contains sibling views A and B, setting accessibilityViewIsModal to true on view B causes VoiceOver to ignore the elements in view A. On the other hand, if view B contains a child view C and you set accessibilityViewIsModal to true on view C, VoiceOver does not ignore the elements in view A.

accessibilityElementsHidden
iOS
​

A boolean value indicating whether the accessibility elements contained within this accessibility element are hidden.

For example, in a window that contains sibling views A and B, setting accessibilityElementsHidden to true on view B causes VoiceOver to ignore the elements in view B. This is similar to the Android property importantForAccessibility="no-hide-descendants".

aria-valuemax​

Represents the maximum value for range-based components, such as sliders and progress bars.

aria-valuemin​

Represents the minimum value for range-based components, such as sliders and progress bars.

aria-valuenow​

Represents the current value for range-based components, such as sliders and progress bars.

aria-valuetext​

Represents the textual description of the component.

aria-busy​

Indicates an element is being modified and that assistive technologies may want to wait until the changes are complete before informing the user about the update.

TypeDefault
booleanfalse

aria-checked​

Indicates the state of a checkable element. This field can either take a boolean or the "mixed" string to represent mixed checkboxes.

TypeDefault
boolean, 'mixed'false

aria-disabled​

Indicates that the element is perceivable but disabled, so it is not editable or otherwise operable.

TypeDefault
booleanfalse

aria-expanded​

Indicates whether an expandable element is currently expanded or collapsed.

TypeDefault
booleanfalse

aria-hidden​

Indicates whether the accessibility elements contained within this accessibility element are hidden.

For example, in a window that contains sibling views A and B, setting aria-hidden to true on view B causes VoiceOver to ignore the elements in view B.

TypeDefault
booleanfalse

aria-label​

Defines a string value that labels an interactive element.

Type
string

aria-labelledby
Android
​

Identifies the element that labels the element it is applied to. The value of aria-labelledby should match the nativeID of the related element:

<View>
<Text nativeID="formLabel">Label for Input Field</Text>
<TextInput aria-label="input" aria-labelledby="formLabel" />
</View>
Type
string

aria-live
Android
​

Indicates that an element will be updated and describes the types of updates the user agents, assistive technologies, and user can expect from the live region.

  • off Accessibility services should not announce changes to this view.
  • polite Accessibility services should announce changes to this view.
  • assertive Accessibility services should interrupt ongoing speech to immediately announce changes to this view.
TypeDefault
enum('assertive', 'off', 'polite')'off'

aria-modal
iOS
​

Boolean value indicating whether VoiceOver should ignore the elements within views that are siblings of the receiver.

TypeDefault
booleanfalse

aria-selected​

Indicates whether a selectable element is currently selected or not.

Type
boolean

importantForAccessibility
Android
​

In the case of two overlapping UI components with the same parent, default accessibility focus can have unpredictable behavior. The importantForAccessibility property will resolve this by controlling if a view fires accessibility events and if it is reported to accessibility services. It can be set to auto, yes, no and no-hide-descendants (the last value will force accessibility services to ignore the component and all of its children).

<View style={styles.container}>
<View
style={[styles.layout, {backgroundColor: 'green'}]}
importantForAccessibility="yes">
<Text>First layout</Text>
</View>
<View
style={[styles.layout, {backgroundColor: 'yellow'}]}
importantForAccessibility="no-hide-descendants">
<Text>Second layout</Text>
</View>
</View>

In the above example, the yellow layout and its descendants are completely invisible to TalkBack and all other accessibility services. So we can use overlapping views with the same parent without confusing TalkBack.

onAccessibilityEscape
iOS
​

Assign this property to a custom function which will be called when someone performs the "escape" gesture, which is a two finger Z shaped gesture. An escape function should move back hierarchically in the user interface. This can mean moving up or back in a navigation hierarchy or dismissing a modal user interface. If the selected element does not have an onAccessibilityEscape function, the system will attempt to traverse up the view hierarchy until it finds a view that does or bonk to indicate it was unable to find one.

onAccessibilityTap​

Use this property to assign a custom function to be called when someone activates an accessible element by double tapping on it while it's selected.

onMagicTap
iOS
​

Assign this property to a custom function which will be called when someone performs the "magic tap" gesture, which is a double-tap with two fingers. A magic tap function should perform the most relevant action a user could take on a component. In the Phone app on iPhone, a magic tap answers a phone call or ends the current one. If the selected element does not have an onMagicTap function, the system will traverse up the view hierarchy until it finds a view that does.

role​

role communicates the purpose of a component and has precedence over the accessibilityRole prop.

role can be one of the following:

  • alert Used when an element contains important text to be presented to the user.
  • button Used when the element should be treated as a button.
  • checkbox Used when an element represents a checkbox that can be checked, unchecked, or have a mixed checked state.
  • combobox Used when an element represents a combo box, which allows the user to select among several choices.
  • grid Used with ScrollView, VirtualizedList, FlatList, or SectionList to represent a grid. Adds the in/out of grid announcements to the android GridView.
  • heading Used when an element acts as a header for a content section (e.g. the title of a navigation bar).
  • img Used when the element should be treated as an image. Can be combined with a button or link, for example.
  • link Used when the element should be treated as a link.
  • list Used to identify a list of items.
  • menu Used when the component is a menu of choices.
  • menubar Used when a component is a container of multiple menus.
  • menuitem Used to represent an item within a menu.
  • none Used when the element has no role.
  • presentation Used when the element has no role.
  • progressbar Used to represent a component that indicates the progress of a task.
  • radio Used to represent a radio button.
  • radiogroup Used to represent a group of radio buttons.
  • scrollbar Used to represent a scroll bar.
  • searchbox Used when the text field element should also be treated as a search field.
  • slider Used when an element can be "adjusted" (e.g. a slider).
  • spinbutton Used to represent a button that opens a list of choices.
  • summary Used when an element can be used to provide a quick summary of current conditions in the app when the app first launches.
  • switch Used to represent a switch that can be turned on and off.
  • tab Used to represent a tab.
  • tablist Used to represent a list of tabs.
  • timer Used to represent a timer.
  • toolbar Used to represent a toolbar (a container of action buttons or components).

Accessibility Actions​

Accessibility actions allow assistive technology to programmatically invoke the action(s) of a component. To support accessibility actions, a component must do two things:

  • Define the list of actions it supports via the accessibilityActions property.
  • Implement an onAccessibilityAction function to handle action requests.

The accessibilityActions property should contain a list of action objects. Each action object should contain the following fields:

NameTypeRequired
namestringYes
labelstringNo

Actions either represent standard actions, such as clicking a button or adjusting a slider, or custom actions specific to a given component such as deleting an email message. The name field is required for both standard and custom actions, but label is optional for standard actions.

When adding support for standard actions, name must be one of the following:

  • 'magicTap' - iOS only - While VoiceOver focus is on or inside the component, the user double tapped with two fingers.
  • 'escape' - iOS only - While VoiceOver focus is on or inside the component, the user performed a two-finger scrub gesture (left, right, left).
  • 'activate' - Activate the component. This should perform the same action with, or without, assistive technology. Engaged when a screen reader user double taps the component.
  • 'increment' - Increment an adjustable component. On iOS, VoiceOver generates this action when the component has a role of 'adjustable' and the user places focus on it and swipes upward. On Android, TalkBack generates this action when the user places accessibility focus on the component and presses the volume-up button.
  • 'decrement' - Decrement an adjustable component. On iOS, VoiceOver generates this action when the component has a role of 'adjustable' and the user places focus on it and swipes downward. On Android, TalkBack generates this action when the user places accessibility focus on the component and presses the volume-down button.
  • 'longpress' - Android only - This action is generated when the user places accessibility focus on the component, then double-taps and holds one finger on the screen. This should perform the same action with, or without, assistive technology.

The label field is optional for standard actions and is often unused by assistive technologies. For custom actions, it is a localized string containing a description of the action to be presented to the user.

To handle action requests, a component must implement an onAccessibilityAction function. The only argument to this function is an event containing the name of the action to perform. The below example from RNTester shows how to create a component that defines and handles several custom actions.

<View
accessible={true}
accessibilityActions={[
{name: 'cut', label: 'cut'},
{name: 'copy', label: 'copy'},
{name: 'paste', label: 'paste'},
]}
onAccessibilityAction={event => {
switch (event.nativeEvent.actionName) {
case 'cut':
Alert.alert('Alert', 'cut action success');
break;
case 'copy':
Alert.alert('Alert', 'copy action success');
break;
case 'paste':
Alert.alert('Alert', 'paste action success');
break;
}
}}
/>

Checking if a Screen Reader is Enabled​

The AccessibilityInfo API allows you to determine whether or not a screen reader is currently active. See the AccessibilityInfo documentation for details.

Sending Accessibility Events
Android
​

Sometimes it is useful to trigger an accessibility event on a UI component (i.e. when a custom view appears on a screen or set accessibility focus to a view). Native UIManager module exposes a method β€˜sendAccessibilityEvent’ for this purpose. It takes two arguments: a view tag and a type of event. The supported event types are typeWindowStateChanged, typeViewFocused, and typeViewClicked.

import {Platform, UIManager, findNodeHandle} from 'react-native';

if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
UIManager.sendAccessibilityEvent(
findNodeHandle(this),
UIManager.AccessibilityEventTypes.typeViewFocused,
);
}

Testing TalkBack Support
Android
​

To enable TalkBack, go to the Settings app on your Android device or emulator. Tap Accessibility, then TalkBack. Toggle the "Use service" switch to enable or disable it.

Android emulators don't have TalkBack installed by default. You can install TalkBack on your emulator via the Google Play Store. Make sure to choose an emulator with the Google Play store installed. These are available in Android Studio.

You can use the volume key shortcut to toggle TalkBack. To turn on the volume key shortcut, go to the Settings app, then Accessibility. At the top, turn on the volume key shortcut.

To use the volume key shortcut, press both volume keys for 3 seconds to start an accessibility tool.

Additionally, if you prefer, you can toggle TalkBack via the command line with:

# disable
adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.android.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService

# enable
adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.google.android.marvin.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService

Testing VoiceOver Support
iOS
​

To enable VoiceOver on your iOS or iPadOS device, go to the Settings app, tap General, then Accessibility. There you will find many tools available for people to enable their devices to be more usable, including VoiceOver. To enable VoiceOver, tap on VoiceOver under "Vision" and toggle the switch that appears at the top.

At the very bottom of the Accessibility settings, there is an "Accessibility Shortcut". You can use this to toggle VoiceOver by triple-clicking the Home button.

VoiceOver isn't available via the simulator, but you can use Accessibility Inspector from Xcode to use the macOS VoiceOver through an application. Note it's always best to test with a device as macOS's VoiceOver may result in varied experiences.

Additional Resources​