As an app owner or developer, we should make all users feel considered and included when using your app. However, we understand how overwhelming it can be to contemplate the vast array of possibilities and considerations when making an app more accessible.

This Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we’re sharing 5 tips to help enhance the quality of your app for everyone to help you create something accessible that benefits everyone – and we mean everyone.

When building an app, why should accessibility be considered?

An estimated 15% of the world's population has a disability. With a billion people living with disabilities, that is a significant user base that you could affect positively if your apps are designed with accessibility in mind.

User Experience (UX) is a core principle when making your mobile app more accessible, it can also help with acquisition and retention as potential users are always looking for something to fit their needs better. Not to mention, every minor accessibility design can have a huge impact on your business– for example, adding captions to your videos can boost user engagement by 532%.

1. Labelling user interface controls

Technology like VoiceOver on iOS or TalkBack on Android is driven by accessibility labels that you give to the user interface. They read out on-screen text, CTAs, alt text, and all navigation options to help the visually impaired around your app.

Labelling inputs, buttons and other visual components are critical to accessibility, it turns important visual information into speech. By reading aloud your content, visually impaired users can make sense of the information displayed on their screen and know exactly the buttons they are tapping. If designed well, labels can even contain additional information that may have been instead illustrated as icons.

Video example: Improve App Acessibility with Voiceover

2. Make navigational elements stand out.

Visual impairments come in many varieties. It can be difficult to distinguish certain colours with limited vision. Since the digital experience relies heavily on displays and visual information, make sure the content you add is readable in more than one way, especially CTAs. This allows users with visual difficulties to discern actionable elements in your content.

A colourblind person may not be able to differentiate coloured text hyperlinks from plain text, unless there was another way to identify it using bold or underline.

We also discussed ways to improve your app’s accessibility using typography which you can check out from our previous article.

3. Optimise all video and audio content.

Like written content, if your app is driven by audio or video, they should be optimised for various perceptions.

In recent years, subtitles and audio descriptions have become increasingly popular. Any app that lacks these features will be viewed as a setback for visual or hearing users.

Simply adding audio transcriptions and captions, it makes not only your app butmakes your app and, most importantly, its content accessible to those otherwise unable to hear what’s being said.

4. Keep the UI consistent

Users with disabilities may have difficulty navigating inconsistent screen layouts or designs. The menus, displays and general user flow in your app should be intuitive; no matter what stage of the journey your users are at, and it should be obvious where they are.

Here are some recommendations from the WCAG 2.1 AA to keep your app UI consistent.

Consistent Navigation: Repeated navigation mechanisms such as the navbar and hamburger menu items should appear in the same order.

Identify any component consistently: an identical button with the same functionality should have the same label.

Maintaining a consistent User Interface isn’t just technical but also a design and product goal. Work with your designer to use the appropriate colour palette, title attributes etc.

Moreover, you can always count on Apple and Google’s recommendations to improve your app’s accessibility.

5. Add more customisation possibilities.

With more customisation options, your users can better achieve what they need and make your app their home. But the truth is, you can’t always cater the experience to everyone’s needs – that’s why customisation is also important.

Themes are almost a no brainer when it comes to customisation, and nowadays almost expected in most apps and websites.

For example, Noted. allows users to choose from a variety of ‘space’ themes, all designed with accessibility in mind. With each having its own set of colours, the contrast becomes very important. The app also supports Dynamic Type, which enables text to be enlarged, making it easier for low-vision users to read and digest the written content.

Video example: Dynamic Type

Looking to create an accessible app?

As app-loving people, we stand for inclusivity to provide a good user experience to users. See a list of apps recognised by Apple as apps for accessibility, including our app Noted.

Discover how your customer can get the best mobile experience by creating apps with accessibility in mind; check out this article to learn more.

Want to make your app more accessible? Get in touch via hello@digitalworkroom.co.uk or give us a shout on socials: here’s our LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.