Hi!
I'm working on an application where I'd like VoiceOver to give each element of a tab bar the "Tab" trait. I'm testing this using the Accessibility Inspector. Essentially, I'd like to replicate the behavior of how Safari identifies each of its tabs as a "Tab" (I've attached a photo below).
How exactly is this accomplished? I've tried using the .isTabBar trait to designate the child objects as "Tabs", but this doesn't seem to be working and I've struggled to find documentation about this. For additional context, these child items are Buttons, and I would like to have the .isButton trait essentially replaced by something like an .isTab trait. Not sure if this is actually possible or not, but curious how the Accessibility Inspector recognizes this in Safari.
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We recently adopted our app to Liquid Glass and received a complaint from a visually impaired user that VoiceOver does not read out the number of unread items in the tab bar anymore. We checked and it seems that before iOS 26/Liquid Glass, setting a tab bar item's badgeValue property also set an appropriate text to its accessibilityValue property (something like "3 items"). But with Liquid Glass tab bars, this does not seem to be the case anymore.
We fixed this by providing our own accessibility value, but we're wondering whether this change was a deliberate choice or simply a bug? If this new behavior is considered a bug, I would post a bug report.
Using the floating keyboard extensively. Often It starts to jump up and down. I have to pinch out to see the large version and pinch in again to restore the floating version. Sometimes just touching a key sets it off. Sometimes returning to a window from which the keyboard is displayed starts the issue. This was never a problem in ipad os 18.
I have a product for designing particle emitters, which I suspect may be of limited interest to people with limited vision.
I'd still like to ensure I'm doing a good job with VoiceOver mode.
There's a related, simplified sample online, if you want to look at the code
As you can see from the picture below, a large part of the interface mimics Xcode's particle editor, with many value entry controls that combine up/down buttons with a tappable label. Tapping the label goes into edit mode.
Apart from changing how labels are stepped through in voiceover in my app, how should I handle these stepper buttons? Is this a good place to use a Custom Rotor?
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
The accessibility nutrition labels seem like a great feature. I don't see keyboard access mentioned, are there plans to add this into the accessibility nutrition labels? To emphasise that keyboard accessibility is not just for desktop computers, apps need it too.
I am building a language learning app for a Unlisted Primary Language. Any suggestions or heads ups? My plan is to select english and go with it.
Its unfortunate that I have to list a language learning app incorrectly and a tag for that language probably does not exist across the apple system.
Hi,
On iOS, I'd like to mark views that are inside a LazyVStack as headers for VoiceOver (make them appear in the headings rotor).
In a VStack, you just have add .accessibilityAddTraits(.isHeader) to your header view. However, if your view is in a LazyVStack, that won't work if the view is not visible. As its name implies, LazyVStack is lazy so that makes sense.
There is very little information online about system rotors, but it seems you are supposed to use .accessibilityRotor() with the headings system rotor (.accessibilityRotor(.headings)) outside of the LazyVStack. Something like the following.
.accessibilityRotor(.headings) {
ForEach(entries) { entry in
// entry.id must be the same as the id of the SwiftUI view it is about
AccessibilityRotorEntry(entry.name, id: entry.id)
}
}
It kinds of work, but only kind of. When using .accessibilityAddTraits(.isHeader) in a VStack, the view is in the headings rotor as soon as you change screen. However, when using .accessibilityRotor(.headings), the headers (headings?) are not in the headings rotor at the time the screen appears. You have to move the accessibility focus inside the screen before your headers show up.
I'm a beginner in regards to VoiceOver, so I don't know how a blind user used to VoiceOver would perceive this, but it feels to me that having to move the focus before the headers are in the headings rotor would mean some users would miss them.
So my question is: is there a way to have headers inside a LazyVStack (and are not necessarily visible at first) to be in the headings rotor as soon as the screen appears? (be it using .accessibilityRotor(.headings) or anything else)
The "SwiftUI Accessibility: Beyond the basics" talk from WWDC 2021 mentions custom rotors, not system rotors, but that should be close enough. It mentions that for accessibilityRotor to work properly it has to be applied on an accessibility container, so just in case I tried to move my .accessibilityRotor(.headings) to multiple places, with and without the accessibilityElement(children: .contain) modifier, but that did not seem to change the behavior (and I could not understand why accessibilityRotor could not automatically make the view it is applied on an accessibility container if needed).
Also, a related question: when using .accessibilityRotor(.headings) on a screen, is it fine to mix uses of .accessibilityRotor(.headings) and .accessibilityRotor(.headings)? In a screen with multiple type of contents (something like ScrollView { VStack { MyHeader(); LazyVStack { /* some content */ }; LazyVStack { /* something else */ } } }), having to declare all headers in one place would make code reusability harder.
Thanks
I'm developing a document editor for macOS using AppKit, which supports structured content such as titles and multiple heading levels—similar to what you see in the Pages app.
I'm looking for a way to programmatically mark a specific substring within an NSTextView as a heading, so that VoiceOver can recognize it and announce it appropriately (e.g., by saying “heading” before reading the text). This would be similar in spirit to how NSAccessibilityLinkTextAttribute works for links.
Is there an existing accessibility text attribute or recommended approach to achieve this behavior for headings? If not, I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how best to implement this in a VoiceOver-friendly way.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Best regards,
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Hi,
I’ve been reviewing the Apple Wallet provisioning documentation (Getting Started with Apple Pay In-App Provisioning_ Verification_Security_Wallet Extensions )and had a few questions regarding the color path recommendation (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) returned during the in-app provisioning flow:
Who determines the color path—is it Apple directly, the Payment Network Operator (PNO), or both?
What criteria are used to determine the color path (e.g., device info, Apple ID reputation, past provisioning attempts)?
At what point in the provisioning flow is the color path recommendation received?
Is it included in the response after the PKAddPaymentPassRequest is submitted?
Is it accessible through any specific property or callback in the delegate method?
Additionally, for Orange Path with Reason Code 0G, I understand that in-app verification is not allowed and must be handled via tenured channels (e.g., SMS/email). Can you confirm if this logic still applies for requests initiated from within the issuer's iOS app?
Would appreciate any clarification or pointers to related documentation.
I’m developing an iOS app, and I’ve noticed that when the user enables Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Grayscale, my app icon loses a lot of visual contrast. The original colored version looks fine, but in grayscale it appears “flat” and harder to distinguish, unlike a pure black-and-white design.
What I want to achieve:
Ensure the app icon remains visually clear and high-contrast even when iOS renders it in grayscale.
Ideally, provide an alternate “high-contrast” app icon version when grayscale mode is enabled.
What I’ve tried:
Increased color contrast in the original icon design.
Added outlines and stronger shapes.
Tested with grayscale filters in design tools.
Researched Asset Catalog and alternate icons, but found no documented API to detect or respond to grayscale mode.
Questions:
Is there any API in iOS that allows detecting when the system is in grayscale mode so that I can programmatically switch to an alternate app icon?
If not, are there Apple-recommended best practices for designing app icons that still look clear in grayscale?
Are there any accessibility guidelines specifically addressing icon design for grayscale or color-blind modes?
Additional info:
iOS version tested: iOS 17.5
Development in Swift + SwiftUI, using Asset Catalog for icons.
I am aware that iOS supports alternate icons via setAlternateIconName, but I haven’t found a trigger for grayscale mode.
I have an HTML select that has Spanish text in the options.
When VoiceOver reads the selected option (unopened), it switches to Spanish as expected.
However, when you open the select box and browse through the options, it uses the English voice to read the Spanish text.
I have tried adding lang on to the select tag and the option tag but neither helps
https://codepen.io/grahamfowles/pen/VYYRxMK
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
iOSアプリでNEAppPushSessionを使い、NEAppPushDelegateの通知を受けてCallKitの着信画面を表示する実装をしていますが、以下の問題に直面しています。
8/13
ログにて下記のエラーが頻発しました。
通知の受け取りテストを約120回してその間ずっとこのエラーが出ていました。
エラー 2025-08-14 11:27:06.793073 +0900 nesessionmanager NESMAppPushSession[SimplePushDefaultConfiguration:7B7218F3-94B5-4AE5-9B9E-94E176694D02] failed to report incoming call to CallKit, error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.callkit.networkextension.messagecontrollerhost was invalidated from this process." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named com.apple.callkit.networkextension.messagecontrollerhost was invalidated from this process.}
このエラーログが頻発した後、callkitの通知画面が表示されなくなりました。
ですがどうやら通知の監視は開始しているようです。
15時間後の8/14
時間をあけたからか、再度通知が来るようになりました。
ですが再度通知の受け取りテストを行った時に同じエラーログが出ました。
再度通知テストを約120回程行ったら、このエラーログが頻発した後、callkitの通知画面が表示されなくなりました。
ですがどうやら今回も通知の監視は開始しているようです。
15時間後の8/15
今日は15時間かけても通知を取得できませんでした。
ですが同じく通知の監視は開始していそうです。
iPhoneの再起動、Xcodeのクリーンアップ、アンインストールして再インストールなどしても通知は来ないままでした。
また、不思議なことに通知が来ない事象が起きた端末以外でも同じように通知を取得することができません。
他の通知は受け取ることができますが独自の通知であるNEAppPushManagerだけ通知を取得することができません。
質問です。
再度通知を出すためには何をすれば良いでしょうか。
この事象は4099エラーを出しすぎたことにより発生する障害なのでしょうか。
4099エラーを出ている原因は何でしょうか。
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
User Notifications
PushKit
CallKit
Push To Talk
I have screen in my app that can represented by following layout, I would like this screen to be possible to navigate with full keyboard access but there is unexpected behavior:
Path:
Tap "Tab" on keyboard -> whole scrollview is targeted and inside the first button1 is selected.
Arrow down -> selection changes to button3
Arrow up -> selection changes back to button1
So button2 is always skipped, there is no way to navigate to it by arrows left/right.
Using Tab+F and searching "button2", button2 is correctly selected, so it's selectable but for some reason not findable by going through elements.
Putting empty text in Text views cause buttons to be vertically aligned and then everything works correctly but it is not an option.
public struct BugReportView: View {
public var body: some View {
ScrollView {
VStack(spacing: .zero) {
Button("button1", action: { })
HStack {
Text("some text")
Text("some text2")
Button("button2", action: { })
}
Button("button3", action: { })
}
}
}
}
As part of apple pay implementation we are trying to create a merchant session by trying to connect to apple endpoint https://apple-pay-gateway-cert.apple.com/paymentservices/startSession.
While trying to do so we are facing an error “An error occurred while sending the request. The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.” .
I call the validation url by passing to a C# .Net Framework 4.8 Web API. The API setups an HttpClient with the Merchant Identity Validation Certificate found in my apple account and calls the validation url passing in the required Json Validation Object. When I call PostAsync() I get an exception with the above error message
Code is working successfully on my local machine but facing this issue while deployed on Dev / Model environment for testing.
We have used Azure app service for deployment and TLS version 1.2 already present here.
We have used the Merchant Identity certificate that was issued and have also checked with networking and infrastructure team to make its not an issue from our side.
Does anyone have any other idea what could be causing this error.
Thank you,
Supriya
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Updated to iOS 26 beta and now the TV remote app in the control center won’t open. I’ve tried the following:
Restart phone
Remove shortcut and re-add
Cant find any other troubleshooting methods for this issue online so I’m guessing it’s a new problem.
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Hey everyone!
I am developing a screen time limit app to help people spend less time in distracting apps.
It works this way: people choose unhealthy apps for them and opposite productivity apps. In the app you can exchange time spent on healthy habits to scroll or use other distracting apps.
This idea was loved by social media, and the app already has 100k followers on social media without even being launched yet.
So I am waiting just for one feature permission from Apple, and they have not given me any answer since I applied 3 weeks ago.
There are a lot of similar apps on the market, and this feature exists in other screen time limit apps.
Why is app blocking permission needed?
Time Exchange Functionality:
Users independently select which apps are productive and which are distracting for them.
The system blocks the "negative" apps until the user accumulates enough time in the "positive" ones. This encourages healthy device usage.
Full User Control:
All apps to be blocked are manually selected by the user in the settings.
The extension does not impose any restrictions without explicit permission.
Transparency and Security:
Blocking happens locally, with no data collected about app usage.
We adhere to Apple’s privacy policy.
Compliance with App Store Guidelines:
We understand that app blocking is a sensitive feature, but in our case it:
Is used for the benefit of the user (digital detox, productivity improvement).
Does not interfere with system processes or other developers’ apps.
Does not misuse access to APIs.
My question to the forum is:
Did you have similar problems, and how did you resolve them?
Are there any ways to speed up the process or contact someone from the approval team directly?
Should I give up and release it on Android?
I am very disappointed and frustrated. Hope to get some useful tips.
Thank you very much!
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
I need to understand the different layers that are there in the iPhone X and later OLED screens as I am designing a hardware attachment. They seem to be projecting letters and images from a different layer than the subpixel layer. Is this proprietary information, or is there a resource that explores them?
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
I'm looking into how to programmatically control color filters in the Accessibility settings under "System Settings" -> "Accessibility" -> "Color Filters"--in particular the "Intensity" and "Filter type" settings.
As far as I have gathered, changing this setting can only be accomplished using the CoreGraphics APIs or Accessibility APIs (I've poked around GitHub, Stack Overflow, and queried some LLMs), but there doesn't seem to be a clear cut example for doing this using public facing APIs, without ripping off source code from another project wholesale or using private APIs.
My goal is to overlay a color filter at either a per-application or system level to help with accessibility. If there's a way to overlay this capability on an application-by-application basis as a third-party developer, that would be the most ideal scenario. For example, modifying the look and feel/UX for Launchpad, Photos, etc, as a third-party developer without accessing the source code of the application that I'm modifying the look/feel for (with appropriate user consent of course).
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General
Double-tap three fingers and drag to change zoom” should suppress “Three Finger to Drag”. Currently these gestures are triggered simultaneously, for no real reasons. I saw different behaviors for different environments, but none is desired.
Current and desired behavior:
This seems an issue so I filed a feedback.
On recent versions of macOS, when a window is being shared (via the system screen-capture APIs), the OS sometimes shows a small "shared window" badge in the title bar.
I’ve noticed that this indicator is not consistent:
For some windows, the badge reliably appears when they are being shared.
For other windows, the badge never appears, even though the window is actively shared.
In particular, windows that use a standard system title bar seem to show the indicator more often, while windows with custom-drawn or non-standard chrome do not.
My questions are:
What are the exact conditions under which macOS decides to draw the “shared window” indicator in a window’s title bar?
Is this strictly tied to certain NSWindow styles or masks (e.g. titled vs borderless)?
Is there any API or flag I can use to detect programmatically whether a given window will display this system indicator when shared?
Topic:
Accessibility & Inclusion
SubTopic:
General