Developing Accessible iOS Apps

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 1-12

3. Accessibility features in iOS

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 13-27

4. VoiceOver 101 – The fundamentals

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 29-46

5. VoiceOver – Up to 11

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 47-64

6. Dynamic Type

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 65-83

7. Other accessibility features and good practices

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 85-102

8. Testing

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 103-111

9. Wrapping up

   • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

   Pages 113-122

10. Correction to: VoiceOver 101 – The fundamentals

    • Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

    Pages C1-C2

11. Back Matter

    Pages 123-125

    PDF

Any developer aiming for a global audience needs to cover a series of requisites for their apps, and one of them is to make them accessible. Just having an app in the App Store is not enough for it to be a global success anymore. More than that, it is arguably our duty as developers to create inclusive apps that anyone can use.

Apple provides us with excellent tools for creating accessible apps. However, many developers just don’t know about them or think they’re difficult to us. This concise guide offers a focused look at breaking those myths and proving that creating accessible apps is very easy, and that it’s just as easy to embed accessibility into the development process of your team. 


You'll have a look at the tools iOS provides. Some, like zoom, button shapes, etc., come integrated in the operating system. Others, like VoiceOver, Larger Accessibility Sizes with Dynamic Types, and Smart Inverted Colours will need extra work to support appropriately. Then go from the basics of giving meaningful accessibility labels to UI components, so VoiceOver can read them, to making your UI support extremely large font sizes so anyone can read our app. And you'll find out how to build accessible apps with real world examples.


Accessibility is the right thing to do and will help your app find wider success.


What You'll Learn

• Explore the fundamentals of accessibility
• Create a good VoiceOver experience 
  
• Incorporate Inverted Colours effectively 
  
• Test accessibility features for optimization and function
  

Who This Book Is For


iOS developers wanting to add accessibility features to their apps and any other member in a mobile development team—from Product Managers to Business Analysts or QAs—who would like to incorporate or work with accessibility features.

• Accessibility
• iOS
• app
• voiceover
• dynamic types
• screen reader
• UIAccessibility
• Swift
• digital inclusion
• assistive technologies
• inclusive design

• London, UK

  Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats

Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats is a passionate developer with a wide variety of experiences in iOS. While at university, he co-founded Desfici, a mobile development company, building in-house projects and also apps for clients, and he hasn't stopped developing for iOS since then.  Daniel has worked in start-ups like the social network Bananity and MusicQubed, developing the MTV Trax music app. He has also been part of bigger organizations like the BBC, building the BBC News and BBC+ apps, Skyscanner, and now Spotify. Always trying to embed accessibility in the team's culture, he helps develop more accessible and inclusive apps. Sometimes he lets Xcode have a break and spreads the love for accessibility at conferences, such as AppDevCon in Amsterdam, AltConf in San Jose, SwiftFest in Boston, and MobileConf in Bangkok

Policies and ethics