Intro to Android Accessibility

What do we mean by “Android Accessibility” ?

Android devices (phones & tablets not made by Apple) offer many features, often supplied by Google, that greatly enhance digital inclusion for people with disabilities.

The features outlined below can apply to both Android phones & tablets.

Broadly speaking, there are five main areas of disability that Android devices can be customised, adapt to & assist users with the aim of providing more inclusive experiences for accessing digital content.

The five main areas of disability that Android devices can adapt to & assist with are:

• Vision

• Mobility

• Hearing

• Speech

• Cognitive

1). Vision

These features help people with a whole range of sight disabilities, from low vision to complete vision loss.

TalkBack.:

TalkBack is Android’s built-in screen reader used by people with vision disabilities to hear what’s on the screen (navigated using hand gestures or voice commands).

Zoom:

For people with low vision, zoom is a great accessibility feature that enlarge screen content to make text, images, and other elements much more visible.

Magnification:

Another option is to use the magnification feature. Google Magnifier App was recently updated and is very user-friendly. When switched on, the item being focused on appears in part of the screen in a floating box, while the main part of the screen displays the item magnified to a size that the user chooses.

The camera on Android devices can also be used to magnify objects & text by pinching the screen to zoom into an object.

Display & Text Size:

People can also make text bigger, adjust display contrast & colours, and more.

Text to Speech (TTS):

Text-to-speech (TTS) features make it easy to convert written information into spoken word. For example, TTS can transform written text into natural-sounding spoken language, and it is also possible to make choices of different voice, pitch, and speaking rates.

Audio Descriptions:

People also have the choice to avail of autoplay audio description tracks for video content, when that content is made available. Audio descriptions play on-screen visuals for videos on Android devices with Android 13 and above.

Custom Home Screen Buttons:

For people with low vision, Android device home screen buttons can be customised to make them more visible and easier to use.

2). Mobility

These features help people with a whole range of mobility disabilities, from loss of fine hand skills to complete loss of limbs required to interact with screens.

Voice control:

Google “Voice Access” allows hands-free actions using just spoken commands for opening apps, tapping buttons, entering text, scrolling and more.

It is also possible to use Voice Access and TalkBack at the same time, but headphones are needed to avoid clashes between the two apps.

“Voice Typing” is another feature from Google that allows people to dictate text directly into screen text fields.

3). Hearing

These features help people with a whole range of hearing disabilities, from not being able to hear properly because of overwhelming external sounds, all the way to complete hearing loss.

Speech-To-Text:

Be part of a conversation with Live-Transcribe's instant speech-to-text captions.

Vibrate & flash alerts:

To get notified about important sounds like sirens, a doorbell or a dog barking, Android phones can be set to vibrate or flash.

Captions:

It is possible to automatically caption videos, podcasts, and audio messages. With Chrome, it is also possible to set Android devices to automatically generate LIVE captions for media with audio.

Pair hearing devices:

Hearing devices can be paired with Android devices. Another amazing option is the option to filter sounds so that distracting background noise is removed.

4). Speech

These features help people with a whole range of speech disabilities, from difficulty forming sounds, to nonspeaking, to complete speech loss.

Text to Speech (TTS):

Text-to-speech (TTS) features make it easy to convert written information into spoken word. For example, TTS can transform written text into natural-sounding spoken language, and it is also possible to make choices of different voice, pitch, and speaking rates.

Speech-To-Text:

Be part of a conversation with Live-Transcribe's instant speech-to-text captions.p>

Text to Speech (TTS):

Text-to-speech (TTS) features make it easy to convert written information into spoken word. For example, TTS can transform written text into natural-sounding spoken language, and it is also possible to make choices of different voice, pitch, and speaking rates.

5). Cognitive

These features help people with a whole range of cognitive disabilities, from processing & attention difficulties, all the way to acquired brain damage (for example).

Android devices can be setup to have a simplified interface for someone with a cognitive disability, or if more user-friendly, temporarily limit it to only having one app.

Stop or reduce motion:

This is especially useful for people with vestibular conditions caused by motion (conditions such as disorientation, dizziness & blurred vision).

Reduce Motion settings can reduce or eliminate motion effects and help to create a more static, less visually busy user interface. It is also possible to choose whether or not animated effects auto-play.

For example, it is possible to pause the automatic display of videos, rapid animated images such as GIFs, while also automatically dimming the display of content that depicts flashing or strobing lights.

Help with attention focus:

Help people focus their attention more easily by using features such as live captions to assist.

Text-to-Speech / Speech-to-Text:

Text-to-speech and speech-to-text features make it possible to convert written information into spoken word, and vice versa, both of which can assist people with cognitive disabilities.