Explore best practices for creating inclusive apps for users of Apple accessibility features and users from diverse backgrounds.

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Having trouble with Accessibility API of the ApplicationServices framework
After replacing Big Sur OSX 11.0 with the latest 11.5, my app's AXObserverAddNotification methods fails. Here is sample code I tested from StackOverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/853833/how-can-my-app-detect-a-change-to-another-apps-window AXUIElementRef app = AXUIElementCreateApplication(82695); // the pid for front-running Xcode 12.5.1 CFTypeRef frontWindow = NULL; AXError err = AXUIElementCopyAttributeValue( app, kAXFocusedWindowAttribute, &frontWindow );     if ( err != kAXErrorSuccess ){         NSLog(@"failed with error: %i",err);     } NSLog(@"app: %@  frontWindow: %@",app,frontWindow); 'frontWindow' reference is never created and I get the error number -25204. It seems like the latest Big Sur 11.5 has revised the Accessibility API or perhaps there is some permission switch I am unaware of that would make things work. What am I doing wrong?
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Jun ’25
Membership Purchase Issue
Dear Team, We are stuck in membership enrollment process at the purchase stage. We enter the payment details, get the message that our purchase will be completed in 48 hours, but after some time, it reverts back to the same stage of purchase your membership without any error or information. This has happened for 3-4 times till now. Kindly let us know how to resolve this issue and move forward with the enrollment process. Thanks.
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565
Dec ’24
System clock ancs notification is not sent on iPhone >= 14
I'm working on a ble connected device that use ancs and system clock to receive alarm notification events for earing impaired people. It used to work until iPhone 13 with latest iOS 18.x. Starting with iPhone 14 onward (iOS 18.x), system clock alarm notification is not sent anymore. Is There any reason for this to happening?. Is anyone aware of this behaviour? Any suggestion would be really appreciated. Cheers
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160
Jun ’25
PHPickerViewController No Auto Focus
The issue is, I cannot auto acquire bluetooth keyboard focus in PHPickerViewController after enabling 'Full Keyboard Access' in my IPhone 14 with iOS version 18.3.1. The keyboard focus in PHPickerViewController will show, however, after I tapped on the blank space of the PHPickerViewController. How to make the focus on at the first place then? I'm using UINavigationController and calling setNavigationBarHidden(true, animated: false). Then I use this controller to present PHPickerViewController using some configuration setup below. self.configuration = PHPickerConfiguration() configuration.filter = .any(of: filters) configuration.selectionLimit = selectionLimit if #available(iOS 15.0, *), allowOrdering { configuration.selection = .ordered } configuration.preferredAssetRepresentationMode = .current Finally I set the delegate to PHPickerViewController and call UINavigationController.present(PHPickerViewController, animated: true) to render it. Also I notice animation showing in first video then disappear.
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289
Mar ’25
Accessibility full keyboard access issue.
In our application we are using UIAlertViewController. When accessibility full keyboard access is enabled, and we are trying to dismiss that AlertViewController with Esc key from external keyboard that is not working. We are presenting AlertViewController as a popover. We need dismiss the AlertViewController with Esc key press from external keyboard.
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550
Mar ’25
IOS18 Crash
At present, in iOS, if using the in-house app, there may be crashes in the new iOS 18.3 and later versions, but it works normally on other phones and the certificate is not problematic. A total of 3 machines were found, and there was no pattern between the machines and the system, with different models and versions. We tested it on a machine that crashes, but the app downloaded from the store doesn't. If the same app is packaged and installed directly in the development tool, it will crash. Is this related to compatibility with the new version of IOS? Is there a solution? Do others also have relevant situations?
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Jun ’25
Making VoiceOver more concise on a SwiftUI Menu
A common UI idiom in Apple's first party iOS apps is a circle icon with three dots in the upper right of the screen. This serves as a pop-up menu of more options. Some examples include: Apple Music, Library tab Photos, Album view Reminders In all these cases, VoiceOver reads this element as "More, Button". In my SwiftUI app, I've implemented a visually identical button. Menu { // Button for Menu Item 1 // Button for Menu Item 2 // ... } label: { Image(systemName: "ellipsis.circle") .accessibilityHidden(true) } .accessibilityLabel("More") However, the VoiceOver output in my app is much more verbose. It speaks "More, Button, Pop Up Button, Double Tap To Activate The Picker". Any guidance on how to make this more concise in line with the apps mentioned above?
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506
Jan ’25
Guided Access Mode From Background
My team is designing an app for retail associates that need to share managed iPads. We keep the app in Guided Access mode on our login app until an auth token is obtained. Then the iPad is opened for general use. Upon signout we need to re-enter guided access mode and we can do this via manual signout easily. But with idle signout, ie after 60 minutes of inactivity, we need to be able to make a call from the background (in a locked state even) and sign out the user, clear the pin code and enter single app mode before restarting. So that hopefully once the device restarts, we have the app in a locked state again until the next user provides credentials that can obtain a new auth token. We are struggling to see if this is even possible. Our bosses will be displeased if we tell them it isn't. So anybody with any tips would be very appreciated.
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252
Mar ’25
WhatsApp not showing in Apple Carplay in iOS 18.X
I bought a new iPhone 16 recently and connected with my car (Hyundai Venue) I couldn't able to see WhatsApp. I researched and found some forum, but the suggested steps are not workable or not suitable for latest iOS version. I have updated iOS and WhatsApp, nothing helped to resolve. Note: Earlier I was used Pixel phone I can able to see Whatsapp and I can make a call
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529
Jan ’25
VoiceOver Text Recognition Announcing Hidden Labels
I have a UIImageView as the background of a custom UIView subclass. The image itself does not contain any text. On top of this image view, I have added two UILabels. To improve accessibility, I converted the entire view into a single accessibility element and set a proper accessibilityLabel. Additionally, I disabled accessibility for the UIImageView and the labels by setting isAccessibilityElement = false. However, when VoiceOver's Accessibility Recognition's Text Recognition feature is enabled, VoiceOver still detects and announces the text inside the UILabels at the end after reading my custom accessibility properties. This text should not be announced. It seems that VoiceOver treats the UILabel content as part of the UIImageView. Additionally, when using the Explore Image rotor action, the entire subview is recognized as a single image. Is this the expected behavior? If so, is there a way to disable VoiceOver’s text recognition for this view while keeping custom accessibility intact? class BackgroundLabelView: UIView { private let backgroundImageView = UIImageView() private let backgroundImageView2 = UIImageView() private let titleLabel = UILabel() private let subtitleLabel = UILabel() override init(frame: CGRect) { super.init(frame: frame) setupView() } required init?(coder: NSCoder) { super.init(coder: coder) setupView() configureAceesibility() } private func configureAceesibility() { backgroundImageView.isAccessibilityElement = false backgroundImageView2.isAccessibilityElement = false titleLabel.isAccessibilityElement = false subtitleLabel.isAccessibilityElement = false isAccessibilityElement = true accessibilityTraits = .button } func configure(backgroundImage: UIImage?, title: String, subtitle: String) { backgroundImageView.image = backgroundImage titleLabel.text = title subtitleLabel.text = subtitle accessibilityLabel = "Holiday Offer ," + title + "," + subtitle } private func setupView() { backgroundImageView2.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill backgroundImageView2.clipsToBounds = true backgroundImageView2.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false backgroundImageView2.image = UIImage(resource: .bannerfestival) addSubview(backgroundImageView2) backgroundImageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit backgroundImageView.clipsToBounds = true backgroundImageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false addSubview(backgroundImageView) titleLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 18, weight: .bold) titleLabel.textColor = .white titleLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false titleLabel.numberOfLines = 0 addSubview(titleLabel) subtitleLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14, weight: .regular) subtitleLabel.textColor = .white.withAlphaComponent(0.8) subtitleLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false subtitleLabel.numberOfLines = 0 addSubview(subtitleLabel) NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ backgroundImageView2.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leadingAnchor), backgroundImageView2.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: trailingAnchor), backgroundImageView2.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 200), backgroundImageView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor), backgroundImageView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor), backgroundImageView.leadingAnchor.constraint(greaterThanOrEqualTo: leadingAnchor), backgroundImageView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: trailingAnchor), backgroundImageView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor), titleLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leadingAnchor, constant: 16), titleLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: centerXAnchor), titleLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor, constant: -4), subtitleLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leadingAnchor, constant: 16), subtitleLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: centerXAnchor), subtitleLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor, constant: 4) ]) } override func layoutSubviews() { super.layoutSubviews() backgroundImageView.layer.cornerRadius = layer.cornerRadius } }
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Apr ’25
Microphone Not Working When Running Unity Vision Pro App Normally
} // Start listening to the microphone public void StartListening() { if (!isListening) { #if UNITY_IOS || UNITY_TVOS microphoneInput = Microphone.Start(null, true, 10, 44100); #else try { microphoneInput = Microphone.Start(null, true, 10, 16000); // Use 16,000 Hz instead of 44,100 if (microphoneInput == null) { microphoneInput = Microphone.Start(null, true, 10, AudioSettings.outputSampleRate); } #endif isListening = true; Debug.Log(Microphone.devices.Length + " Started listening..."); debugText.text = Microphone.devices.Length + "- Started listening..."; } catch (System.Exception e) { Debug.LogError($"Starting microphone failed: {e.Message}"); debugText.text = $"Starting microphone failed: {e.Message}"; } } } void Update() { if (isListening && microphoneInput != null) { // Analyze the audio for voice activity float volume = GetAverageVolume(); if (volume > detectionThreshold) { Debug.Log("User is speaking!"); lastVoiceTime = Time.time; SoundDetected = true; if (Time.time - lastVoiceTime > silenceDuration) { Debug.Log("User is silent."); debugText.text = volume.ToString() + " - User is silent."; } slider.value = volume; } } } private float GetAverageVolume() { float[] samples = new float[128]; microphoneInput.GetData(samples, Microphone.GetPosition(null)); float sum = 0f; foreach (float sample in samples) { sum += Mathf.Abs(sample); } return sum / samples.Length; } Problem: When I build and run the app from Xcode, the microphone works fine, and I receive input. However, when running the app normally (outside of Xcode), I can’t seem to access the microphone. The debug logs indicate no microphone is detected. Question: Is there any additional configuration I need to do for the microphone to work in a normal (non-Xcode) run on Vision Pro? Or any common issues that could be causing the microphone access to fail in this scenario? Thanks in advance for any insights! Best, Siddharth
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Feb ’25