What Are Android Accessibility Features

Author: Rahul Rana

Android accessibility features enable users to customize their device by modifying availability settings or applications to improve their experience. This allows individuals with a range of disabilities, such as visual, hearing, physical, or speech impairments, to develop their ability to access and interact with site pages and applications.

The features also provide the persons with disabilities without the ability to improve those conditions where they may be functionally disabled, such as when driving, carrying items in one or Utilizing both hands, or your device in noise environment and low light.

Some accessibility functions — for example, expanding volume, magnifying text, or customizing the keyboard— can be actualized through the standard features of the device itself, or via the main available web browsers. However, the Android accessibility features include a range of additional specialized tools that essentially improve openness.

The Android accessibility feature set
  • Spoken feedback - The TalkBack function enables the user to interact with their device utilizing touch and spoken feedback. The TalkBack tool describes each user action and gives spoken alerts and notifications.

  • Select to speak - Select as far as possible the spoken feedback function to only user-selected items on the screen, reading or describing them aloud.

  • Switch access - For users with limited mobility, Switch Access provides an alternative to the touchscreen. This enables the user to use a keyboard, switch or mouse.

  • Voice commands - If using a touchscreen is troublesome, the Voice Access application enables to control their device using spoken commands. This feature can be utilized to open applications, explore, and edit texts hands free. Voice Access is currently just accessible as a beta release in English only.

  • Braille display - The BrailleBack feature enables individuals to interface a refreshable braille display to an Android device via Bluetooth. Brailleback can also be integrated with TalkBack for a joint speech and Braille experience.

Other useful accessibility options

Android devices also contain a few settings individuals can use to make their screen simpler to see:

  • Display size and font size - These settings allow users to change the size of the items displayed on the screen as well as in the font size.

  • Magnification gestures - allows floating zooming or magnification of the screen.

  • Contrast and color options - This can be helpful for individuals who are color-blind or have partial visual impairment to improve the legibility of text through inverting colors, or applying color correction.

  • Captions - Users can turn on captions for their device and specify the language to be used as well and can make style adjustments in captions.

Designing accessible apps

For Android app developers, Google has additionally built up a valuable tool, Accessibility Scanner, that helps identify chances to improve applications for users. The tool analyzes the availability of applications dependent on aspects such as content labels, touch target sizes, clickable items, and text and image contrast levels.

Modern mobile device designs, operating systems and web browsers have all made significant progress in access to mobile devices and help improve the content they display.

By familiarizing yourself with the features that are accessible, particularly the more up to newer features, such as Voice Access, that are still in beginning times of development, It is possible to significantly develop the experience of utilizing mobile devices.

Published by Android training in Chandigarh