Phone or mobile apps are software intended to operate on mobile technology, including tablets and smartphones. When creating a mobile app, you need to consider crucial accessibility features that allow people with different abilities to use your app. Potential app use includes tracking fitness goals, listening to music, managing finances, and ordering food or transportation. It’s a very lucrative market to get into, but catering to accessibility improves your user experience, expands your potential base, and even keeps you in compliance with laws and regulations.
1. Colors
Your mobile app might be a native app written for specific hardware and software, a web-based app, or a hybrid app that lands somewhere in between the first two options. In any of these cases, you want to make deliberate color decisions. Let users adjust their screen background colors to see your content in all light conditions and enable dark mode options for contrast. People should be able to use your app even in bright sunlight or if they have visual impairments.
2. Screen Size and Reader Compatibility
Screen size is one of the essential features of mobile app accessibility. Many smartphones have screens smaller than tablets, and there are smaller screens even in the smartphone category. Further complicating matters is how some screens are low or medium in density. Screen readers are also something else to keep in mind. They let people who have vision disabilities or blindness use software that reads the text and describes screen items, including who is calling them, battery levels, and images being displayed. People who have learning disabilities might also use screen readers if they haven’t learned how to read.
3. Textual Matters
Text is also one of the most critical factors in mobile app accessibility. During your app development, try out different font styles and sizes so things are easier to read in your content. However, consider letting users adjust these settings to find what’s comfortable and valuable to them. Also, alternate text for images should be provided so that users with visual impairments can determine what each image represents. Assistive technologies such as screen readers can capture and deliver this information to users. Alt text has the additional benefit of ranking your website content higher in search engines if your app has a significant crossover with your online foothold. Many users can read and see content just fine but still use screen readers to rest their eyes or access content while focusing on doing something else.
Remember the Major Operating Systems
Accessibility shouldn’t just be something you remember with the specific features you incorporate into your mobile app development. You must also ensure your app runs on the major operating systems. While you can use many different programming languages to create the app, it should run on iOS and Android phones at a minimum. Users might download your app directly from you, a third party, or app stores, such as Google Play or the Apple App Store. You’ll also have to decide between freeware, upfront costs, or subscription services.
