Is there any API to detect Voice Control status in SwiftUI on iOS

Question

Created 3d

Replies 2

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I'm building an iOS app in SwiftUI and need to adapt my UI when Voice Control is active — specifically to show labels on custom gesture-driven controls so they're accessible via Voice Control commands.

I've checked UIAccessibility and can find notifications and properties for VoiceOver (isVoiceOverRunning), Switch Control (isSwitchControlRunning), and AssistiveTouch (isAssistiveTouchRunning), but I can't find any equivalent for Voice Control.

UIAccessibility.isVoiceControlRunning and voiceControlStatusDidChangeNotification appear to exist on macOS (AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions) but not on iOS.

Questions:

Is there a public iOS API to detect whether Voice Control is currently active — either a UIAccessibility property, notification, or SwiftUI environment value? If not, is the recommended approach to use UIAccessibility.isGuidedAccessEnabled as a proxy, or something else entirely?
Is there a private entitlement or capability that unlocks this detection for App Store apps?

What I've already tried:

Checking AccessibilityFeatures environment values in SwiftUI (@Environment(.accessibilityReduceMotion) etc.)

Thanks!

Answer 1

happyfeet OP

6h

Hello,

Could you share a little more about why the UI needs to adapt for Voice Control? The accessibility labels you have already provided to the gesture-driven controls, which would make them accessible to VoiceOver, should also be sufficient for Voice Control in most cases. If these labels are not sufficient or you'd like to provide custom activation commands, you can also use the accessibilityInputLabels(_:) API

Answer 2

extraman OP

3h

One of my screens is gesture based, when testing for Voice Control the controls that are activated via gesture are not visible as there's not visible button UI. The solution I have now is to add a toolbar action item to make controls visible but this changes the experience of the UI by having fixed control always visible.

If there was a was to detect Voice Control being active I'd be able to show the toolbar action item control ONLY in Voice Control mode while maintaining the same visual interface.