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

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Custom Keyboard Extension Not Showing in Settings for Activation
Hi everyone, I’m developing a React Native iOS app that includes a custom keyboard extension for sending stickers across apps. The project builds successfully, and the main app installs fine on my test device. However, I’m not seeing the keyboard extension appear under Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard, which means I can’t activate it or grant access. At this point, I’m not even sure if the extension is actually being installed on the device along with the main app. Here’s what I’ve done so far. I created a Keyboard Extension target in Xcode, set the correct bundle identifiers and provisioning profiles, and enabled “Requests Open Access” in the extension’s Info.plist. I built and installed the app on a physical device rather than the simulator to ensure proper testing. My main questions are: how can I confirm that the extension is being installed on the device, and if it isn’t, what might prevent it from installing even though the build completes successfully? Any insights, troubleshooting steps, or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
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785
Nov ’25
Defining boundaries of inline dialogs for VO users
Hello, I had submitted a question to clarify which components have accessibility APIs that trigger haptics for VoiceOver users https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/773182. The question stems from perhaps a more direct question about specific components: do tablists and disclosures natively intend to include haptics or screen reader hint or other state or properties to indicate to screen reader users where the component begins or ends? In some web experiences there are screen reader hint text stating "end of..." or "entering" as a way to define the boundaries of these inline dialogs. I had asked about haptics in the prior thread because I do not recall natively implemented version of this except in some haptic cues but have not experienced them consistently so I am not sure if that is an intended native Swift implementation or perhaps something custom.
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127
May ’25
VoiceOver accessibility issue in UIKit for line granularity
Context: We are using UIKit to provide accessibility in our app for our iOS users. Our app majorly contains documents/books that user can read. Issue: The issue is VoiceOver is skipping the lines given to it when there are some leading spaces in it. We have observed this issue in different languages. This is only happening for line granularity, other granularities seems to be working as expected. Implementation: We are using below API's to provide line content to voice over. UIAccessibilityReadingContent - accessibilityPageContent - accessibilityFrameForLineNumber - accessibilityContentForLineNumber We are creating UIAccessibilityElement objects to pass to VoiceOver and each UIAccessibilityElement implements UIAccessibilityReadingContent to provide readable content. We also use below APIs to cross element boundaries for all granular navigations. accessibilityNextTextNavigationElement accessibilityPreviousTextNavigationElement We want to know whether skipping the line when provided with leading spaces is expected or a bug in UIKit.
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354
Nov ’25
Apple greets Global Accessibility Awareness Day with severe accessibility violations on macOS
I'm reposting here my FB17602742, submitted yesterday: The strong wording of this message comes from years of Apple ignoring the needs of users who can't tolerate UI animations and convulsions. At this point, it's clear that Apple is either intentionally harming users like me or simply doesn't care about meeting even the most basic accessibility standards on macOS. Yes, many UI animations and convulsions can, fortunately, be disabled - but not through straightforward UI controls. Instead, users are forced to look for obscure Terminal commands found scattered across the Internet. The "Reduce motion" checkbox in System Settings is simply a fake control that doesn't do anything - instead of actually disabling all UI animations and convulsions. What's worse, two of the most offensive UI animations cannot be disabled at all. Apple has consistently dismissed requests to let users disable the following UI animations: Scroll bar rollover highlight effect (introduced on macOS 10.7.3). Every time the cursor passes over a scroll bar, it gets highlighted. This draws the user's attention to random scroll bars for no reason - just because the cursor happened to pass over them. It results in HUNDREDS of unnecessary, annoying events of distraction daily!
 Expand/collapse animation of NSOutlineView (e.g., when opening/closing folders in the list view in the Finder, or any other app using outline views). This animation is extremely distracting, irritating, and time-wasting. Global Accessibility Awareness Day is approaching. Dear Apple, Please adhere to the most basic accessibility standards. Stop the needless suffering of countless users like me. Let us disable the two aforementioned UI convulsions. Thank you for your attention to the issue.
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159
May ’25
Accessibility Traits for Children of a Tab Bar
Hi! I'm working on an application where I'd like VoiceOver to give each element of a tab bar the "Tab" trait. I'm testing this using the Accessibility Inspector. Essentially, I'd like to replicate the behavior of how Safari identifies each of its tabs as a "Tab" (I've attached a photo below). How exactly is this accomplished? I've tried using the .isTabBar trait to designate the child objects as "Tabs", but this doesn't seem to be working and I've struggled to find documentation about this. For additional context, these child items are Buttons, and I would like to have the .isButton trait essentially replaced by something like an .isTab trait. Not sure if this is actually possible or not, but curious how the Accessibility Inspector recognizes this in Safari.
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175
Jun ’25
Seeking API Support for Marking Substrings as Headings in NSTextView for VoiceOver
I'm developing a document editor for macOS using AppKit, which supports structured content such as titles and multiple heading levels—similar to what you see in the Pages app. I'm looking for a way to programmatically mark a specific substring within an NSTextView as a heading, so that VoiceOver can recognize it and announce it appropriately (e.g., by saying “heading” before reading the text). This would be similar in spirit to how NSAccessibilityLinkTextAttribute works for links. Is there an existing accessibility text attribute or recommended approach to achieve this behavior for headings? If not, I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how best to implement this in a VoiceOver-friendly way. Thank you in advance for your help! Best regards,
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111
May ’25
How to disable the default focus effect and detect keyboard focus in SwiftUI?
I’m trying to customize the keyboard focus appearance in SwiftUI. In UIKit (see WWDC 2021 session Focus on iPad keyboard navigation), it’s possible to remove the default UIFocusHaloEffect and change a view’s appearance depending on whether it has focus or not. In SwiftUI I’ve tried the following: .focusable() // .focusable(true, interactions: .activate) .focusEffectDisabled() .focused($isFocused) However, I’m running into several issues: .focusable(true, interactions: .activate) causes an infinite loop, so keyboard navigation stops responding .focusEffectDisabled() doesn’t seem to remove the default focus effect on iOS Using @FocusState prevents Space from triggering the action when the view has keyboard focus My main questions: How can I reliably detect whether a SwiftUI view has keyboard focus? (Is there an alternative to FocusState that integrates better with keyboard navigation on iOS?) What’s the recommended way in SwiftUI to disable the default focus effect (the blue overlay) and replace it with a custom border? Any guidance or best practices would be greatly appreciated! Here's my sample code: import SwiftUI struct KeyboardFocusExample: View { var body: some View { // The ScrollView is required, otherwise the custom focus value resets to false after a few seconds. I also need it for my actual use case ScrollView { VStack { Text("First button") .keyboardFocus() .button { print("First button tapped") } Text("Second button") .keyboardFocus() .button { print("Second button tapped") } } } } } // MARK: - Focus Modifier struct KeyboardFocusModifier: ViewModifier { @FocusState private var isFocused: Bool func body(content: Content) -> some View { content .focusable() // ⚠️ Must come before .focused(), otherwise the FocusState won’t be recognized // .focusable(true, interactions: .activate) // ⚠️ This causes an infinite loop, so keyboard navigation no longer responds .focusEffectDisabled() // ⚠️ Has no effect on iOS .focused($isFocused) // Custom Halo effect .padding(4) .overlay( RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 18) .strokeBorder( isFocused ? .red : .clear, lineWidth: 2 ) ) .padding(-4) } } extension View { public func keyboardFocus() -> some View { modifier(KeyboardFocusModifier()) } } // MARK: - Button Modifier /// ⚠️ Using a Button view makes no difference struct ButtonModifier: ViewModifier { let action: () -> Void func body(content: Content) -> some View { content .contentShape(Rectangle()) .onTapGesture { action() } .accessibilityAction { action() } .accessibilityAddTraits(.isButton) .accessibilityElement(children: .combine) .accessibilityRespondsToUserInteraction() } } extension View { public func button(action: @escaping () -> Void) -> some View { modifier(ButtonModifier(action: action)) } }
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500
Sep ’25
VoiceOver Headings Accessibility Rotor with SwiftUI on iOS
Hi, On iOS, I'd like to mark views that are inside a LazyVStack as headers for VoiceOver (make them appear in the headings rotor). In a VStack, you just have add .accessibilityAddTraits(.isHeader) to your header view. However, if your view is in a LazyVStack, that won't work if the view is not visible. As its name implies, LazyVStack is lazy so that makes sense. There is very little information online about system rotors, but it seems you are supposed to use .accessibilityRotor() with the headings system rotor (.accessibilityRotor(.headings)) outside of the LazyVStack. Something like the following. .accessibilityRotor(.headings) { ForEach(entries) { entry in // entry.id must be the same as the id of the SwiftUI view it is about AccessibilityRotorEntry(entry.name, id: entry.id) } } It kinds of work, but only kind of. When using .accessibilityAddTraits(.isHeader) in a VStack, the view is in the headings rotor as soon as you change screen. However, when using .accessibilityRotor(.headings), the headers (headings?) are not in the headings rotor at the time the screen appears. You have to move the accessibility focus inside the screen before your headers show up. I'm a beginner in regards to VoiceOver, so I don't know how a blind user used to VoiceOver would perceive this, but it feels to me that having to move the focus before the headers are in the headings rotor would mean some users would miss them. So my question is: is there a way to have headers inside a LazyVStack (and are not necessarily visible at first) to be in the headings rotor as soon as the screen appears? (be it using .accessibilityRotor(.headings) or anything else) The "SwiftUI Accessibility: Beyond the basics" talk from WWDC 2021 mentions custom rotors, not system rotors, but that should be close enough. It mentions that for accessibilityRotor to work properly it has to be applied on an accessibility container, so just in case I tried to move my .accessibilityRotor(.headings) to multiple places, with and without the accessibilityElement(children: .contain) modifier, but that did not seem to change the behavior (and I could not understand why accessibilityRotor could not automatically make the view it is applied on an accessibility container if needed). Also, a related question: when using .accessibilityRotor(.headings) on a screen, is it fine to mix uses of .accessibilityRotor(.headings) and .accessibilityRotor(.headings)? In a screen with multiple type of contents (something like ScrollView { VStack { MyHeader(); LazyVStack { /* some content */ }; LazyVStack { /* something else */ } } }), having to declare all headers in one place would make code reusability harder. Thanks
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104
Jun ’25
Verification error: unable to get local issuer certificate
C:\Users\xjc>openssl s_client -connect gateway.push.apple.com:2195 -showcerts Connecting to 17.188.183.32 CONNECTED(000000AC) depth=1 C=US, O=Entrust, Inc., OU=See www/legal-terms, OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only, CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K verify error:num=20:unable to get local issuer certificate verify return:1 depth=0 C=US, ST=California, L=Cupertino, O=Apple Inc., CN=gateway.push.apple.com verify return:1 B0640000:error:0A000410:SSL routines:ssl3_read_bytes:ssl/tls alert handshake failure:ssl\record\rec_layer_s3.c:908:SSL alert number 40 Certificate chain 0 s:C=US, ST=California, L=Cupertino, O=Apple Inc., CN=gateway.push.apple.com i:C=US, O=Entrust, Inc., OU=See www/legal-terms, OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only, CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K a:PKEY: rsaEncryption, 2048 (bit); sigalg: RSA-SHA256 v:NotBefore: Aug 16 21:34:09 2024 GMT; NotAfter: Aug 15 21:34:07 2025 GMT -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIGqDCCBZCgAwIBAgIQCUjuxVwL1mhSlrjSSk/+BzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADCB WnKd+td/wZ6Ej6EB mDF8JCSKz/ck+NnLfGM0jFdcTCl8dKuqM9XetP4ls1sVyUuLM7sJiQvMVDzluZ22 LA9EMc5ZcbdV96ZpKS3ETk5n7355fyVX+jZ24ZvfhtdyPvdUGuHzcrK/YfB0AsjY hIhXgkxMfqJDjj7Af1CDPSAv9cylGI5b9v5QX93pM8uGxSRZTGS5m4qJG0Jj4UpV QlzppFg+qE41yDrdy4rLxROW4bp/HPvEjo1YoAle3K208UMffVPBqGfZqbZ01+hP gHCeamBb6QlV2Zq6q/VEKUO6p6oFQnI0phQiAQ== -----END CERTIFICATE----- 1 s:C=US, O=Entrust, Inc., OU=See www/legal-terms, OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only, CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K i:C=US, O=Entrust, Inc., OU=See www/legal-terms, OU=(c) 2009 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only, CN=Entrust Root Certification Authority - G2 a:PKEY: rsaEncryption, 2048 (bit); sigalg: RSA-SHA256 v:NotBefore: Oct 5 19:13:56 2015 GMT; NotAfter: Dec 5 19:43:56 2030 GMT -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIFDjCCA/agAwIBAgIMDulMwwAAAABR03eFMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMIG+MQsw CQYDVQQGEwJVUzEWMBQGA1UEChMNRW50cnVzdCwgSW5jLjEoMCYGA1UECxMfU2Vl IHd3dy5lbnRydXN0Lm5ldC9sZWdhbC10ZXJtczE5MDcGA1UECxMwKGMpIDIwMDkg RW50cnVzdCwgSW5jLiAtIGZvciBhdXRob3JpemVkIHVzZSBvbmx5MTIwMAYDVQQD EylFbnRydXN0IFJvb3QgQ2VydGlmaWNhdGlvbiBBdXRob3JpdHkgLSBHMjAeFw0x NTEwMDUxOTEzNTZaFw0zMDEyMDUxOTQzNTZaMIG6MQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEWMBQG A1UEChMNRW50cnVzdCwgSW5jLjEoMCYGA1UECxMfU2VlIHd3dy5lbnRydXN0Lm5l dC9sZWdhbC10ZXJtczE5MDcGA1UECxMwKGMpIDIwMTIgRW50cnVzdCwgSW5jLiAt IGZvciBhdXRob3JpemVkIHVzZSBvbmx5MS4wLAYDVQQDEyVFbnRydXN0IENlcnRp ZmljYXRpb24gQXV0aG9yaXR5IC0gTDFLMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8A MIIBCgKCAQEA2j+W0E25L0Tn2zlem1DuXKVh2kFnUwmqAJqOV38pa9vH4SEkqjrQ jUcj0u1yFvCRIdJdt7hLqIOPt5EyaM/OJZMssn2XyP7BtBe6CZ4DkJN7fEmDImiK m95HwzGYei59QAvS7z7Tsoyqj0ip/wDoKVgG97aTWpRzJiatWA7lQrjV6nN5ZGhT JbiEz5R6rgZFDKNrTdDGvuoYpDbwkrK6HIiPOlJ/915tgxyd8B/lw9bdpXiSPbBt LOrJz5RBGXFEaLpHPATpXbo+8DX3Fbae8i4VHj9HyMg4p3NFXU2wO7GOFyk36t0F ASK7lDYqjVs1/lMZLwhGwSqzGmIdTivZGwIDAQABo4IBDDCCAQgwDgYDVR0PAQH/ BAQDAgEGMBIGA1UdEwEB/wQIMAYBAf8CAQAwMwYIKwYBBQUHAQEEJzAlMCMGCCsG AQUFBzABhhdodHRwOi8vb2NzcC5lbnRydXN0Lm5ldDAwBgNVHR8EKTAnMCWgI6Ah hh9odHRwOi8vY3JsLmVudHJ1c3QubmV0L2cyY2EuY3JsMDsGA1UdIAQ0MDIwMAYE VR0gADAoMCYGCCsGAQUFBwIBFhpodHRwOi8vd3d3LmVudHJ1c3QubmV0L3JwYTAd BgNVHQ4EFgQUgqJwdN28Uz/Pe9T3zX+nYMYKTL8wHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAUanImetAe 733nO2lR1GyNn5ASZqswDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQADggEBADnVjpiDYcgsY9NwHRkw y/YJrMxp1cncN0HyMg/vdMNY9ngnCTQIlZIv19+4o/0OgemknNM/TWgrFTEKFcxS BJPok1DD2bHi4Wi3Ogl08TRYCj93mEC45mj/XeTIRsXsgdfJghhcg85x2Ly/rJkC k9uUmITSnKa1/ly78EqvIazCP0kkZ9Yujs+szGQVGHLlbHfTUqi53Y2sAEo1GdRv c6N172tkw+CNgxKhiucOhk3YtCAbvmqljEtoZuMrx1gL+1YQ1JH7HdMxWBCMRON1 exCdtTix9qrKgWRs6PLigVWXUX/hwidQosk8WwBD9lu51aX8/wdQQGcHsFXwt35u Lcw= -----END CERTIFICATE----- Server certificate subject=C=US, ST=California, L=Cupertino, O=Apple Inc., CN=gateway.push.apple.com issuer=C=US, O=Entrust, Inc., OU=See www/legal-terms, OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only, CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K Acceptable client certificate CA names C=US, O=Apple Inc., OU=Apple Certification Authority, CN=Apple Root CA CN=Apple Worldwide Developer Relations Certification Authority, OU=G4, O=Apple Inc., C=US CN=Apple Application Integration 2 Certification Authority, OU=Apple Certification Authority, O=Apple Inc., C=US CN=Apple Corporate Authentication CA 1, OU=Certification Authority, O=Apple Inc., C=US C=US, O=Apple Inc., OU=Apple Worldwide Developer Relations, CN=Apple Worldwide Developer Relations Certification Authority CN=Apple Corporate Root CA, OU=Certification Authority, O=Apple Inc., C=US C=US, O=Apple Inc., OU=Apple Certification Authority, CN=Apple Application Integration Certification Authority C=US, ST=California, L=Cupertino, O=Apple Inc., CN=gateway.push.apple.com Client Certificate Types: RSA sign, ECDSA sign Requested Signature Algorithms: ECDSA+SHA256:RSA-PSS+SHA256:RSA+SHA256:ECDSA+SHA384:RSA-PSS+SHA384:RSA+SHA384:RSA-PSS+SHA512:RSA+SHA512:RSA+SHA1 Shared Requested Signature Algorithms: ECDSA+SHA256:RSA-PSS+SHA256:RSA+SHA256:ECDSA+SHA384:RSA-PSS+SHA384:RSA+SHA384:RSA-PSS+SHA512:RSA+SHA512 SSL handshake has read 4138 bytes and written 687 bytes Verification error: unable to get local issuer certificate New, SSLv3, Cipher is AES128-SHA Protocol: TLSv1.2 Server public key is 2048 bit Secure Renegotiation IS supported Compression: NONE Expansion: NONE No ALPN negotiated SSL-Session: Protocol : TLSv1.2 Cipher : AES128-SHA Session-ID: Session-ID-ctx: Master-Key: D504C13BDBC59CDF3B883D1B626FA2B59000754DED57CD77A72F761A52AEED719DA06C100FBA1430BB9D8DECFC7C9307 PSK identity: None PSK identity hint: None SRP username: None Start Time: 1741092949 Timeout : 7200 (sec) Verify return code: 20 (unable to get local issuer certificate) Extended master secret: yes
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542
Mar ’25
iPhone screen layers
I need to understand the different layers that are there in the iPhone X and later OLED screens as I am designing a hardware attachment. They seem to be projecting letters and images from a different layer than the subpixel layer. Is this proprietary information, or is there a resource that explores them?
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112
Apr ’25
"illegal character encoding in string literal" warnings in Xcode
Good day! I have a long-term project ported all the way up from old Think C through many versions of Xcode. Its source files are encoded in "Western (Mac OS Roman)". Some of my error messages have characters outside the straight ASCII character set (i.e. "å"). The editor correctly displays these, but I get plenty of Illegal Character warnings and the messages do not display properly. I imagine there's a way to have seperate files of localized text for internationalized applications, but I am the only end-user of this application, and it used to just plain work in earlier Xcode versions. Furthermore, there must be developers throughout Europe who use such characters in string literals, just typing in their native languages, straight off their keyboards. I was thinking that there must be a Clang setting or something, but have been unable to find it, and an internet search turns up no solution except to cumbersomely escape each individual character. I can't imagine that a French programmer does that every time they want to type "è", "é", or "à"! Any help? (Disclaimer: I'm an English speaker and only use such characters whimsically, but want to keep them for legacy's sake.) Thanks.... p.s. using Xcode 15.3, and under Settings->Text Editing->Editing, "Western (Mac OS Roman)" is already selected as the default text encoding with "Convert existing files on save" checked.
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209
Jun ’25
What is the appropriate accessibility trait for selectable UITableViewCell?
I’m trying to understand the best practice for assigning accessibilityTraits to a UITableViewCell that users can select from a list of options. In Apple’s first-party apps like Settings, I’ve noticed an inconsistent approach—some cells use the Button trait, while others simply announce the label along with the Selected trait when applicable, without any additional role like Button or Adjustable. So my question is: What is the most appropriate accessibility trait to use for a selectable table view cell that updates a selection (like a settings option)? Is using .button the right approach, or should we rely solely on .selected? Is there any user experience guideline from Apple that recommends one over the other? Would love to hear how others handle this for clarity and consistency in VoiceOver behavior.
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128
Apr ’25
Verifying braille output in an iOS app without a physical braille device?
I'm developing a calculator app and working to ensure a great experience for both VoiceOver and Braille display users. For expressions like (2+3)×5, I need two different accessibility outputs: VoiceOver (spoken): A descriptive string like “left paren two plus three right paren times five,” provided via .accessibilityValue. I'm using a custom spellOut function since VoiceOver doesn't announce parentheses—which are kind of important when doing math! Braille (symbolic): The literal math string (2+3)×5, provided using .accessibilityCustomContent("", ...), with an empty label so it’s not spoken aloud. The issue: I don’t have access to a Braille display device and Xcode’s Accessibility Inspector doesn’t seem to show the custom content. Is there any way to confirm that custom Braille content is being set correctly in Simulator or with other tools? Or…is there a "math mode" in VoiceOver that forces it to announce parentheses? Any advice or workarounds would be much appreciated! Thanks, Uhl
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Jul ’25