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

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Critical Bug: Children Can Disable Screen Time Apps Like Choreio Without Parental ApprovalI
Dear Apple Support, I am reporting a critical issue affecting parental control apps like my app, Choreio, which is live on the App Store. When Screen Time settings are configured to require a parent’s password for changes, parents must log in on their child’s device to make any adjustments. This restriction is expected to extend to apps using the Screen Time API, such as Choreio. However, I’ve discovered a significant bug: children can bypass this restriction by simply toggling off Choreio in the Screen Time settings—without needing the parent’s password. This effectively disables the app and defeats its purpose as a parental control tool. Please address this issue as soon as possible to ensure the intended functionality of parental controls. Let me know if you need any additional information to assist with resolving this. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Best regards, Jeff Houston STEPS TO REPRODUCE Here are the steps to reproduce the issue clearly: Install Choreio from the App Store on the child’s phone. Enable parental controls in Screen Time and set it to require the parent’s password for any changes to Screen Time settings. Go to the Screen Time settings on the child’s phone. Observe that the child can simply toggle off Choreio, effectively deactivating the app, without needing the parent’s password. Expected behavior: Toggling off Choreio should require the parent’s password, just like it does for other Screen Time settings. Let me know if additional details are needed!
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345
Feb ’25
AXChildren does not get all children
I'd like to add borders to all buttons in the iOS simulator from my Mac app. First I get the simulator window. Then I access the children of all AXGroup and if it's a button or a static text, I add a border. But for some buttons this does not work. In the example image the NavigationBarButtons are not found. I guess the problem is, that for some AXGroup the children array access with AXChildren is empty. Here is some relevant code: - (NSArray<DDHOverlayElement *> *)overlayChildrenOfUIElement:(AXUIElementRef)element index:(NSInteger)index { NSMutableArray<DDHOverlayElement *> *tempOverlayElements = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; NSLog(@">>> -----------------------------------------------------"); NSString *role = [UIElementUtilities roleOfUIElement:element]; NSRect frame = [UIElementUtilities frameOfUIElement:element]; NSLog(@"%@, role: %@, %@", element, role, [NSValue valueWithRect:frame]); NSArray *lineage = [UIElementUtilities lineageOfUIElement:element]; NSLog(@"lineage: %@", lineage); NSArray<NSValue *> *children = [UIElementUtilities childrenOfUIElement:element]; if (children.count < 1) { NSLog(@"NO CHILDREN"); } for (NSInteger i = 0; i < [children count]; i++) { NSValue *child = children[i]; AXUIElementRef uiElement = (__bridge AXUIElementRef)child; NSString *role = [UIElementUtilities roleOfUIElement:uiElement]; NSRect frame = [UIElementUtilities frameOfUIElement:uiElement]; NSLog(@"----%@, role: %@, %@", child, role, [NSValue valueWithRect:frame]); } NSLog(@"<<< -----------------------------------------------------"); for (NSInteger i = 0; i < [children count]; i++) { NSValue *child = children[i]; AXUIElementRef uiElement = (__bridge AXUIElementRef)child; NSString *role = [UIElementUtilities roleOfUIElement:uiElement]; NSRect frame = [UIElementUtilities frameOfUIElement:uiElement]; NSLog(@"%@, role: %@, %@", child, role, [NSValue valueWithRect:frame]); if ([role isEqualToString:@"AXButton"] || [role isEqualToString:@"AXTextField"] || [role isEqualToString:@"AXStaticText"]) { NSString *tag = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ld%ld", (long)index, (long)i]; NSLog(@"tag: %@", tag); DDHOverlayElement *overlayElement = [[DDHOverlayElement alloc] initWithUIElementValue:child tag:tag]; [tempOverlayElements addObject:overlayElement]; } else if ([role isEqualToString:@"AXGroup"] || [role isEqualToString:@"AXToolbar"]) { [tempOverlayElements addObjectsFromArray:[self overlayChildrenOfUIElement:uiElement index:++index]]; } else if ([role isEqualToString:@"AXWindow"]) { [self.overlayWindowController setFrame:[UIElementUtilities frameOfUIElement:uiElement]]; [tempOverlayElements addObjectsFromArray:[self overlayChildrenOfUIElement:uiElement index:index]]; } } return [tempOverlayElements copy]; } For some AXGroup the children are found. For some they are empty. I cannot figure out why. Does anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong?
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147
May ’25
Making PhotoLibrary UIImagePickerController a11y compliant
I am invoking the UIImagePickerController of type UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypePhotoLibrary from my viewController. I want shift the keyboard focus to the Cancel button which is the first interactive element on the gallery picker. When a user has full keyboard access turned on they should be able to tap tab and interact with the gallery picker modal. How do I achieve this?
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151
May ’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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149
May ’25
Clarification on Color Path Determination in Wallet Provisioning (Green,Yellow, Orange) Path recommendation
Hi, I’ve been reviewing the Apple Wallet provisioning documentation (Getting Started with Apple Pay In-App Provisioning_ Verification_Security_Wallet Extensions )and had a few questions regarding the color path recommendation (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) returned during the in-app provisioning flow: Who determines the color path—is it Apple directly, the Payment Network Operator (PNO), or both? What criteria are used to determine the color path (e.g., device info, Apple ID reputation, past provisioning attempts)? At what point in the provisioning flow is the color path recommendation received? Is it included in the response after the PKAddPaymentPassRequest is submitted? Is it accessible through any specific property or callback in the delegate method? Additionally, for Orange Path with Reason Code 0G, I understand that in-app verification is not allowed and must be handled via tenured channels (e.g., SMS/email). Can you confirm if this logic still applies for requests initiated from within the issuer's iOS app? Would appreciate any clarification or pointers to related documentation.
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114
May ’25
AccessibilityHint for UIAlertAction
Hi, I am setting an accessibilityLabel and accessibilityHint property of a UIAlertAction. However, VoiceOver is only reading the label out. Usually, the label is read out, followed by a short pause and then the hint. Is this a known issue, where hints do not work for this element? I can append the hint to the label, but interested to know if there's something I'm doing wrong. Regards.
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333
Mar ’25
VoiceOver is not respecting lang in HTML option
I have an HTML select that has Spanish text in the options. When VoiceOver reads the selected option (unopened), it switches to Spanish as expected. However, when you open the select box and browse through the options, it uses the English voice to read the Spanish text. I have tried adding lang on to the select tag and the option tag but neither helps https://codepen.io/grahamfowles/pen/VYYRxMK
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137
May ’25
Screen reader not reading the month July when we use the shorter version "Jul" in app
When iOS screen reader reads the month "July" in its shorter version "Jul" its not reading it correctly as month, where as all other months name it reading it correctly in shorter version, so as a result all dates comes under that month when we display in front end and use a screen reader to read it then it will read out as number not date. I have tried the longer version with the screen reader and then its reads correctly July as well.
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7.3k
Mar ’25
FamilyControls API access
I’m requesting access to the Family Controls API for an iOS app currently in development. I’ve submitted the request through the official form here: https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/family-controls-distribution However, after submitting, I receive no confirmation email or support ticket ID. The page only shows a “Thank you for requesting the API” message, and I’m left without a way to track or confirm the request. This entitlement is essential for my app’s functionality, and I need to move forward with development and testing. Can someone from the Apple team please confirm receipt of the request and provide guidance on the next steps or estimated timelines?
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354
May ’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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100
May ’25
Don't get the completed shipping contact after authorizaiton
We have get the response from Apple pay after the the customer doing the face ID & touch ID authorization. But the shiping contact is not complete, for examble: ` { "addressLines": [ "1************ kwy" ], "administrativeArea": "FL", "country": "", "countryCode": "", "emailAddress": "S*********le.com", "familyName": "******i", "givenName": "******m", "locality": "*******s", "phoneNumber": "+*******79", "phoneticFamilyName": "", "phoneticGivenName": "", "postalCode": "*****3", "subAdministrativeArea": "", "subLocality": "" },` as the documents said, it should be the completed shipping contact, but the country & countrycode is null https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple_pay_on_the_web/applepaypayment/1916097-shippingcontact
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454
Dec ’24
Separate bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth scanner inputs
Hi, I have an iOS app where bluetooth scanner and bluetooth keyboard both should work simultaneously. I have used 'pressesBegan' method to fetch the characters which are coming from the bluetooth keyboard. This method is fetching all the bluetooth keyboard inputs correctly. But this method is also called when the characters are coming from the bluetooth scanner. In the 'pressesBegan' method, I have to separate the inputs which are coming from the bluetooth keyboard and are coming from bluetooth scanner. They both have some different use in the app. I have already tried with the fetching speed of the characters, but no luck in case of high speed typing. So characters fetching speed will not work in our case. Is there any way to separate the inputs based on some other factorials? Or any other info in the 'pressesBegan' method which can separate the input that it is coming from scanner or is coming from keyboard. Any suggestion regarding this will be helpful. Thanks in advance.
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383
Jan ’25
Accessibility IDs showing up in Accessibility Inspector, but automated testing script is unable to find them
In the app I'm working on, I have a SwiftUI View embedded in a UIKit Storyboard. The SwiftUI View holds a menu with a list of payment tools, and the ForEach loop looks like this: ForEach(self.paymentToolsVM.paymentToolsItems, id: \.self) { paymentTool in Button { navigationCallback(paymentTool.segueID) } label: { PaymentToolsRow(paymentToolName: paymentTool.title, imageName: paymentTool.imageName) .accessibilityElement() .accessibilityIdentifier("Billing_\(paymentTool.title.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: ""))") } if paymentTool != self.paymentToolsVM.paymentToolsItems.last { Divider() } } So you can see the accessibility ID is there, and it shows up properly when I open up Accessibility Inspector with the simulator, but the testing script isn't picking up on it, and it doesn't show up when the view is inspected in Appium. I have other SwiftUI views embedded in the UIKit view, and the script picks up the buttons on those, so I'm not sure what's different about this one. If it helps, the script is written in Java with the BDD framework. I can try to get the relevant part of the script if anyone thinks that would be helpful. Otherwise, is there anything else I can try?
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157
May ’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
1
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536
Mar ’25
ApplePay Merchant Session - Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel issue
As part of apple pay implementation we are trying to create a merchant session by trying to connect to apple endpoint https://apple-pay-gateway-cert.apple.com/paymentservices/startSession. While trying to do so we are facing an error “An error occurred while sending the request. The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.” . I call the validation url by passing to a C# .Net Framework 4.8 Web API. The API setups an HttpClient with the Merchant Identity Validation Certificate found in my apple account and calls the validation url passing in the required Json Validation Object. When I call PostAsync() I get an exception with the above error message Code is working successfully on my local machine but facing this issue while deployed on Dev / Model environment for testing. We have used Azure app service for deployment and TLS version 1.2 already present here. We have used the Merchant Identity certificate that was issued and have also checked with networking and infrastructure team to make its not an issue from our side. Does anyone have any other idea what could be causing this error. Thank you, Supriya
0
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107
Jun ’25
Frames rotated and shifted in landscape for iOS simulator
When I try to get the frames of a AXUIElementRef using AXUIElementCopyAttributeValue(element, (CFStringRef)attribute, &result) the frames are shifted and rotated on the iOS simulator. I get the same frames when using the Accessibility Inspector when the Max is selected as the host. When I switch the host to the iOS simulator the frames are correct. How is the Accessibility Inspector getting the correct frames? And how can I do the same in my app?
1
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131
Jun ’25
Voice-over mode issues
Added a view controller in the storyboard, added a tableview in this view, and added a cell under the table, when I run the APP to jump to the page, when using the narration function, I find that when I use three fingers to swipe up or down, a sentence will be broadcast in English, I want to no longer change the accessiblity of the cell, when I perform the behavior of swiping up or down with three fingers, Broadcast how Chinese should be implemented.
1
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74
Jun ’25