Building Inclusive Android Apps: Best Accessibility Practices

Have you ever though Android is the market leader with every new functionality & feature it is carving the position stronger than ever before.

Indeed, there is an app for every possible service under the sun. Hence, building mobile apps that reach out to zillions of users out there is no longer a luxury for the businesses across the geographies.

The biggest challenge however is building inclusive Android apps!

Do you wonder what these inclusive apps stand for and who are the targeted audience for them???

Well, in the world we live in there are more than 1 billion (rough order of magnitude) differently abled individuals who are equally in need of apps to access services around them.

Fret not!

In this guide we have brought you a number of tips to build inclusive Android apps without falling prey to error-prone design.

High-Contrast Colours always remains

With difference in brightness between foreground and background colours the task to fathom the app elements becomes highly easier.

To make it work in the app while ensuring no element overbards other elements, designers must keep a 4.5:1 ratio between the foreground colour of the and the background colour of the screen.

By implementing this ratio, users are in position to distinguish between colours and view apps without facing any hurdle.

There are multiple tools to improve the app’s colour contrast such as:

• Accessibility Scanner app- a tool powered by Google to test app accessibility

• WCAG guidelines– As the name suggests it defines the standards for colour contrast

• AudioEye's Colour Contrast Checker- an online tool to check colour contrast

Large icons for Action Items

Every app holds touch targets which are basically the interactive elements encouraging users to click or tap on those to perform an action.

These targets can be a button, link, icon or any other control like navigation arrow.

Here, designers must ensure their size is big enough for improved accessibility so users with impaired vision can access mobile apps by clicking on these elements.

Although, the bigger question comes when hire android developer, what should be the ideal size, so the answer is- the minimum recommended size is 48 x 48 dp and the spacing must be at least 8 dp between touch targets.

Designers can implement it by utilising the setPadding method that helps to add space around text and set the layout width & height respectively.

Go Beyond Colors

Individuals with colour blindness, partial blindness or visually impaired are unable to distinguish or see colours completely.

On the other hand, developers can include text labels to exemplify information, like developers can add warnings along with the red circle to clear the instruction.

Also, adding alternative text ensures images and icons are well read and understood by the users.

Consider Keyboard Navigation

Not many of us know that keyboard navigation holds immense worth when it comes to improved user interaction.

Using this keyboard users who have motor impairments can easily interact with the app via physical keyboards or assistive technologies.

There is no rocket science behind implementing it, rather designers can imply it by managing the focus order using the android:focusable and android:nextFocus* attributes.

Testing is Mandatory

A mobile app is more than a piece of technology which interacts with the audience on different levels.

Therefore, it needs to be tested from every possible arena to ensure it is usable by everyone and differently abled users are no exception to it.

• Android Accessibility Test Framework- this tool allows APIs to test app’s accessibility features.

• TalkBack- it is a built-in screen reader allowing to read content on the screen aloud.

• Accessibility Scanner- it ensures the app is scanned and gives suggestions to improve accessibility.

Include Different Input Methods

When you access an app, have you ever realised there are touch, voice, switch access, keyboard options?

These are called Input Methods, which allow users to interact with the Android app.

Each method serves a different purpose to access the app and by including these methods the app accessibility gets improved exponentially. Such as:

Touch, enabling UI elements to respond to touch elements & layout regardless of screen sizes and orientation.

• Voice, there are in-built Android features- voice access that allows users to control app with voice commands.

• Switch Access - as the name suggests allows controlling apps using external switches or access and works incredibly for the users with motor challenges.

• Keyboard - Keyboard implementing navigation allows users to navigate apps via physical keyboards or keyboard shortcuts.

Keep upgrading

Many out there think building a mobile app with inclusive accessibility features is just one time event that should not be looked at again.

But this is one of the biggest blunders a developer can make; remember accessibility cannot be built and forgotten but it is a process which must be kept improving with newly introduced and implemented technology stack to enhance the final outcome.

Technology is transforming at a turbo speed hence keeping a pace with it to address its demands is the need of the hour, so accessibility becomes easier for everyone.

Here developers must take note of newly launched devices, OSs, technologies and how these can be taken hand-in-hand to improve the accessibility.

Using android app development services developers must check the updates regularly by conducting testing and incorporating user feedback.

By attaining regular user feedback, developers get the right method to improve the app and make data-driven decisions.

The Final Note

A mobile app that fails to reach out to potential audience base based upon their accessing abilities of apps, is a disaster any business would administer in their digital goal.

The aforementioned tips if implemented within an Android app can accelerate UX, wider user reach and strong brand recognition.

Using these tips; an app contains every bit of functionality that can be accessed by a larger group of audience while complementing their abilities.