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RedReader is the best Reddit client I've found on Android, Apple's Mail app is really nice, since it lets me navigate within a conversation to the next or previ
by devinprater 3y ago
RedReader is the best Reddit client I've found on Android, Apple's Mail app is really nice, since it lets me navigate within a conversation to the next or previous message (wish Gmail did that), Mona is the best Mastodon client on iOS (I can favorite or reblog just by swiping left or right with three fingers. That's not even possible on Android because TalkBack's scrolling commands work on gesture position not on TalkBack focus position), Feeder is the best RSS reader on Android, Lire is great on iOS although I don't like having to clean up the article list after marking a few as read. Tusky on Android is a good app that uses accessibility actions. I love how in Google's clock app I can dismiss an alarm by using a volume button (while the device's screen is off, but once you hit the power button you have to find and double tap the dismiss button and hope the alarm sound is quieter than your TalkBack voice). I don't know how it is now, but when I was still using Instacart, if I'm in a list of food items and I wanted to add one to my cart, I could just swipe up and it'd be added. If I wanted to remove an item, I'd just swipe down and it'd be removed. That was refreshingly simple.
There are a lot of games on iOS that are accessible, like DiceWorld, which is also pretty accessible on Android but doesn't have the nice-to-have features of iOS, like using the Magic Tap (double tap with two fingers) from anywhere on the screen to roll the dice. Android can't do that because its two finger double tap only works as the play/pause button on a headset, just playing/pausing media instead of a more general "make something happen" command in apps.
Some more action-oriented games, like Mortal Kombat, are becoming more accessible. On iOS, since apps can define "direct touch interaction" areas of the screen, which makes VoiceOver ignore part of the screen so that a tap is passed directly to the app, rather than going through VoiceOver. Using this, one can attack and block instantly while in action parts of the game, with the game sending announcements through VoiceOver, like "swipe up" or "you win". Then, the screen changes, and direct touch area is deactivated, and VoiceOver control is reassurted, so that the player can navigate the interface. It shows really amazing promise for mobile gaming for the blind in the future. And Android doesn't have anything like the direct touch area, unless the app wants to declar itself an accessibility service, which I believe is how the TalkBack Braille keyboard does it from the code on Github. Of course that code is like 6 months behind the actual release and definitely behind the any betas they've released, but still useful for seeing how TalkBack does things.
Of course, each user has differing knowledge of how their screen reader works. I find that many more Android users know more about TalkBack, since it has a built-in tutorial that turns on when TalkBack is launched. VoiceOver on iOS does not have a tutorial that teaches everything one can do, all the commands and such, so are usually unaware of things like image recognition, Braille Screen Input (typing in Braille on the phone screen), or all the commands possible (especially the rotor and using actions within apps).
- ramraj07 3y agoThank you for the insanely detailed write up, I'll look into all of them!