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

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Size of stylus mesh tip
Hello community, We're designing an app that can optionally be controlled by a stylus with a mesh tip. In this case, the mesh tip we're using is 5 mm in diameter. It seems that mesh tip contact detection is unstable in this size, although it works better with a larger diameter. Is it possible to access a setting in iOS that lets you define the minimum contact area needed to detect a contact on the screen? This would enable us to use this 5 mm stylus. Best regards, Edwin
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377
Feb ’25
Imessage and Facetime error
Yesterday I installed iOS 26 on my iPhone as a beta tester. At first there was no problem, but during the afternoon I noticed that neither FaceTime nor IMessage worked... I tried to go through the settings as described by Apple Support, but my phone number would not activate. Sometimes I was even asked to activate iCloud. I always get a REG-RESP message. Does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be?
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148
Jun ’25
Feature Request – Bionic Reading Accessibility Setting
I’d love to see Apple implement a Bionic Reading feature as a system-wide accessibility option. This type of reading aid highlights the first part of each word in bold to help guide the eyes and improve comprehension. It’s been shown to be especially helpful for people with ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodivergent needs. Having a toggle in Settings > Accessibility would be life-changing. Ideally, it could be: • Enabled system-wide, or per-app • Allow customization of how much of the word is bolded • Available in Safari, Messages, Books, News, etc.
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105
Apr ’25
Subpath for access to Silence Unknown Callers
Hi, Our app has a section where, we show to users how to activate "Silence Unknown Callers", because is a crucial feature for our app. But, we saw that 30% of users drop the process here, because we can't open directly that setting option in phone app. We are using this url scheme to open phone settings in iOS 18: if let url = URL(string: "App-prefs:com.apple.mobilephone") { UIApplication.shared.open(url) } But, we don't see other way to open directly the path "silence", like in iOS 17, with this url scheme: prefs:root=Phone&path=SILENCE_CALLS So, do you know if is possible open that option directly? We want to improve our accessibility. Thank you!
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355
Mar ’25
Unable to set dialect of Chinese of AVSpeechSynthesisVoice in iOS 18
The AVSpeechSynthesizer on some iOS 18 device has a bug that it will read always read Chinese of: AVSpeechUtterance(string: "中文") // Any Chinese Content in the dialect specified by: Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content > Voices > Chinese > Spoken Language instead of the dialect that I specified in AVSpeechUtterance.voice: AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: "zh-HK") // Cantonese AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: "zh-TW") // Mandarin However, setting Chinese dialect of AVSpeechSynthesisVoice by "zh-HK" or "zh-TW" has been working on iOS 17 and below. My app has a feature that requires reading sentences in Mandarin followed by Cantonese, i.e., both dialects is needed every time. Therefore, setting the dialect in Spoken Language of Settings is not a workaround to make my app to function correctly in iOS 18. Further to the above, I've also discovered that, if iOS 18 (in my case, 18.5 is tested) is freshly installed (not upgrading from iOS 17 or below, nor restoring backup after fresh installation of iOS 18), the bug above will not happen. However, if it was an upgrade from iOS 17 or below, or backup is restored (in my case, I freshly installed iOS 18.5 on a new iPhone and then restored a backup from another iPhone on iOS 16.2), the bug above happens. This bug puzzled me because I need both dialect of Chinese to be read aloud one by one, but as reported by many users, on most iOS 18 devices (since a fresh installation of latest iOS without upgrading or restoring is uncommon nowadays), my app will read Cantonese two times or Mandarin two times (depending on Spoken Language in Settings). It is the iOS 18 bug which made my app unable to perform the expected behavior. Would Apple developers look into this and advise if there are any possible workaround within the code of app to overcome this bug, or please fix this bug with an iOS 18 update. Thank you.
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98
Jun ’25
WiFi aware demo paring issue
I am developing a program on my chip and attempting to establish a connection with the WiFi Aware demo app launched by iOS 26. Currently, I am encountering an issue during the pairing phase. If I am the subscriber of the service and successfully complete the follow-up frame exchange of pairing bootstrapping, I see the PIN code displayed by iOS. Question 1: How should I use this PIN code? Question 2: Subsequently, I need to negotiate keys with iOS through PASN. What should I use as the password for the PASN SAE process? If I am the subscriber of the service and successfully complete the follow-up frame exchange of pairing bootstrapping, I should display the PIN code. Question 3: How do I generate this PIN code? Question 4: Subsequently, I need to negotiate keys with iOS through PASN. What should I use as the password for the PASN SAE process?
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576
Nov ’25
Add custom emoji tags
Allow the user to add their own tags to the default emoji tags. For instance, this emoji, for me, is nonna: 🤌🏻. My efficiency would improve immensely if I could search for it as the “Nonna” emoji, rather than searching for nonna, remembering it doesn’t exist, trying the search for other things it might be called, realising I don’t know what it is, then having to scroll through all the hand emojis twice to find it. 🤌🏻🤞🏼👌
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506
Jan ’25
Siri misreads local currency in notifications (Bug reported, still unresolved)
I’m experiencing an issue where Siri incorrectly announces currency values in notifications. Instead of reading the local currency correctly, it always reads amounts as US dollars. Issue details: My iPhone is set to Region: Chile and Language: Spanish (Chile). In Chile, the currency symbol $ represents Chilean Pesos (CLP), not US dollars. A notification with the text: let content = UNMutableNotificationContent() content.body = "¡Has recibido un pago por $5.000!" is read aloud by Siri as: ”¡Has recibido un pago por 5.000 dólares!” (English: “You have received a payment of five thousand dollars!”) instead of the correct: ”¡Has recibido un pago por 5.000 pesos!” (English: “You have received a payment of five thousand pesos!”) Another developer already reported the same issue back in 2023, and it remains unresolved: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/723177 This incorrect behavior is not limited to iOS notifications; it also occurs in other Apple services: watchOS, iPadOS, and macOS (Siri misreads currency values in various system interactions). Siri’s currency conversion feature misinterprets $ as USD even when the device is set to a region where $ represents a different currency. Announce Notifications on AirPods also exhibits this issue, making it confusing when Siri announces transaction amounts incorrectly. Apple Intelligence interactions are also affected—for example, asking Siri to “read my latest emails” when one of them contains a monetary value results in Siri misreading the currency. I have submitted a bug report via Feedback Assistant, and the Feedback ID is FB16561348. This issue significantly impacts accessibility and localization for users in regions where the currency symbol $ is not associated with US dollars. Has anyone found a workaround, or is there any update from Apple on this?
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667
Feb ’25
Feature Idea: Autonomous, Motion-Powered Clock Display on iPhone.
Hey everyone, I've been thinking about a truly innovative way to enhance iPhone battery life and user convenience, drawing inspiration from kinetic energy harvesting. What if we could have a clock display on the main iPhone screen that's powered purely by user motion, and activates only when you look at it, without touching your main battery? The Core Idea Imagine this: Kinetic Energy Harvesting: Your iPhone would have a tiny, integrated kinetic energy generator. This generator would capture the energy from your everyday movements – walking, picking up the phone, putting it in your pocket. Independent Power Source: This harvested energy would be stored in a small, dedicated capacitor or micro-battery, completely separate from your iPhone's main battery. Acelerometer-Activated Display: Instead of relying on power-hungry facial recognition, the phone's accelerometer (a very low-power sensor) would detect specific "raise to wake" or "tap to look" gestures. On-Demand, Ultra-Low Power Clock: Only when the accelerometer detects one of these specific gestures would the stored kinetic energy be used to illuminate just the necessary pixels on the main OLED/AMOLED screen to display the time. The rest of the screen stays completely black (consuming no power on OLED). Automatic Shut-Off: As soon as the gesture ends or the phone is put down, the clock display would turn off, conserving the limited harvested energy. Why This Matters This isn't just a cool gimmick; it offers significant benefits: True Battery Independence: Get the time at a glance, anytime, without touching your main battery or even the power button. This means more main battery life for apps, calls, and everything else. Ultimate Convenience: A "magical" interaction – just pick up your phone, and the time instantly appears. No taps, no button presses. Sustainable & Innovative: Showcases practical "energy harvesting" in a consumer device, pushing boundaries for self-sufficient tech. Extreme Energy Efficiency: By using a low-power accelerometer as the trigger and only lighting a few pixels on demand, the system is designed for minimal power draw, making kinetic power a viable source. This concept combines existing low-power sensing (accelerometer), efficient display technology (OLED/AMOLED's true blacks), and cutting-edge energy harvesting, creating a genuinely innovative user experience.
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114
Jun ’25
FocusState Issue in iOS 18 with Keyboard Navigation
I have implemented a SwiftUI view containing a grid of TextField elements, where focus moves automatically to the next field upon input. This behavior works well on iOS 16 and 17, maintaining proper focus highlighting when keyboard full access is enabled. However, in iOS 18 and above, the keyboard full access focus behaves differently. It always stays behind the actual focus state, causing a mismatch between the visually highlighted field and the active text input. This leads to usability issues, especially for users navigating with an external keyboard. Below is the SwiftUI code for reference: struct AutoFocusGridTextFieldsView: View { private let fieldCount: Int private let columns: Int @State private var textFields: [String] @FocusState private var focusedField: Int? init(fieldCount: Int = 17, columns: Int = 5) { self.fieldCount = fieldCount self.columns = columns _textFields = State(initialValue: Array(repeating: "", count: fieldCount)) } var body: some View { let rows = (fieldCount / columns) + (fieldCount % columns == 0 ? 0 : 1) VStack(spacing: 10) { ForEach(0..<rows, id: \.self) { row in HStack(spacing: 10) { ForEach(0..<columns, id: \.self) { col in let index = row * columns + col if index < fieldCount { TextField("", text: $textFields[index]) .frame(width: 40, height: 40) .multilineTextAlignment(.center) .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle()) .focused($focusedField, equals: index) .onChange(of: textFields[index]) { newValue in if newValue.count > 1 { textFields[index] = String(newValue.prefix(1)) } if !textFields[index].isEmpty { moveToNextField(from: index) } } } } } } } .padding() .onAppear { focusedField = 0 } } private func moveToNextField(from index: Int) { if index + 1 < fieldCount { focusedField = index + 1 } } } struct AutoFocusGridTextFieldsView_Previews: PreviewProvider { static var previews: some View { AutoFocusGridTextFieldsView(fieldCount: 10, columns: 5) } } Has anyone else encountered this issue with FocusState in iOS 18? I really do believe that this is a bug strictly connected to keyboard navigation since I experienced similar problem also on UIKit equivalent of the view. Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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581
Mar ’25
The brightness of the iPad Pro screen is gone after new ios26
After 26 IOS update, the colors on my new iPad Pro M4 have become extremely dull almost like those on a very old device. The screen brightness is significantly reduced, and it's now difficult to see UI elements clearly. This is very disappointing considering the device’s high display quality before the update. Please advise if this is a known issue or if there's a fix.
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94
Jun ’25
Voice Over Sound
Hello, When I listen to title in my app with VoiceOver, it makes a strange sound. This characters make with Korean+number+Alphabet. Is this combination makes some strange sound with voice over? I would like to ask if Apple can fix this issue. Thank you.
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204
Mar ’25
pairedUUIDsDidChangeNotification never fires, even with MFi hearing aids paired
Hi everyone — I’m implementing the new Hearing Device Support API described here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessibility/hearing-device-support I have MFi hearing aids paired and visible under Settings → Accessibility → Hearing Devices, and I’ve added the com.apple.developer.hearing.aid.app entitlement (and also tested with Wireless Accessory Configuration: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/entitlements/com.apple.external-accessory.wireless-configuration ). com.apple.developer.hearing.aid.app xxxxx but the app won't even compile with this entitlement Problem NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(...) for pairedUUIDsDidChangeNotification never fires — not on app launch, not after pairing/unpairing, and not after reconnecting the hearing aids. Because the notification never triggers, calls like: HearingDeviceSession.shared.pairedDevices always return an empty list. What I expected According to the docs, the notification should be posted whenever paired device UUIDs change, and the session should expose those devices — but nothing happens. Questions Does the hearing.aid.app entitlement require special approval from Apple beyond adding it to the entitlements file? Is there a way to verify that iOS is actually honoring this entitlement? Has anyone successfully received this notification on a real device? Any help or confirmation would be greatly appreciated.
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2w
My Enrollment is being processed for long time
Hello, I’m reaching out regarding an issue with our organization’s Apple Developer Program enrollment. We’ve successfully created a developer account and our organization is verified through the D-U-N-S system. The D-U-N-S ID is correctly displayed in our Apple Developer account. However, the enrollment status still shows: “Your enrollment is being processed.” It’s been 3 months, and we haven’t received any further communication or updates. Has anyone experienced a similar delay? Is there anything else we should do to expedite the process? Any guidance or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
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868
Oct ’25
Assistive Access + Firebase Authentication
I have an issue in my app when it is used together with the assistive access feature. For authentication, we are using the capacitor firebase authentication plugin (https://www.npmjs.com/package/@capacitor-firebase/authentication) which enables users to login via apple (FirebaseAuthentication.signInWithApple(...)), google (FirebaseAuthentication.signInWithGoogle(...)), or email. Works just fine. However, when the assistive access feature is enabled, the login fails for apple ("The operation couldn't be completed. com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError error 1000) and google ("The user canceled the sign-in flow). It seems like the popups for sign-in are blocked and therefore an error is returned immediately. The popups may be blocked by assistive access, causing the capacitor plugin to be unable to authenticate. I have tested this on my iPhone 12 Pro using iOS 17.7 I would appreciate any suggestions to handle this issue!
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743
Jul ’25
Unable to Add Accessibility Trait to UISegmentedControl
I’m trying to add the .header accessibility trait to a UISegmentedControl so that VoiceOver recognizes it accordingly. However, setting the trait using the following code doesn’t seem to have any effect: segmentControl.accessibilityTraits = segmentControl.accessibilityTraits.union(.header) Even after applying this, VoiceOver doesn’t announce it as a header. Is there any workaround or recommended approach to achieve this?
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214
Mar ’25