New Accessibility Features in iOS 13: Voice Control, Media Autoplay Disable, and Custom API

iOS has long been strong in mobile accessibility, and iOS 13 adds three notable features: Voice Control, a system‑wide toggle to disable media autoplay, and a new API for custom accessibility actions.

Voice Control displays numeric overlays on activatable elements, allowing users to reference and manipulate them via spoken commands such as “show name”, “show numbers”, “tap 1”, “tap ‘Application’”, “increment {name/number}”, “decrement {name/number}”, “go home”, and “go back”. This tool simplifies accessibility testing by reducing the need to repeatedly enable and disable VoiceOver.

Voice Control also speeds up focus testing (WCAG 2.4.3) because any element that can be activated in Switch Control can also be activated in VoiceOver, and vice‑versa, making the verification of focus order much faster.

Disable Media Autoplay provides a powerful option for users with disabilities to prevent background audio from interfering with screen‑reader speech, addressing WCAG 1.4.2. The article includes a code example for checking the setting:

if UIAccessibility.isVideoAutoplayEnabled {
    // Autoplay annoying media
} else {
    // Don’t autoplay annoying media.
}

New API – UIAccessibilityCustomActionHandler – allows developers to associate multiple actions with a single focusable target, enabling VoiceOver or Switch Control users to perform gestures‑based operations through custom actions. More details can be found in Apple’s documentation.

In conclusion, while iOS 13 does not introduce groundbreaking changes to VoiceOver, the added tools demonstrate Apple’s ongoing commitment to accessibility. Incorporating Voice Control into the testing workflow is recommended for all app development teams.

Reference: https://www.deque.com/blog/new-in-ios-13-accessibility-voice-control-and-more/