Accessibility Techniques26.7 - App Store

Learn how to build accessible iOS apps by seeing the same component done right and done wrong, side by side.

Accessibility Techniques is a working reference of 89 SwiftUI techniques. Every one ships a good and a bad example you can test yourself with VoiceOver turned on, so you hear the difference a proper accessibility label makes and what breaks when focus is not managed. Each technique maps to the WCAG 2.2 success criteria it satisfies.

What's inside
. 89 techniques in a searchable, alphabetical index
. Good and bad examples side by side, each with a Details note explaining exactly why it passes or fails
. Coverage of VoiceOver, Voice Control, Dynamic Type, Dark Mode, Reduce Motion, Increase Contrast, Smart Invert, and more
. Written documentation for every technique, linked to the relevant WCAG criteria and Apple's developer docs
. A companion watchOS app

Who it's for
Developers, designers, and QA who need to settle a question quickly, verify a real VoiceOver announcement before shipping, or show a teammate why a pattern fails.

Open source
The full SwiftUI source is on GitHub, so you can read how each example is built and copy what you need. The project also includes a11y-check, a free static analysis tool that scans your own Swift code for accessibility issues - 43 rules across 23 WCAG 2.2 criteria.

https://github.com/cvs-health/ios-swiftui-accessibility-techniques

Issues, suggestions, and contributions welcome.

Version History New technique pages

• Accessibility Custom Content — attach extra details to an element so VoiceOver can offer them under the More Content rotor, without lengthening the element's name. Demonstrated with a seat map where a seat's window, middle, or aisle position exists only in the layout.
• Web View Dynamic Type — make text inside a WKWebView scale with Dynamic Type.
• Motion Actuation — offer an alternative to a shake gesture for people who cannot shake the device.

New examples on existing pages

• Drag & Drop — accessible .draggable() and .dropDestination(), plus what breaks without an accessibility action.
• Pickers — avoiding unexpected context changes when a control's value changes.
• Videos — why auto-playing audio is a barrier.
• Alerts — what goes wrong when focus is not returned to the trigger after dismissal.
• Accessibility Sort Priority — how misused sort priority reorders what VoiceOver reads.

Also in this release

• New Explore by Touch prototype reproducing a tab bar that VoiceOver cannot reach by touch, with an in-page breakdown of the three causes.
• Tabs now set a unique navigation bar title per tab.
• Fixed sample video URLs that had stopped loading.
• The Simulator's Hardware > Shake menu now triggers the Motion Actuation demo. 26.7 Sep 24 Accessibility Label
Accessibility Value
Accessibility Hint
Custom choice buttons added to Radio Buttons 26.6 May 4 a11y-check technique page with good and bad examples for all 31 static analysis rules
Contrast technique page with good and bad examples for text contrast (WCAG 1.4.3) and non-text contrast (WCAG 1.4.11)
Alphabetical section headings on technique index for VoiceOver rotor navigation (issue #14)
Badge accessibility examples for custom tab bars (good and bad) in Tabs technique
Drag & Drop technique with accessible reorder controls (tap-to-select, Move Up/Down buttons, accessibility actions)
Multi-Selection Lists technique with good and bad examples using .accessibilityAddTraits(.isSelected) and .accessibilityValue 26.5 May 1 Language of Page technique with good and bad examples using .environment locale
Switch Control action icon bad example
Accessibility action label icons
dynamicTypeSize range capping technique with good and bad examples
Bad example for uncapped largeTitle heading with card layout
fullScreenCover examples added to Sheets technique 26.3 Apr 28 New Choice Button Group Error Message good and bad example added to Error Validation technique page. 26.2 Feb 13 Dim Flashing Lights
SwiftLint 26.1 12/18/2025 App and techniques updated for iOS 26.
Search bar is now placed at the bottom on iPhone.
Markdown .md documentation files now link to each .swift technique file.

New Techniques:
Containers
Accessibility Traits
Toolbars
TipKit

Platform Defects Now Fixed:
Text Fields for watchOS 26 now correctly speak their accessibility labels to VoiceOver. 26.0 09/10/2025 Reading Order technique and documentation update to show a good example using .accessibilityElement(children: .combine) as well as .contain 13.6 05/31/2025 Horizontal Scroll good example now works with iPad split views that are 320 wide.
Fixed a VoiceOver reading order bug in the good Responsive Layouts example.
Added a PlainButtonStyle to the first good example Carousel slide read more button to test how to show good contrast when a touch user presses and holds on a button to display the active state. 13.5 05/08/2025 The Accessibility Actions technique page now includes an Editing mode in the good example to provide single tap button alternatives to the swipe to delete and long press gestures. 13.4 03/28/2025 New Accessibility Responds To User Interaction technique with a working bad example for Switch Control, Voice Control, and Full Keyboard Access 13.3 03/07/2025 Sheets good example now works with Full Keyboard Access. 13.2 03/07/2025 Error messages moved above the inputs on the Error Validation technique page.
Accessibility Detection technique now includes a list of Detectable Accessibility Features.
See you at CSUN next week! :) 13.1 03/05/2025 Menu using Button with checkmark Image example moved under Platform Defects due to the icon image on the left side disappearing at largest dynamic type sizes.
Menu using Picker with built-in selected state image that shows on the left side at all dynamic type sizes added. 13 02/25/2025 New Videos technique and accessibility documentation. 12.9 02/22/2025 Updated GitHub project Readme.md file with alphabetically sorted index of a11y techniques documentation.
New Documentation link toolbar icon button that opens documentation index page in a .fullscreenCover. 12.8 02/20/2025 Improved the Charts good example custom legend to look better at larger dynamic type sizes. 12.7 02/20/2025 New Charts technique for iOS.
New Combining Focus technique for watchOS. 12.6 02/20/2025 New Accessibility Identifier technique for iOS.
Updated Toggles technique for iOS to use sensory feedback to provide haptic feedback on custom toggle controls. 12.5 02/19/2025 New Accessibility Sort Priority technique for iOS and watchOS.
New Touch Target Size, Pickers, and Sheets techniques for watchOS.
New screenshots added. 12.4 02/18/2025 New Text Fields and Tabs techniques for Watch
New Watch App Screenshots 12.3 02/18/2025 New Headings and Functional Images techniques for Watch. 12.2 02/16/2025 New watchOS app with Informative and Decorative Images accessibility techniques. 12.1 02/15/2025 New alphabetical list and Search based user interface.
Some name changes made to a few technique pages. 12 02/13/2025 Added badge number to the Large Content Viewer messages icon button example.
Added the add coupon to wallet function to the accessibility actions in the good Cards example that is grouped with accessibility actions. 11.9 02/09/2025