Accessibility Scanner in Android
I am Denis, Middle Android developer at Live Typing. In this article I will talk about a tool for testing accessibility in Android applications.
Introduction
Research shows that the maximum percentage of identified accessibility problems is 40-50%. Therefore, manual testing is always necessary. But for that 40-57% there are several tools you can use. One of them – Accessibility Scanner, and in this article I will talk about how to test your application with it. Let's start with what it is.
Accessibility Scanner
Accessibility Scanner is a useful tool for semi-automated application accessibility testing. It can identify problems in the following categories:
touch target size;
clickable elements;
contrast between text and image.
It also suggests fixes for some of the problems found, and provides additional information about them. However, it does not find all possible accessibility issues and thus does not guarantee good accessibility of your application. Manual testing is still necessary.
It's great what you can use Accessibility Scanner with any Android app – it can be a native Android app or built using cross-platform technologies such as Flutter or React Native. Or it could even be a PWA – Progressive Web App.
Installation
To take advantage Accessibility Scanneryou need it first download from Google Play.
After launching the scanner, you will be prompted to activate it in the accessibility settings.
On Samsung phones, you need to select Installed Applications and select Accessibility Scanner.
Afterwards you need to give access to control the screen operation. And click on “toggle” to launch the scanner.
Testing
Accessibility Scanner provides two options – scan one screen or record multiple screens. Browse to the application, then click the button Accessibility Scanner on the screen. A menu will open from which you can choose to record, snapshot (single screen), or turn off the accessibility scanner.
Click the record button to record a stream or multiple screens. Then navigate through the screens. If your phone has vibration enabled, you should feel a slight vibration every time an app takes a screenshot.
You can end the recording by pressing the same button, which has now turned into a “Stop” button. If it is not visible on the screen, you can, for example, open Quick Settings (slide them down from the top of the screen).
So you've taken a photo or recorded a stream. The next step is to look at the results and interpret them.
The accessibility scanner provides an overview of the screens:
You can navigate through the screens and see possible problems highlighted. If you prefer to see offers as a list, you can find it in the top right corner, in the list icon. Found problems are grouped either by screen or by category. When you click on an element, a screenshot of the problematic element is displayed on the screen:
Typically, descriptions of problems also contain ideas on how to fix them. You can learn more about various problems, their possible causes and solutions from the materials mentioned in the next section. For example, an application for buying shawarma.
Found problems and their solution can be viewed by clicking on the highlighted element or in the list of categories.
Android studio
But even without a scanner, you can find out how friendly your UI is. It is enough to open the XML or Compose layout and “fail” in the warnings/errors menu. Here the IDE itself will tell you which element has which problem. And it will even give you a link to the documentation.
Bottom line
Google has created resources to help you learn more about the accessibility scanner. There are two good text resources:
And if you prefer to watch videos, they also have video on YouTube.
Thank you for attention!
Denis Popkov
Middle Android developer at Live Typing
If you find inaccuracies/errors in the article or simply want to add your opinion to it, please comment! Or you can write to me on Telegram – t.me/MolodoyDenis.
