Assistive technology Android
[Narrator:] In this chapter, we will discuss the accessibility features which come bundled with the Android operating system.
For our course, we will use Android 8, also called Oreo. Please note that companies using Android on their devices often customise the Android distribution. Therefore, features may differ or be completely lacking. So, your screen or set of functionalities might look different from the ones described in this tutorial.
This course describes accessibility features which are part of the standard Android distribution. You should have Android 7, also called Nougat, or newer to reproduce the features described in this course. Please check the documentation of your distribution where the features described in this chapter differ from your distribution.
Android offers a variety of accessibility tools to customise the mobile device so it is easier to use. Users with different kinds of disabilities will find potential solutions.
To find the accessibility tools, go into the Settings and then choose Accessibility. The accessibility settings offer supporting functions for assistance with visual, audio or physical interaction.
In the following sections, we will see how to enhance the accessibility of your device with additional downloads. We will learn how to use the screen magnification; improve the readability of screen content by adapting several display parameters; activate the screen reader; improve audio output or activate captions in videos, and, finally, control the device using a single switch.
We will use some apps that improve the accessibility of the device and which need to be downloaded from the Google Play Store. You can install them individually or all at once as part of the free of charge Android Accessibility Suite. The suite includes Accessibility Menu, Select to Speak, Switch Access and TalkBack. You can find a link to the Play Store below the video.
Magnification
Magnification is a screen magnifier. It is primarily designed for people with limited vision, but it can be useful for anyone who needs to focus on a tiny part of the screen.
In many apps, you can zoom in or out on specific items. For example, you can double-tap or pinch to look closer in photos.
You can also use the Magnification feature to zoom into the screen independently from the app you are using. To activate it, In the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then Magnification. Choose Magnify with triple-tap.
To use it, triple-tap anywhere on the screen, except the keyboard or navigation bar. To pan across the screen, drag with two or more fingers. To adjust the zoom level, pinch two or more fingers together or spread them apart.
To zoom out, triple-tap the screen. You can temporarily magnify the screen. Triple-tap and hold anywhere on the screen, except the keyboard or navigation bar.
To move the magnified area, drag your finger across the screen. To stop magnifying, lift your finger.
There is another option. You can choose to activate the Magnify with button option. In the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then Magnification. Choose Magnify with button. The Accessibility button appears in the Navigation bar.
Let's try it. Tap the Accessibility button. Tap anywhere on the screen, except the keyboard or navigation bar. Now you can pan or adjust the zoom level.
To pan across the screen, drag two or more fingers. To adjust the zoom level, pinch two or more fingers together or spread them apart. To zoom out, tap the Accessibility button.
To temporarily magnify the screen: tap the Accessibility button. Touch and hold anywhere on the screen, except the keyboard or navigation bar. To move the magnified area, drag your finger across the screen. To stop magnifying, lift your finger.
Display accommodations
FONT SIZE
Android can change the font size and display size to make the screen easier to see. To make your font size smaller or larger, do the following. Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Font size. Use the slider to choose your font size. Please note that the font size setting does not apply to Google Chrome, which has its own text-scaling control.
DISPLAY SIZE
By changing the display size, you can make all the items on your screen smaller or larger. Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Display size. Use the slider to choose your display size. Please note that when changing the display size, some apps on your screen might change position.
COLOUR CORRECTION
The Colour correction setting enables your device to compensate for certain colour vision deficiencies such as colour blindness. To enable or disable Colour correction, open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Colour correction. To change the colour correction mode, activate the switch, then select the Correction mode. Now choose one of the following options. You can see the result of the colour correction immediately.
COLOUR INVERSION
Colour inversion exchanges colour values. For example, black text on a white screen becomes white text on a black screen. To enable or disable Colour inversion, open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Colour inversion.
TalkBack
TalkBack is the built-in screen reader on Android devices. A screen reader is essentially software which reads screen content to the user. Beyond pure audio output, a screen reader can make use of braille displays to display the text in a tactile form. This enables a user with visual impairments to read texts character by character.
Please note: touch-based devices are gesture driven. Gestures are mostly position dependent. A sighted user starts an app by tapping an app icon with a finger. It is essential that the position of the app icon on screen is part of the gesture. As users with certain visual disabilities cannot detect the position of an element on screen, the normal gestures do not work.
Please be aware that once you activate a screen reader on a mobile device, you need to learn another set of gestures to operate the device.
There are two options to turn on TalkBack. Option 1: press both volume keys for 3 seconds. Option 2: turn on TalkBack in your device settings. This method requires sighted assistance. Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap TalkBack. Turn on TalkBack. In the confirmation dialogue, tap OK.
[Screen reader:] TalkBack on.
[Narrator:] After you turn on TalkBack, you can explore your screen by touch or swipe linearly to hear items in order.
[Screen reader:] TalkBack. TalkBack. Navigate out button. Home button. Home screen 1 of 2, search. Moto app launcher, actions available.
[Narrator:] To explore by touch, slowly drag one finger around the screen. TalkBack announces the icons, buttons and other items as you drag your finger over them.
[Screen reader:] Apps list button... actions available.
[Narrator:] When the focus reaches an item you would like to select, double tap anywhere on the screen to select the focused item.
[Screen reader:] Apps list. Search apps, edit box... Edit options available.
[Narrator:] A user with a visual impairment can get an idea of the location of each element on the screen.
[Screen reader:] Contacts in grade 8 rows 5 columns. Device help... actions available. Docs... actions available. Camera... actions available.
[Narrator:] Obviously, it can be difficult to find all the items with which a user can interact following this approach. Particularly, if a screen element is small, it might be missed and would stay hidden. To explore your screen one item at a time, swipe left or right with one finger to move through the items in sequence.
[Screen reader:] Chrome... actions available. Clock... actions available. Chrome... actions available. Camera... actions available.
[Narrator:] When you focus on an item, after a short delay, TalkBack provides a hint about the actions that you can perform on it. By swiping right for the next item and swiping left for the previous item, we can reach all the screen elements independently of their screen position.
Please note that the swipe gesture can be executed position independently. It is of no importance whether you swipe in the upper or lower part of the screen. To activate an element, just double-tap. Following this approach, let's switch TalkBack off.
[Screen reader:] Settings... actions available. Settings... Search settings. Display: Wallpaper, Sleep font size enlists 13 items. Sound: Volume, vibration, do not disturb. Storage: 33% used - 21.46 GB free. Security & Location: Screen lock, fingerprint. Users & accounts: Current user
Schmitt. Accessibility: Screen readers, display, interaction control. Accessibility... Navigate up button. TalkBack: On, speak items on-screen. TalkBack... Navigate up button. On switch. Alert. Stop TalkBack? Tapping OK will stop TalkBack. Cancel button. OK button. TalkBack off.
[Narrator:] This was a very small introduction to the TalkBack screen reader. For more information, please refer to the Screen readers - Android chapter.
One more note: people with visual impairments often use screen readers in combination with a Braille display. With Braille Back, you can connect a refreshable Braille display to your Android device via Bluetooth. Braille Back works with the TalkBack screen reader to provide a combined speech and Braille experience. As you use Braille Back, screen content appears on your Braille display, and you can navigate and interact with your device using the keys on the display.
You can also input text using the Braille keyboard. As not many people have access to a Braille device, we will not cover this here. Below the video, you can find a link to the Google Braille Back app in the Google Play Store, if you need it.
Speech
You can select items on your screen and hear them read or described aloud with Select to Speak. Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Select to Speak. Turn on Select to Speak. The Accessibility button appears in the Navigation bar. If you don't see Select to Speak, go to Google Play to download the latest version of the Android Accessibility Suite, then try these steps again.
Now, let's try it. We start an app. Tap the Accessibility button. Tap an item on your screen, such as a text or an image.
[Screen reader:] [Inaudible.] Photos.
[Narrator:] To hear multiple items, drag your finger across the screen.
[Screen reader:] Pallas’s squirrel. Photos. Information. Map. Add. Stop. Coloration can vary depending on geography.
[Narrator:] To hear everything, tap Play.
[Screen reader:] [Inaudible.] Pallas’s squirrel. Photos. Information. Map. Add. Song. Pallas’s squirrel 182.
[Narrator:] When the player is open, use the buttons to pause or play, skip forward or backward.
Obviously, Android needs voices to speak text. If the system language is not enough, you can install additional voices. Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then Text-to-speech output. You can configure your preferred speech engine, language, speech rate and pitch here.
[Screen reader:] This is an example of speech synthesis in English. This is an example of speech synthesis in English.
[Narrator:] To install voice data for another language, select the settings icon next to Preferred engine. These are the settings of the Google Text-to-speech engine. Select Install voice data. Select the language and voice you would like to add to your system.
[Voice sample in a foreign language.]
[Voice sample in a foreign language.]
[Narrator:] As you can see, there are more parameters to customize the Google Text-to-speech engine. Feel free to experiment with them to see if they improve your user experience.
Speech recognition
You can use Live Transcribe on your Android device to capture speech and sound and see them as text on your screen. Live Transcribe is an app which you can download for free from the Google Play Store.
You can find the Play Store link below the video. Once you have downloaded and installed the app, you need to start Live Transcribe.
Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Live Transcribe. Activate the service. To accept the permissions, tap OK. Please make sure that you are connected to the internet. Live Transcribe sends your voice data to Google servers. If this raises some privacy issues for you, you might want to reconsider using it.
Let’s try it. At the bottom of your screen, tap the Accessibility button. Hold your device microphone near the person or sound that you want to capture. The microphone is usually located at the bottom of your device.
[User:] Approximately 80 million Europeans have one or more disabilities - ranging from colour-blindness to a motoric handicap - which hinders or limits their use of the web. Is this text recognised correctly?
[Narrator:] The speech and sound appear as words on the screen. To copy and paste from the transcript, touch and hold text, then select copy or select all.
Live Transcribe offers many more functions, such as changing the language of the spoken text. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings. Tap More settings. To set your primary language, tap Primary language, then choose a language from the list.
Optionally, you can set a secondary language. Tap Secondary language, then choose a language from the list.
To change languages quickly while Live Transcribe is running, tap the language at the bottom of your screen. The system will now switch between the primary and secondary languages. There are more than 70 languages available.
There are many more features in Live Transcribe, but we cannot introduce all of them here. Please feel free to explore the settings of this app to see if they can improve your user experience.
Voice Access
The Voice Access app for Android allows you to control your device with spoken commands. Use your voice to open apps, navigate and edit text hands-free. Voice Access is an app which you can download for free from the Google Play Store. You can find the Play Store link below the video. You can use Voice Access in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish.
It is recommended that you activate OK Google voice searches and actions, as Voice Access makes use of this feature.
Open the Google app. At the bottom right, tap More, then Settings, and then Voice. Under Hey Google, tap Voice Match. Turn on Access with voice match. This feature will ensure your microphone is always activated.
To turn on Voice Access, follow these steps: Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Voice Access. At the top, tap the On/Off switch. Turn on Voice Access.
If Voice Match is on, say OK Google. If Voice Match is not on, open your notification shade and tap the Touch to start Voice Access notification. The first time you turn on Voice Access, there are two extra steps to help you get started. A guide to OK Google settings helps set you up for a good hands-free experience. An interactive tutorial teaches you how Voice Access works.
[User:] OK Google. Tap next.
[Narrator:] Let's start using it. Say a command, such as:
[User:] Hey, Google! Go Home. What can I say? Tap 2. Go Home. Tap 15. Tap 12. Hide numbers. Show numbers. Scroll down. Scroll down. Scroll up. Go home. Turn off Wi-Fi. Turn on Wi-Fi. Turn off Bluetooth. Turn on Bluetooth.
[Narrator:] Most of these commands require an internet connection. If this raises privacy issues for you, you might want to reconsider using Voice Access. However, some of the commands work even when you are offline. Most of them are hardware related, but a few can control apps: Play music; Open, followed by the name of an app; Turn on or off Wi-Fi, the flashlight, airplane mode or Bluetooth; Turn up or down the volume.
Audio
In the Settings app, you can find an audio-related feature under Audio & on-screen text. Here we can activate Mono Audio, so that all stereo audio signals will be played in mono. If you need a sound amplifier, then you might want to install the Sound Amplifier app from the Google Play Store. You will find the link below the video.
Of course, Android allows us to pair a Bluetooth enabled hearing aid with the device. You can pair Bluetooth devices by opening the Settings app and selecting Connected devices. The pairing procedure is similar to that used for any other Bluetooth device, for example a Bluetooth speaker.
Media
Android offers support for captions in videos. To access these parameters, do the following: Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then tap Captions. Activate the captions. You can select additional parameters such as language, text size or caption style.
Keyboard
Android makes it possible to pair a physical keyboard via Bluetooth to any Android device. The keyboard can be used to type text whenever an on-screen keyboard appears; to navigate the device while running the TalkBack screen reader with a set of keyboard shortcuts; to operate as a switch for Switch Access.
We will learn about Switch Access in the following section.
Switch Access
Switch Access lets you interact with your Android device using one or more switches instead of the touchscreen. Switch Access can be helpful for people who have impaired dexterity that prevents them from interacting directly with the Android device.
Switch Access scans the items on your screen, highlighting each item in turn, until you make a selection.
A switch can be one of the following: An external switch device, designed for the people in need of it, connected to the Android device via USB or Bluetooth; A standard USB or Bluetooth keyboard working as a switch device by assigning one or more of its keys to actions; A built-in button on the Android device, such as the Volume up and Volume down buttons. This option is intended for development and testing.
After you connect an external switch device or keyboard, Android automatically hides the on-screen keyboard.
To enter text with Switch Access, you need to re-enable the keyboard by doing the following. Open the Settings app, select System, tap Language & input. Select Physical keyboard and then Show virtual keyboard.
To activate Switch Access, open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, tap Switch Access, activate it. As Switch Access requires a lot of time-intensive training, we will just do a short demonstration here.
By default, the system uses auto-scanning. The focus will automatically move to the next interactive item after a specified duration. Once it will reach the end, it will restart from the beginning.
Let’s activate the switch. You can see the focus moving from item to item. Once the focus is on an item of interest, we will activate the switch. We will now move back to the home screen and back again to deactivate Switch Access. As you can see, this works perfectly, but requires a lot of time.
Switch Access offers several different scan modes and many options. As it requires a lot of training to operate all the different panels and modes, we cannot explain all of them here.
Accessibility shortcut
As you have seen, there are many useful accessibility features offered by Android. If you are using a feature frequently, it might be a good idea to configure the Accessibility shortcut.
In the Accessibility settings, the first menu item is the Accessibility shortcut. Select an accessibility feature here. You can activate or deactivate this feature by pressing both volume buttons for 3 seconds.
Where to continue?
You have seen an introduction on how accessibility tools are integrated into Android. There are many options for very different kinds of specific needs. Depending on your personal interests, you could continue with one of the following chapters:
- Assistive Technology – macOS
- Assistive Technology – Windows or Assistive Technology – iOS
If you would like to learn more about screen readers in Android, we recommend you continue with: Screen readers – Android
[Automated voice:] Accessibility. For more information visit: op.europa.eu/en/web/accessibility.