#accessibility review

[ID: A banner reading, "Accessibility Review" next to the app logos for Quran, Quranic and QuranMajeed. /end ID]

Today I will be reviewing three iOS Quran apps for accessibility for the visually impaired and blind, especially large text support and screen reader accessibility. The apps are Quran, QuranMajeed and Quranic.

Quran

Let's start with Quran from quran.com -- if you want a straightforward app that offers the Quran in both Arabic and translated, as well as recordings of recitations, I would recommend this app. It has overall good accessibility and is completely accessible via screen reader (VoiceOver). All buttons are labelled and clickable, and both the Arabic text and translations are accessible. This app gains a full score on this metric. Alhamdulillah!

Quran also offers different font sizes, and the option to separately change the size of the Arabic and translated text. (So you can have one larger than the other.) While there is a good selection of font sizes, I would have still preferred if they had even larger Arabic.

Below you can see two screenshots, one with the smallest possible font and one with the biggest.

(All screenshots in this post were taken on my tablet, not my phone. The square "play" button in the bottom right corner is an accessibility widget and not part of the app.)

Dark mode is available.

QuranMajeed

Full disclosure, I don't really like this app, but I will try to stay objective. QuranMajeed is a very commercialized app with ads, a paid version, and lots of gadgets such as E-cards, Halal shop finder, and buttons that appear to be in-app but actually open your browser and redirect you somewhere else. It is a bit cluttered and not easy to navigate. However, it also has it's upsides. QuranMajeed supports very large fonts and even has the option to change to different fonts entirely. Dark mode and different background colors are available.

Below you can see two screenshots, one with the smallest possible font size and one with the biggest. (I chose a font that uses differently colored letters, but there is also uniform black.)

(Again, all screenshots in this post were taken on my tablet, not my phone. The square "play" button in the bottom right corner is an accessibility widget and not part of the app.)

The large text support is very nice and vital for accessibility, and I applaud QuranMajeed for giving this much support. I would have liked if it was possible to independently change the size of the Arabic and translation, though.

Now, onto the bad: QuranMajeed doesn't have screen reader support. At all. Many buttons are unlabeled and both the Arabic and translated text are invisible to VoiceOver.

There is an option called "Visual Quran" that pairs aesthetic images with Quran verses, and those verses are screen reader accessible, but it's not possible to turn the page with a screen reader, because you need to click and drag the page to turn it. So you can only ever read one verse. You'd have to turn your screen reader on and off constantly. (If anyone uses VoiceOver and knows how else to do this, please correct me.) The images also don't have alt text, and the text doesn't have different font size options.

[ID: A screenshot of the visual Quran option. One verse is shown in both Arabic and English, underneath a picture of a tulip. /end ID]

Personally, I don't really like QuranMajeed, but if you need larger font than what Quran has to offer and are fine with watching adds, you might want to check it out.

Quranic

Quranic isn't primarily a Quran reading app -- it's actually a language learning app for Quranic Arabic, but I'm putting it on this list because the latest update might be of interest for fellow VI people. It has three main options: lessons, exercises, and Quran. The latest update has brought dynamic text to the Quran section, and it's really really big.

I will put two screenshots below, one with the smallest and one with the biggest option:

Yes, you heard that right. That's the smallest font. I put it lower than 100%, and it's still larger than Quran's biggest font. It also shows a direct translation for each word, and then an overall translation for each verse. Darkmode is also available. If you want to sight-read the Quran using an app, this might be your best bet. It is, however, not screen reader accessible.

Conclusion

There are many Quran apps on the market with varying levels of accessibility. If you need screen reader access or only need moderately large text, check out Quran. If you need larger text, try Quranic. If you need large text but also want a recording of a recitation, you can give QuranMajeed a try.

This is a form that can be filled out in order to both evaluate businesses and provide necessary information to anyone who is concerned about accommodations. I created this form for the purpose of creating an accessibility review blog for my local area, but I would love if other people were able to use it.

Feel free to use and spread.

@accessibilityfails This blog was largely responsible for my coming up with the idea

[Image Description: Two photos showing two laminated pages with the following text... "Accessibility Review

Location: (blank space)

Address: (blank space)

Parking Access

Parking? Yes or No. Location type: Lot / Street / Other (blank space)

Accessible Parking? Yes or No. Distance from Entrance: (blank space)

Any Barriers or Obstacles from Parking to Entrance: (blank space)

Public Access

Sidewalk to entrance? Yes or No. Condition: (blank space)

Bike stands? Yes or No

Nearest Bus Stop: (blank space) Distance from entrance: (blank space)

Business name/logo/address clearly visible? Yes or No

Entrance/Exit Access

Most accessible entry point: (blank space)

Accessible doors? Yes or No. Type of accessible door: Auto / Small Button / Large Vertical Button

Curb or step? Yes or No (number of) Inches. Stairs? Yes or No (number of) Steps

Ramp? Yes or No. Incline? Good / Okay / Steep

Any other usable entrance/exit points: (blank space)

Indoor Access

Enough Space to Maneuver Mobility Aids? Yes or No

If not, state reasons or obstacles: (blank space)

Floor Texture: Rough, Matte (safer for cane users) / Smooth, Shiny (more hazardous for cane users)

Uneven Flooring? Yes or No. If so, how severe: Slight Sloping / Noticeable Sloping

Seating Available? Yes or No. Type of Seating: (blank space)

Additional Floors? Yes or No. Elevator Access? Yes or No

Bathroom Access

Bathroom? Yes or No. Customer Only? Yes or No. Accessible Stall? Yes or No

Accessible Bathroom? Yes or No. Accessible Door? Yes or No

Accessible Amount of Space? Yes or No

Grab Bar? Yes or No. Placement: (blank space)

Change Table/Area? Yes or No. Supports: Children Only / Children or Adults

Sink/Soap/Towels Reachable by Wheelchair? Yes or No

Any Additional Features or Issues: (space for writing)

Available Accommodations

Disability Services? Yes or No. Contact for Accommodations: (blank space)

Sign Language Interpreting (specify): (blank space)

Spoken Language Interpreting (specify): (blank space)

Subtitles: In Spoken Language / Other: (blank space)

Mobility Aids: Borrow / Rent ($_____). Electric Cart / Electric Chair / Manual Chair / Walker

Sensory Information

Lighting: Bright / Well Lit / Dim Direct / Indirect. Florescent / Incandescent / Other

Loud Sounds? Yes or No Continuous? Yes or No. Description: (blank space)

Background Sounds: (space for writing)

Scents: (space for writing)

Temperature: Above 24C / 24C – 21C / Below 21C

Air Quality: Clear / Dusty / Smoky / Other: (blank space). Well Ventilated / Adequate / Stuffy

Praise, or pleasant surprises: (space for writing)

Criticisms, or negative experiences: (space for writing)

[ID: A green banner with the Duolingo Owl and the words "Duolingo Accessibility Review." /end ID]

Duolingo is one of the most popular language learning apps out there. It has a ton of languages and you can complete entire courses for free, though there is also a paid version with no adds and unlimited hearts and such. It's a cool app and I'm glad it exists, but its accessibility kinda sucks. There is no large text support and some menu items are not screen reader accessible.

Large Text

There is no in-app option to change font size or choose different fonts. The app also doesn't support OS font sizes. On apple products, it's possible to set a standard font size (which can be bigger or smaller than default) and it's also possible to set a font size for each individual app. It's up to the app's developers to decide if they want to use that setting or completely ignore it. Duolingo chose to ignore it.

I understand that it can be difficult to accommodate large fonts on small phone screens, and I'd even go so far as to say that some screens are simply not large enough to reasonable accommodate some visually impaired/blind users, once you get to the point where each individual word is wider than the screen, but it should still be up to the users to make that choice. If someone is fine with scrolling left/right constantly, why stop them?

But that's not even the ballpark we're talking about here. We're talking about any font size options at all. If Duolingo doesn't want to support up to 310% size, they could (for example) support up to 150% and no more. Some apps do that, they offer support up to a certain level, and anything above that gets treated as 150% too.

Also, the Duolingo layout wastes incredible amounts of space. Here are some screenshots I took on my tablet. There is soo much white space that they could effectively utilize. Their UI would not suffer or become cramped through larger font size options. They have a ton of open space.

[ID: Three mostly-empty Duolingo screenshots. The first two use around one third of the screen each, the third one uses maybe half the screen in button-width, but the buttons are mostly empty. /end ID]

Here's an example of how to better utilize the space. (I edited this in 5 minutes, so obviously it's not perfect, but it's just meant to serve as an example. It's blurry because I literally took the screenshot and then enlarged some parts.)

[ID: Edit of the first screenshot, a multiple choice quiz with two options. The text and answers now fill up the entire screen. /end ID]

There is only one type of exercise which uses the space effectively, and it's this exercise where they show you Latin letters and then four Arabic options. (Though the Latin could honestly be bigger.)

[ID: DuoLingo screenshot showing a multiple choice quiz with Arabic letters in a large font. /end ID]

It's possible that other languages utilize the space more effectively, but this is my personal experience.

Using the iOS built-in zoom function may be useful to some users, to enlarge certain parts of the screen, but it can also be quite a hassle, because some exercises are at the top of the screen, some are in the middle, and some are more spaced out. So you cannot simply leave the zoom window in one place, you have to constantly move it.

Conclusion: It sucks when users can't read the text in your app, especially if they're learning a new alphabet, but also just in general. Please include large font options. It would help me and many others so much.

Screen Reader Accessibility (VoiceOver)

I personally do not use Duolingo with my screen reader, because I want to practice my Arabic sight-reading, but for the sake of this review, I tried it out and it's mostly accessible, but not fully. All the main functions can be operated via screen reader such as starting lessons, giving answers, checking your profile, etc.

All buttons (at least all that I tested) had proper labels and could be operated, with the exception of "Rapid Review" buttons -- a type of quick timed exercise outside of the main scope of the app.

It's probably not possible to complete Rapid Reviews with their tight time restraint when using a screen reader, but I'm unsure how I feel about Rapid Reviews simply being completely invisible and un-clickable to a screen reader. Like, if you operated the app with a screen reader with the screen curtain on or without enough usable vision to see the button, you wouldn't know it's there. It's not only unlabeled, it simply doesn't exist to a screen reader.

(Screen curtain on means the screen doesn't display images and is pure black.)

Another inaccessible part were the encouraging messages you get in-between lessons. It shows little illustrations of the Duolingo characters such as Duo the owl or Zari and Lily and there's some encouraging words. These were not picked up by my screen reader at all, not even as unlabeled images.

Conclusion: Mostly functional with some small deficits. People who actually use a screen reader to access Duolingo probably have better insights concerning this.

Sound, Darkmode, Color Contrast

Duolingo used to have an option to skip individual listening exercises, which I quite liked, but they seem to have changed this sometime in the past two years. Now there's an option in the settings where you can turn listening exercises completely on or off. Same goes for speaking exercises. Darkmode is available when turned on on your device. Duolingo has dark grey font on white background. I would rate it as a good and readable contrast. In darkmode it's white on dark grey.

Overall Conclusion

The Duolingo iOS App presents some significant barriers for visually impaired and blind people, especially those relying on large text. To avoid this problem in your own applications, think about how to implement dynamic text from the start. Tacking it on once your UI is finished can be difficult, but if you plan it from the start you can save yourself a lot of work.

For screen reader accessibility, make sure to provide button text, alt text, labels, or aria-labels to all relevant elements. When your product goes through testing, make sure at least one person tests with a screen reader. You can also do this yourself during the UI development phase. If you are not a UI developer, talk to your colleagues and see if at least one of them pays attention to accessibility.

If you're a product owner, stakeholder, or take part in planning meetings, make sure to add accessibility as an acceptability criterion. Be as specific as you think you need to be.

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