This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lucy
Providing accessible experiences is more relevant than just following laws while developing Android applications. There are over 1.3 billion individuals living with a disability in the world (WHO), and hence accessibility has become a business and philanthropic imperative.
Android accessibility has evolved by 2025 with better WCAG 2.2 mapping, AI-driven TalkBack, and emotive captions. The latest Android Accessibility Guidelines are reviewed here, and steps developers can take to build inclusive, future-proof apps.
Why Accessibility Matters Now More Than Ever
Ensuring your software is accessible ensures users with hearing, vision, mobility, or cognitive impairments can use it independently. From one-handed use to better contrast in wide sunlight, it increases usability for everyone besides making it inclusive.
Accessible apps enable companies to reach more people, rank better on Google Play, and avoid trouble with global regulations such as the EU Accessibility Act (EAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
1. Getting to Know the Android Accessibility Baseline
Like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), Android's design thinking ensures that content is robust, usable, perceivable, and understandable.
The following are the primary areas that all Android app developers must focus on:
- Color and Contrast: For text, have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, and for larger text or icons, at least 3:1.
- Touch Targets: According to Material Design accessibility best practices, keep interactive elements at least 48 dp × 48 dp.
- Motion & Animation: Provide reduced motion settings for users with motion sensitivity.
- Roles & Labels: Every interactive component requires a unique role (button or switch) and label (contentDescription in Compose).
These principles form a good foundation, but modern Android apps need to do more.
2. Jetpack Compose: Accessibility Built-In
Jetpack Compose's built-in semantics and roles have simplified accessibility even further.
Here are some best practices:
Button(
onClick = onSubmit
modifier = Modifier.semantics { role = Role.Button }
{
Text("Submit")
}
Manage focus order
val (name, email, submit) = remember { FocusRequester.createRefs() }
TextField(modifier = Modifier.focusRequester(name), value = .)
TextField(modifier = Modifier.focusRequester(email), value = .)
Button(modifier = Modifier.focusRequester(submit), onClick = {.}) { Text("Submit") }
These tiny code pieces make forms, lists, and custom components screen-reader accessible. Use Modifier.semantics { } to announce roles, states, or dynamic content to TalkBack.
3. Testing Accessibility the Right Way
Accessibility is a continuous testing process rather than a one-time checklist. Android provides a number of helpful tools:
Accessibility Scanner: An easy method to detect small touch targets, low contrast, and missing labels right on the device.
The Accessibility Test Framework (ATF) automatically identifies accessibility problems during continuous integration builds by integrating with Espresso tests.
@BeforeClass
fun enableAccessibilityChecks() {
AccessibilityChecks.enable()
.setRunChecksFromRootView(true)
.setThrowExceptionForErrors(true)
});
Manually test your app to ensure users can navigate entirely without sight or touch movement for TalkBack, Switch Access, and Voice Access.
By employing both of these automated and manual checks, accessibility regressions are kept from reaching new releases.
4. WCAG 2.2 Mapping to Android
Several new success criteria specific to mobile apps are added by the latest WCAG 2.2 guidelines, adopted worldwide in 2023–2024:
- Target Size (2.5.8): At least 48dp touch targets.
- Dragging Motions (2.5.7): Provide alternatives to drag motions, e.g., long-press or tap.
- Consistent Help (3.2.6): Make sure that help symbols or contact information are in the same position on all pages.
- Redundant Entry (3.3.7): Avoid making users re-enter data they have already provided.
By combining WCAG 2.2 with Android design patterns, you can create an accessible by default application instead of an accessible by exception application.
5. What's New in Android Accessibility (2024–2025)
Android accessibility continues to advance rapidly. The following are the key new trends and features to take into account when designing:
AI-Fueled TalkBack: Google's TalkBack already uses AI to create visual descriptions and even answer follow-up questions.
To assist the AI in generating accurate output, Skilled Android developers for hire need to keep including helpful contentDescription.
Expressive Captions: Perfect for video and streaming apps, these new captions immediately convey tone, emotion, and sound cues.
With its zoom-preserving layout and similarly adaptive scaling, the Chrome Page Zoom Model can improve readability in your application.
Subsequent versions of Android will be able to support broadcast audio for users who use hearing aids; keep flexibility in audio routing.
Your app will still be around a long time if you anticipate these technologies now.
6. Accessibility Checklist for Android Teams
A short internal check list for every release cycle:
✅ Contrast of text meets WCAG 2.2 specifications.
✅ All icons and images have an accurate description of what they contain.
✅ Touch targets with visible focus states, minimum 48 dp.
✅ TalkBack correctly announces all actionable objects.
✅ Form errors are correctly and immediately announced.
✅Key screens are navigated through by the accessibility scanner.
✅Espresso ATF runs as part of the CI pipeline.
Regressions are prevented and high-quality accessibility is maintained consistently through this systematic approach.
7. Steer Clear of Common Policy Pitfalls
Ensure that your app truly is leveraging the AccessibilityService API for accessibility purposes if it does; otherwise, Google Play can reject or flag your app. To stay in good standing, always get user permission in a visible way and comply with Play Developer Policies.
Conclusion: Build for Everyone, Not Just for Some
Smart design is inclusive design. You can design apps that work for everyone using people of all abilities if you follow WCAG 2.2, adopt Jetpack Compose semantics, and adhere to Android accessibility guidelines. Accessibility isn't an afterthought; it's how you get your app ready for the next billion Android users.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lucy
Lucy | Sciencx (2025-10-23T08:49:23+00:00) Android Accessibility Guidelines: Building Inclusive Apps. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/10/23/android-accessibility-guidelines-building-inclusive-apps/
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