Apple Books v 4.2.1 (iOS 12) / Voiceover
Testsuite: Accessibility
- Name
Apple Books - Version
4.2.1 - Operating System
iOS - Operating System Version
12 - Assistive technology
Voiceover - Assistive technology features
Touch/Gestures, Screenreader/Self-voicing - Last Updated
Feb. 16, 2019, 4:24 a.m. - Notes
Summaries
Short summary
Basic, non-visual and maths and image accessibility tests have been performed with screen reader.
Long summary
The Apple Books app can be used for leisure reading. It does not support fine navigation within the book text with Voiceover. The tests not supported are TOC hierarchy, determining "Where am I?", selecting text, copying text, adding notes, reviewing image alt text and navigation in book text by blocks/paragraphs. The Maths and long image description support needs to improve.
Support Results
Basic Functionality
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | 80% | ||
Basic Functionality |
4/4 | ||
| Operating system/Platform accessibility | Supported | ||
| The reading system can be activated independently | Supported | ||
| Open content | Supported | The test files were sideloaded from email attachments | |
| Listing documents | Supported | ||
Navigation |
5/7 | ||
| The table of contents in the app presents the content hierarchy | Not Supported | The hierarchy is presented visually by indenting the sub-sections. However, Voiceover is not able to determine the hierarchy and all the items are read alike. | |
| Navigate to chapters through the Table of Contents | Supported | The Voiceover reading starts from top of the screen containing the selected section/sub-section. Voiceover focus does not precisely move to the section selected in the TOC. | |
| Navigate content by pages | Supported | In Table of Contents view tap to view printed page numbers". Then the search feature can be used to type and go to desired page. | |
| Navigate forward and backward through reflowed content | Supported | ||
| Read navigation information | Not Supported | With Voiceover it is not possible to determine the name of the current section or sub-section being read. The screen displays the number of page/screen at the bottom and the name of the Chapter and not the sub-section at the top of the screen. Heading navigation is not supported. | |
| Perform a search, review the search results | Supported | Voiceover focus does not move precisely to the searched item, the reading starts from the top of the screen containing the searched term. | |
| Move across chapters without using TOC | Supported | The reading stops at the end of the Chapter. Page navigation gesture is required to start reading the next chapter. | |
Highlights, Notes, and Bookmarks |
3/4 | ||
| Add a Bookmark or Highlight | Supported | ||
| Review and navigate Bookmarks or Highlights | Supported | ||
| Add a note | Not Supported | The text cannot be selected with Voiceover. The popup menu containing the option to add notes cannot be activated when Voiceover is running.command | |
| Review and navigate Notes | Supported | If notes have been added, then they can be reviewed and navigated to using the Notes tab in the TOC view with Voiceover. | |
Non-Visual Reading
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | 64.3% | ||
Non-Visual Reading |
9/14 | ||
| Initiate "read from here" | Supported | ||
| Stop and resume reading | Supported | Reading can be stopped and started at the same location using the two finger single tap gesture of Voiceover. | |
| All text should be read in the proper order | Supported | ||
| Image alternate text reading | Not Supported | The Alt text is read out during continuous reading of Voiceover. However, it cannot be navigated using words or characters and the image alt text is not available using navigation gestures. | |
| Change reading speed | Supported | ||
| TTS allows pause for headings, paragraphs, list items, etc | Supported | ||
| Navigate between the cells, rows and columns in the table | Not Supported | The table text can be navigated only by words mode with Voiceover. | |
| Navigate between internal hyperlinks | Supported | The Voiceover interaction needs to be improved. When the hyperlink is inline, it Voiceover does not consistently select it when the link navigation is used. | |
| Move to the next block item | Not Supported | Navigation by blocks or even paragraphs is not supported. | |
| Navigate by characters | Supported | ||
| Navigate by words | Supported | ||
| Navigate by lines | Supported | ||
| Navigate the content by headings | Not Supported | ||
| Select and copy text | Not Supported | Selection and copy of text is not supported with Voiceover. | |
Visual Adjustment Tests
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | Not Tested | ||
Visual Adjustment |
0/8 | ||
| Change font size | Not Tested | ||
| Change background and foreground color | Not Tested | ||
| Change brightness | Not Tested | ||
| Apply high contrast system configuration | Not Tested | ||
| Magnify the User Interface(UI) | Not Tested | ||
| Change Font | Not Tested | ||
| Support for SVG | Not Tested | ||
| Enlarge SVG image | Not Tested | ||
Read Aloud
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | Not Tested | ||
Read Aloud |
0/8 | ||
| The content can be read aloud | Not Tested | ||
| Stop and resume reading | Not Tested | ||
| The Read Aloud feature should continue until interrupted by the user | Not Tested | ||
| All text should be read in the proper order | Not Tested | ||
| Change Read Aloud reading speed | Not Tested | ||
| Text to Speech handles punctuations and document structure appropriately | Not Tested | ||
| Text is emphasised as it is spoken by read aloud | Not Tested | ||
| The emphasis or highlight colour can be changed | Not Tested | ||
Media Overlays
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | Not Tested | ||
Basic Tests |
0/3 | ||
| Media Overlays Playback | Not Tested | ||
| Pause and resume from the same position, without closing the book | Not Tested | ||
| Resume playback from last position on opening a book | Not Tested | ||
Navigation Tests |
0/10 | ||
| Section Navigation - Previous/Next Phrase | Not Tested | ||
| Navigate to previous section | Not Tested | ||
| Navigate to next section | Not Tested | ||
| Navigate with pagelist | Not Tested | ||
| Move to next page | Not Tested | ||
| Move to previous page | Not Tested | ||
| Text and media overlay synchronization | Not Tested | ||
| Set and navigate to bookmarks | Not Tested | ||
| Section Navigation - TOC | Not Tested | ||
| Continuous playback across page turns | Not Tested | ||
Math
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | 33.3% | ||
MathML |
2/6 | ||
| Support for fallback mechanism | Not Supported | The equation alt text is not reported by Voiceover. | |
| Support for JavaScript and MathML | Not Supported | The equation is read out without any prefix or without numerator and denominator information. The right side of the equation is not read in proper order by Voiceover. | |
| Navigating inline MathML with AT and other technologies | Not Supported | The equation is read out without any prefix or without numerator and denominator information. The right side of the equation is not read in The proper order. equation description can be navigated using Voiceover Words mode. | |
| Navigating block MathML with AT and other technologies | Not Supported | ||
| Rendering of inline MathML | Supported | ||
| Rendering of block MathML | Supported | ||
Extended Descriptions
| Feature | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative Score | 55.6% | ||
Extended descriptions |
10/18 | ||
| Detection of aria-details on image (img element) in figure element | Supported | The element to be activated is not detected as a link or button. However, when tapped it does expand and collapse. | |
| Moving to extended description inside figcaption | Supported | Although the test is supported, the experience with Voiceover is not seemless. The element to be activated is not detected as a link or button. On activating it the Voiceover focus does not move to the description. One can manage to activate and read the image description using various gestures and | |
| Detection and utilization of details and summary elements inside figcaption | Supported | On collapsing the element, the description is hidden. However, the navigation to the element and focus after activating it is not predictable with Voiceover running. | |
| Detection of aria-details | Supported | The element is not announced as a link or button although it can be activated. | |
| Moving to extended description next to the image | Supported | The details are shown, however Voiceover focus does not move to the expected location. | |
| Detection and utilization of details and summary elements | Supported | The details can be hidden by tapping the details element. The experience with Voiceover is not seemless. | |
| Detection of aria-details on image (img element) | Not Supported | Voiceover does not detect any link/element for details. | |
| Linking to extended description at end of chapter | Not Supported | ||
| Fallback technique for linking to extended description via text hyperlink | Supported | The actions can be accomplished although with few workarounds for Voiceover. | |
| Fallback technique for linking to extended description via image hyperlink | Not Supported | Details link is not shown or reported. | |
| aria-describedby points to an aside in a figcaption | Supported | The details are read by Voiceover after the Horizontal break. The presence of the image is not reported by Voiceover. | |
| aria-describedby points to an aside at the end of chapter | Not Supported | The description is not read by Voiceover. | |
| Block-level image with empty alt and without role="presentation" | Not Supported | Voiceover is not able to detect the image. | |
| Inline graphic with empty alt and without role="presentation" | Not Supported | Voiceover is not able to detect the image. | |
| Block-level image with role="presentation" and empty alt | Supported | ||
| Inline graphic with role="presentation" and empty alt | Supported | ||
| Expanding details and ease of reading | Not Supported | The complete text is not displayed, it is truncated to the end of current page only. Voiceover does not detect the newly appeared text, upon navigation to another page and then back to this page, Voiceover is able to read the Soup recepie. . | |
| Collapsing and pagination | Not Supported | On expansion, complete text is not displayed. it is limited to the current page only and the rest of the book text is truncated. On collapsing, additional space is removed. | |