Hello all, I am a voiceover user and I hear a lot of sighted people talking about widgets on their lock screen. I was wondering, first of all, are they accessible with voiceover, I don’t want to add a widget on my phone and potentially screw up my phone. And secondly, what exactly is the point of them if you are a voiceover user?
Comments
Give them a try
First up, they shouldn't do anything to screw up your iPhone. So, there's no harm in giving them a try and see if they add any value to your use case.
All of the ones that I've tested so far have been accessible, but to be fair they are all from apps that have a good track record with accessibility.
Whether they offer any value will be completely subjective. I have a couple of widgets that show different weather data, one that shows my current steps for the day, and a couple others. All have some value. Is it life changing? Heck no, but it has removed some steps previously required for getting to the data they show.
So, give it a try. If they don't work for you, remove them. All that you will have lost is a couple of minutes ☺️
The answer for if they are…
The answer for if they are accessible is "it depends". I made sure to code and test the widgets in my apps for VoiceOver support but that's up to the individual developer(s).
This video is two years old but shows how to add them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x49NAAOQyRA
If certain widgets aren't showing up I've found that sometimes powering the phone off/on helps.