Nextdoor: Neighborhood Network

Description of App

Nextdoor is the free private social network for you, your neighbors and your community. It's the easiest way for you and your neighbors to connect and talk about the things that matter in your neighborhood. People across the country are using Nextdoor to: 
  • Quickly get the word out about a break-in
  • Organize a Neighborhood Watch Group
  • Track down a trustworthy babysitter
  • Find out who does the best paint job in town
  • Ask for help keeping an eye out for a lost dog
  • Find a new home for an outgrown bike
  • Finally call that nice man down the street by his first name
Nextdoor's mission is to bring back a sense of community to the neighborhood, one of the most important communities in each of our lives.

Version

1.0.1

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

7

Accessibility Comments

I have not tried to make a post, but the app's major functions appear to be accessible. Next to the menu button at the top you will find an Add button. This brings up a row of icons with text labels at the top of the screen. However, swipe navigation doesn't take you directly there. You could eventually swipe through all of the text underneath and eventually find them, but it's faster to explore with your finger. The icons are for different things you can post. VO will read both the text label and the somewhat intelligibly labeled icons as you move over them. If you change your mind, the only way I found to get rid of the icon bar is to make a selection and then cancel from there. The main screen contains the latest posts from neighbors. You will encounter some unlabeled buttons. Sometimes when swiping VO will read two of these per post, but visual focus seems to indicate that only one item is present, the photo of the person who made the post. Double-tapping this will bring up the profile. Another unlabeled button appears there. I think it expands the person's photo. The menu brings up several categories and groups that you can select as well as options for getting info or sharing the app. At the very bottom is a settings option. Here you can change what kinds of notifications you will get from the app. You'll encounter funky labels but they are understandable and actually helpful as they are because things are set up in columns with icons for email and phone notification. if VO says "selected" then you will get those notifications. There are some items that do not have email options. This is an accurate representation of what's on the screen.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

Most buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some minor accessibility issues with this app, but they are easy to deal with.

Other Comments

Nextdoor is a neighborhood based social network. You can find out from the nextdoor.com web site if your neighborhood is participating. As far as I know this is a U.S. based network. The web site seems reasonably accessible, but I do tend to resort to ZoomText when the screen reader doesn't cooperate, so I may be forgetting what problems I did run into. The process for creating a new neighborhood is reported to be inaccessible.

Developer's Twitter Username

@Nextdoor

Options

Comments

By Kathy Blackburn on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 05:18

With the most recent update to NextDoor, reading message replies is no longer possible. I am running IOS 8.4 on an iPhone 6+. I have contacted the developer. The rep who emailed me back acknowledges it's a bug. The problem is being referred to the appropriate department. Stay tuned.