Sky Has Joined AppleVis, and We Would Welcome Your Feedback on the Accessibility of Our Various Apps

Hello, I am from italy and am a Sky customer since long time.
I have SkyGo on my iPhone and iPad, and unfortunately I find many problems on the iPad's app especially. So, I am really glad if now you are joining visually impaired community to get feedbacks on how to improve your services and apps.
I am a tester, reviewer and translator into an Italian speaking community, www.nvapple.it so I'll do whatever I can to keep all non-english speaking people updated of what you and AppleVis community will do together. Helping you of course with possible feedbacks and beta-testing services.

Hi David, I am a UK Sky customer but last time I checked there were no audio described films on the Skygo app as there are on the BBC iPllayer. Is this still the case, and if so are there any plans to catch up with the BBC?
Mark.

Hi there I'm so glad that you are reaching out to our community, I have to say first of all the Sky Apps have got a lot better lately and for that I that you. The thing I'd really love to see though has nothing to do with any of the apps but more to do with the Sky box, why can't you have a sky box that has built in text to speech so that everything on the screen can be read out and we can use the functions of the box just like a sighted person can. I know this can be done as Goodmans already do it with their Freeview box and Panasonic have it built into some of their TV's and I know it can be done on a satellite/cable box because Comcast have one in the U.S.A So please help us use our Sky+ boxes just the way everyone else does and better still let us get Sky Q with this function on it. Kind Regards

Firstly, I would just like to say how much I enjoy using your apps and the services they provide. I think it's great you've come to the applevis community so we can help with the accessibility of your apps.
This post is mainly about your football sky sports score centre app. I have had this app for quite a number of years now and used to really enjoy using it. It was very accessible and great for me as I could get all the latest news, scores and lineups on my phone.
However, as time's gone on, the accessibility of the app has dropped to the point where I hardly use it anymore. It's still on my phone as I can just about look at some news articles on it but other than that it'has become very difficult to navigate.
There are a number of issues that have contributed to this and it would be difficult for me to list them all now without starting to use the app a bit more as i haven't used it in a while as i said but I'll try to highlight some of the main ones.
The adverts do get in the way a lot when flicking through articles which make them very difficult to read with voiceover. They pop up all over the screen.
When reading an article, the buttons to go back to the list of articles are not clearly labled and I have to keep clicking on the menyou button, which is labled as "clock face 9 o'clock" (think it's a symbol) just to get back to the menyou. After that I have to click on news again and even then this sometimes doesn't work to get me back in.
The scors section is difficult to navigate with each tiny bit of information on a new section. Using the flicking jesture this makes it difficult to get around.
Sorry for the long post and as I said I did really enjoy this app and hope it can get back to the same level of accessibility as it was before so I can begin to use it daily again.
Please don't hesitate to post hear or ask for contact details for any further voiceover help to make the app more accessible as I know it's a little confusing.

I should probably also say please excuse any typing mistakes as I have just read my post back, trying to get to grips with the basics of my new Bluetooth keyboard

Hello,
Here I am again.
For now, let's talk about apps. First of all, I'm longing On demand content to come also into the iPhone's Sky go version.
Then, the iPad app is very inaccessible, I usually watch the sky go channels on the iPhone, but I'd like to enjoy ondemand content, which I cannot enjoy for now because the iPad's app is very inaccessible there are plenty of unlabelled buttons and VoiceOver focus jumps around everywhere.
Second issue, Audio descriptions.
To be sinceer, I didn't even know audio descriptions were available in Sky's Platform, till I went to browse www.sky.com/accessibility web site, and noticed this service is not available in Italy.
For this reason, I'd like to inform you about an Italian association which works on subtitles and audio descriptions, it's called Movie Reading.
www.moviereading.com/en
You could talk to them and search for a collaboration to bring Sky's audio descriptions here - tell them you got the contact from NvApple
Now the only bad thing is that you need 2 devices.
One to run the show, and one to run the audio description, as Movie Reading works with augmented reality, synchronizing audio descriptions or subtitles, with the show's audio, by phone's microphone.
So you may use Sky go on the iPad and the iPhone gives you the audio description when needed.
But who knows, maybe in the future a solution may be found, to make audio descriptions and tv show work on the same device.
Then, the problem is that MySky machines, connected to the tv, are not accessible, as far as I know. But this is a further information, now I think we're talking about apps here.
I also find inaccessibilities on the app to manage Sky subscriptions and devices, in italy it's called "sky fai da te", something like Sky Self Service, don't know the english name of this.
Bye for now

Hi,

As I've said elsewhere, I'm delighted you're interacting so directly with us! I used to really enjoy using Sky Sports for iPhone, but now I'm afraid to say the BBC sport app is much better. The reason is very simple: I used to be able to swipe to each of the news stories, whether that be on the 'top stories' screen, or whether that be the top stories for each sport. Now, the app reads the title of the first story to me, but if I swipe right nothing is read for subsequent stories. It's a real shame because as a central resource for sports news and results the app is great. I know that Sky knows about this accessibility bug but you would appear to have difficulty squashing it, because it's been present in several versions of the app now.

Completely agree with the previous post about sky sports app. Being blind but also loving sports, it can sometimes be difficult to find sports apps which are completely accessible, sky sports used to be one of those that was but as stated in the previous post I can no longer read any of the sports stories

What about the sky website itself? In general it's not too bad, but the last overhaul made a few parts of navigating frustrating. The headings work ok but flicking right through some areas results in getting stuck in a loop in certain parts. But my main gripe is when on the sky go website. Finding the channel list isn't obvious and then it can be a hit and a miss getting the programme started once it's located. And the main problem is once it's started, its impossible to interact with the player, meaning the playback controls, volume slider, the full screen button etc are inaccessible. Is there any way to fix any of these items? I suspect the first few yes, but interacting with the player controls might be more difficult?

As I stated in the previous post that areas of the sky go website on the Mac aren't the easiest to navigate, is there any scope for a dedicated sky go app on the Mac itself? Or better yet, a sky go app on the apple tv? Its available on the xbox and the PS4 I'm told so why not the apple tv, or is it a rights issue somewhere along the line?

First of all I am just so impressed that Sky are even on here and showing enough care for accessibility to do this! Thank you Sky, we really do appreciate it. I have been a Sky customer in the UK for a long time, the Sky plus app has varied in it's accessibility over the years but is currently pretty good. Just one gripe, still no way to activate audio description on the box from the app? I have seen this mentioned on other forums on here in the past, I think I speak for a lot of people who would like to easily be able to activate and deactivate audio description from the app. I imagine lots of people like me use the app rather than their Sky remote to access the TV guide and then go to the channel based on what's on. If this can be done, I'm sure audio description activation is possible? And I strongly agree with the wish for a Sky go app on the Apple TV. I have the latest Apple TV myself as this is one of the most accessible platforms of its kind for accessing content. I have used it for Now TV, and have had to use the Sky go website, which I can also confirm is very inaccessible with Windows, in terms of the player itself anyway. It's fine on the iphone and ipad but I'm sure you would agree if fully sighted people can access Sky go on an xbox, I will never have an xbox because I couldn't use it with no sight, therefore Apple TV would really be the most accessible way. Sorry for the long post. Those are just my thoughts. Keep up the good work though! Once the premier league season is back I can safely say I wouldn't be without my Sky!

Great to see this! A pity that I live in the US, so won't really be able to give any feedback myself. I'd give feedback to our companies if they were willing, but... well... they just aren't. Can I move to Europe yet? :)

I submitted some very detailed feedback on the sky app entry itself yesterday, and just now a post regarding an unlabeled button which means VoiceOver can't describe what it does. Is it better to submit feedback via this forum or leave comments on the app directory entry? wwondering if I should repost both my comments on the forum to make it easier for sky to keep track of everything as so far I don't think they have been replied to yet on the app entry and I want to make things as easy for sky as possible and promote community discussion.

Hi. Most of the Sky Plus app is very accessible, however, when Remote is selected, the last option refers to describing gestures that can be used. When I tap this, nothing is read about gestures. Are specific gestures possible with the app and, if so, how can I find out about them? Will they work with Voiceover active?

Hi. Firstly just to clarify for all that Sky are being great about responding to issues raised on the sky Plus app directory entry so worth checking it out.
Regarding Sky Go (I didn't find an directory entry for that?) when I launch the app I get a screen which has a done button and tick box. Unfortunately it doesn't let me read what the tick box is for. Of course if I tick the box the window doesn't come up again but it would be good to know what it says in case it's important. Also, I've found if I pause a programme I'm watching and then leave the app and then go back to it, I'm back on the home screen instead of the paused video. Most apps take you back to exactly where you where previously which I think would be better. Thanks again Sky.

Hi. Audio description can also be toggled on and off by pressing the help button And arrowing down once to audio description and pressing right to turn it on I can do this without looking at the screen. There are only two items and the first one is subtitles I would gladly go back to sky if they implemented text to speech within their menus

Hi there. Firstly its great that you are engaging with the Apple Vis forum. I've got a few questions re sky Q which I hope you can answer.
We've just upgraded to Sky Q (mainly so I can watch the football while my wife watching some hidious reality show downstairs). and on TV, I'm really happy with it-- being able to have audio discription on for me upstairs but off for my sighted wife downstairs is brilliant.
My questions though are about the app. Firstly, is the app accessible with Voiceover and when will you be releasing an Iphone version? I don't have an Ipad as I don't need a larger screen but sky Q doesn't have a phone app which IMO is really poor.
my second question is, if I record a programme on the sky q app with audio discription turned on, will I be able to watch the programme with audio discription through the app? one of my frustrations is that I need sighted assistance to get to a rogramme I've recorded on my sky box but if the app was accessible and audio discription worked I could watch my recording with audio discription on the app.

Out of curiosity, can i see your service in india? I wish.
Raaj

Hi. After the new Sky Go update recently sent out, unfortunately the series cell issue where by voice over said series cell instead of the programme information still persists. I'm disappointed that hasn't been fixed given it was some time ago it was raised on this forum. Is there any progress with the sky plus app and the issues we have raised about that please? As previously said, I do appreciate Sky reaching out to blind users but perhaps unreasonably, I had hoped to see some improvement before today. I too am also interested in knowing whether the recorded skyQ programmes which have been recorded with audio description, will also play with audio description on mobile devices as I also thought the app played the actual recordings from the box and didn't simply download the programme again to the device.

On the basis that if you don't ask you don't get and given that by having an upgrade to sky q It would enable blind customers to be able to record more live audio described content and have sufficient storage to keep it for longer, as well as being able to access this content while out and about in a way that cited customers do already with sky go can. At the moment, in order for me to be able to listen to audio described content oAmy skybox upstairs while exercising, I have quite a system using Bluetooth transmitter on speaker. I ask that sky seriously consider either a free or discounted upgrade to sky Q for blind customers. I'm sure many of us would be more than happy to show proof of being registered as blind and it would make a huge difference to how we benefit from the use of the service, not to mention that I think it may even gain a little publicity and demonstrate how flexible Sky are supporting their customers. As I live alone, it's not as if I'm going to benefit from all the features of sky q. If possible, perhaps we could discuss this as a solution to the problem. Please feel free for yourself or one of your colleagues to call me on 07779 247216 as this really does sound like a good solution the more I think about it Thanks

Sorry about that and I hope it made sense

hello, do you have an address at the accessibility team at sky for me to write to? your android app on android seems inaccessible to me, whereas on ios the tv guide and all areas are fine.

Hi Sky Access. Just to say that I have been using the Sky Q app for about a week now (finally its available for IPhone users). Its a brilliant app, enabling me to set recordings and play my recording that are on my sky box. I was particularly pleased that I was able to download programmes I'd recorded with audio description to watch while I was away from home. Well done Sky for making such a good job of this app.

I've just called the Sky Ultra Fast Fibre team and got a free Sky Q box and just paid £15 installation. What's the app like? Any obvious issues with Voice Over? Sky did imply there is some issue with recordings containing audio description being significantly larger but they are working to fix that. They also said there is less audio description than on Sky Plus but I assume the audio described content on over the air channels is still the same and it's just the catchup content which doesn't have audio description as it doesn't with Sky Plus.

Hi I'm getting the new sky Q there next month it has been installed and I'm just wondering if the app is accessible as the sky plus I will I still have problems accessing the sky planner or have they made improvements with that app thank you

Hi just got install the new sky Q so I install the new sky Q app for the iPhone seven and it is not working at all it feels to go into TV guide recordings et cetera every time you click on TV guide our recordings it opens up topics it does not go any further than that and also you cannot watch a recording on the app on your TV it can only be watched on your iPhone or iPad not like the old sky plus app