Android Apps More Accessible Than IOS Apps?

By Marina Patten, 9 January, 2025

Forum
Android

Hi there. I've noticed an interesting trend where some Android apps are more usable than their IOS counterparts. A couple examples include Uber and Safeway. In regards to Uber, the account tab on IOS has a lot of unlabeled buttons while the Android version has all buttons labeled. When I was using the Safeway shopping app a couple of months ago, I noticed when you search for an item on the IOS version, it was difficult to use the search results page. Exploring by touch only gave me a full page with an unlabeled button. I could perform a 1 finger swipe to navigate the results, but then Voiceover focus jumps around.
Have you all experienced something similar? Thanks.

Options

Comments

By Justin Harris on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 01:59

I've noticed some apps work way better on Android, like Telegram. But other apps, like Chime, which is a banking app, is terrible with Talkback. I never used Uber for the few months I was on Android. For the most part, I would say apps work equally well with either OS and screen reader, but I still prefer the Voiceover way of doing things, and feel that I work faster on iOS.

By Amir Soleimani on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 01:59

Sadly, no. Finding accessible dictionaries like Oxford or Merriam-Webster on Android is impossible, and accessible feature-rich RSS apps like Lire don't exist on the Android side.

By Andrew Engelhardt on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 01:59

Hi,

I have not used an updated version of TalkBack since I had my last Android device. Although, they are not perfect none the less. Both TalkBack (Android) and VoiceOver (Apple) do help in many ways. My experience with both has been very good. I don't know how TalkBack gestures work today but VoiceOver does have it's issues as well. I think it is all based on developer coding. Developers can try to make everything as accessible as they can. We the user(s) have to take the time to report as many issues to them as possible so that they can fix the coding for the Apps.

By Joe on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 01:59

Some things work better with Jaws vs nVDA or the opposite. Milage will vary. I have seen some Android apps work better, but they do have no screen recognition with talkback and so if something is not going to work your out of luck. This whole what is better thing that happens every day is silly as things change, and for us these are just tools in a toolbox.

By Sara on Saturday, January 11, 2025 - 01:59

I think it mostly depends on the app we’re talking about. For example, if we look at Telegram, it’s far more accessible on Android than on iOS. However, if you look at WhatsApp, it’s much better on iOS. In my opinion, it’s not inaccessible on Android by any means—it’s accessible and usable—but it’s far more intuitive on iOS. WhatsApp supports VoiceOver actions but doesn’t fully support TalkBack actions on Android. In my experience, TalkBack sometimes jumps and loses focus on Android when using WhatsApp. VoiceOver also loses focus on iOS while using WhatsApp, but not as frequently.

Regarding Uber, I’m not sure. It’s true that there are some unlabeled buttons on iOS, but I’m not sure if it was in 2024 or 2023 that I had the same experience on Android. At that time, it was better on iOS, so maybe it’s just a matter of the developers updating the app—I don’t know.

I think some apps are more accessible on Android, while others are better on iOS. It really depends on the apps you want to use. For example, I find my banking app easier to use on iOS than on Android. It’s accessible on both systems, but for some reason, the Android version is really slow and sluggish. That’s not because of Android itself, but because of the developer.

So, I don’t know what to say. I think the accessibility of apps is in the hands of the developers, and we can’t definitively say one system is more accessible than the other because an app update can change everything.

By Dennis Long on Monday, January 13, 2025 - 05:59

Apple again is far ahead in this as well. Talk back has actions there is one huge problem with this. They aren't used in all google products. Then you have the issue of third party apps not using them. I say if Google the company behind the screen reader doesn't do it right how can you expect third party devs to take them seriously? Apple leads by example. This is why you see devs have them or if they don't they are willing to fix their issues.
check this article for proof of what I'm talking about.
https://accessibleandroid.com/accessible-android-investigates-do-google-apps-for-android-have-accessibility-actions/

By Brooke on Monday, January 13, 2025 - 11:59

The WalMart app, and my local grocery store app (Giant Eagle) are much more accessible on Android. I'm going to try Amazon and DoorDash today to see if either of those is less jumpy.

By Brian on Monday, January 13, 2025 - 15:59

Something I have noticed fairly recently, when using the Amazon app on iOS, do not use a Siri voice with voiceover, use any other voice. For example, I use the Alex voice as one of my rotor voices for shopping on Amazon.
I cannot explain why, but the Alex voice is a lot more stable on the Amazon app, than any of the Siri voices.

HTH.