Directv iPhone app accessibility.

Hello Applevis comunity, I need your help, Directv’s iPhone app is not accessible to Voiceover users, and Directv has not been willing to listen to my concerns. Here is the emails that have been exchanged, and my call to action. Thank you. I received a call in response to my email from DIRECTV’s office of the president this afternoon (Sunday). The woman explained to me that she “had someone in her office test the app with Voiceover” and that it worked just fine. She went on to imply that it was my phone… She further suggested that I should contact Apple as Voiceover was the problem, not DIRECTV’s app. I explained to her that before the 3.0 update Voiceover functionality was much better, (not good, but better). I told her, that several Blind individuals, who are Directv customers, were also having the same difficulties using the app after the update. She did say that she would forward the feedback to the people at Directv who work on the app, but that this was not a problem with the Directv App. So, this is my call to action for everyone who is willing to help. 1, send an email to DIRECTV’s CEO mike.white@directv.com with the subject something like “Accessibility for Blind Directv customers using the iPhone app” In the body of the message discuss accessibility and your story. Tell them that this is not acceptable, and you want the App to be made accessible ASAP. 2. Send the same email but use the web form located at: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIFnorail.jsp?assetId=P4960016 3. Post on Facebook, Twitter, and tell your friends to do the same. 4. Download the iPhone App, and then from the Appstore post a 1Star review discussing accessibility for Blind users. 5. If you email Directv, please forward me a copy at: mike@mello.com I’m keeping track of the communication from Directv. Good afternoon Mr. White, I am contacting your office in hopes that you will be able to address my concerns as a Blind Directv customer around accessibility in the new version of the Directv iPhone app. I have contacted customer service as you will see below my message. I have not received a satisfactory response to my questions, and I find this to be quite frustrating. If you could please see that my feedback and questions are forwarded directly to the iOS app development team so that they have the opportunity to fix accessibility for all Blind Directv customers. Thank you for your time and consideration. Mike Mello. mike@mello.com -----Original Message----- From: Mike Mello [mailto:mike@mello.com] Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2013 12:30 PM To: 'DIRECTV Customer Service' Cc: pratikp1@gmail.com Subject: RE: Apps [Reference #: 130907-003236] Good morning Cassie C (ID 401622) First, thank you for your reply to my inquiry. I would like to be clear, I offered assistance however, that is not the point of my communication with DirecTV. Specifically Your iPhone app version 3.0 is no longer accessible to paying blind DirecTV customers who use iOS. Problems include. 1. on app launch voiceover stops speaking and the only way to move forward is to turn off VO and tap on the screen. 2. if the user touches on the part of the screen showing shows popular on Twitter VO freezes and you are not able to interact with the app for about 1 minute. 3. when moving in a list of TV shows or movies, VO is not able to move around in the list, it is quite difficult to move to the next page of results. 4. voice search does not work well with VO at all, if you are able to find the unlabeled microphone button, the results is not accessible to someone using VO. 5. accessible labels for VO. icons, controls, TV networks, are not labeled making it impossible for a VO user to be able to find a network or control the app. Please share this feedback with the app development team. Thank you. Mike Mello -----Original Message----- From: DIRECTV Customer Service [mailto:directvcustomercare@directv.com] Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2013 4:24 AM To: mike@mello.com Subject: Apps [Reference #: 130907-003236] Subject --------------------------------------------------------------- Apps Discussion Thread --------------------------------------------------------------- Response Via Email(Cassie C (ID 401622)) - 09/08/2013 04:24 AM Dear Mr. Mello, Thanks for writing about the problems you've had using the Voiceover command on the DIRECTV iPhone App. DIRECTV continues to improve our Apps to ensure they are user friendly for all of our customers, so I apologize for any frustration. I do understand that you'd like to work our developers to make your experience a better one. While I do appreciate your willingness to help, we are not accepting applications for beta testing at this time. Again, we do appreciate your interest in DIRECTV technology and I have forwarded your request to our management for future consideration. Rest assured, DIRECTV's Management Team reviews every suggestion, inquiry and complaint for trends from our customers to determine what changes should be considered. Thanks again for writing and offering to help, Mr. Mello. Sincerely, Cassie C (ID 401622) DIRECTV Resolution Specialist P.S. The NFL season is almost here. Find out how you can catch all of the action with NFL SUNDAY TICKET at http://directv.com/NFL. Customer (Entered by Malissa C (ID 430923)) - 09/07/2013 03:57 PM Hello: The old app was mostly accessible, but now, the new app is quite difficult to use with Voiceover on the iPhone. I would like to assist the App dev. team to make this app accessible to blind DIRECTV customers again. The 21st century communication and video accessibility act mandates accessibility for blind users, and using the iOS platform is an easy way to implement this compliance. Please contact me for more information; I can assist in finding blind beta testers, as well as iOS development resources around accessibility best practices. Thank you for your time and consideration. Mike Mello