disney plus latest version of the app, june 2021.

By Patrick Murphy, 3 June, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

hi to everyone. please forgive me if this is in the wrong place. i have only been a member for about 10 minutes!!. i have the latest version of ios installed on my iphone xr, and my ipad. i also have the latest version of the disney plus app. it seems to be getting further and further away from accessibility!!. now, in the player controls, i have two controls that just say "button". the "back" button also doesn't work, thats when you can actually get to it. it seems, that you also have to keep selecting your own profile, everytime you open the app. the player controls are still the same, in that they keep disappearing. i can't get near the episode listing for any series. the only thing i can do is to start playing it. there is no way to find out whether or not something has audio description on it before you play it. there is no way to get rid of things off your "continue watching" heading. at least you can do this with netflix, even though you have to dig down to the foundations of your account to do it. i am finding it extremely frustrating to use this app. i have looked, and disney dont seem to have a "guide" for those of us using voiceover. the fact that the "back" button doesn't work when playing something is particularly frustrating. the only way i found around this was to close the app and then reopen it. i just dont get, why these large companies dont have blind/partially sighted people actually employed, just for the purposes of testing. god knows, there are enough of us out there with computer skills, looking for jobs. i myself, have a masters in web technologies, but ireland is so backward, that even with that, i cannot get work. surely, disney could use people like me. you dont have to be in america to test something. i am sorry if i am ranting, but it really annoys me when i see the likes of this app, claiming that it is accessible. maybe, its because i am a software developer, and i know how easy it is to fix such things, if you can be bothered. thanks for listening!!. patrick.

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Comments

By Dave Nason on Friday, June 25, 2021 - 06:44

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Hi Patrick. Greetings from a fellow Irishman and welcome to AppleVis.
Yes I agree with you about Disney+, it’s definitely not as good as I’d like it to be from an accessibility point of view, and I think it probably gets more credit than it deserves honestly. There are a number of flaws as you point out. I’m also disappointed in the amount of content with audio description available, especially in the Stars channel, where there were some shows I was looking forward to watching. And as you say, the lack of an AD badge to tell you if a show includes AD is really annoying.
As for your other point, I don’t think Ireland is any more backward than anywhere else when it comes to accessibility really. There is still a lot to do in education and awareness, and in companies getting their processes right, but things really are moving in the right direction. It’s not always as quick a fix as we might think. With your skills, I’m sure you can help with that if you get your foot in the door somewhere ☺️
Dave

i think that these apps would be more accessible from day one, if apple took a more productive role in allowing them on to their app store. imagine how disney would react, if apple told them, that their app would not be hosted until it was accessible!! they would be loosing a huge audience if this were to happen. it would also make them sit up and take notice. after i posted yesterday, i did some more research. i got a phone number for disney ireland. i rang it. a person took my call, but didn't get that i wanted to talk about accessibility. they told me, that they would put a note on my account. when asked for my email, i gave my one. the account is registered under my wife's email. i wanted to see what would happen. she told me, that a note had now been put on my account, that it would be referred to the proper team, but that was it. obviously, she took no notes, as my email does not exist on their platform. what a joke!! it is quite obvious, that they dont have an accessibility team, unlike apple themselves. i do believe, that if apple denied apps on their store because of accessibility, the developers would take proper action from day one. any opinions? regards, patrick.

By Patrick Murphy on Sunday, July 25, 2021 - 06:44

hi to you all. can anyone help me with this? i have been trying for the last three hours to rewind a movie to the start. i have tried it on the iphone, ipad and a windows pc. the only thing i can get it to do successfully is to fast forward!!! there isn't even a button to "restart". does anyone have an actual email or phone number for disney plus that can be reached from ireland? there does seem to be a "direct touch" part of the screen on the ipad, but no matter what way i go at it, i cannot get it to go backwards!! any help would be much appreciated. i still think, that apple should be playing a more active roll in insuring, that these type of apps dont make it to their store until they are accessible. what type of idiot produces an app with no "restart" option on it, especially when it is totally dedicated to video content? sorry for ranting!! patrick.