By SienaT, 3 July, 2013
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Hi all,
I have been looking for apps that would allow me to broadcast live streams from my iPhone 5, and I stumbled upon this app. I think that it has the potential to be a cool and simple solution for blind and visually impaired users who wish to record a podcast/live broadcast on the go or over Wifi. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the app is called Instaradio, and it allows you to turn your iPhone into a broadcasting station with the touch of the button.
Having tested the app, I stumbled across a few accessibility glitches not only in the app, but on their website itself: http://www.instarad.io .
Firstly, in the app, when I sign in using my Twitter account, every time I try to open the app again it will no longer open. So I had to delete it from my phone, reinstall it and sign up with my email and a password. Once signed in, there is what I assume is a 4 page tutorial that Voiceover doesn't read at all, and two unlabled buttons which I discovered take you back and forth through the tutorial screens. The only labelled button in that section is the Start button. Once you are on the main screen, you have an unlabelled button which brings up a menu from which you can search for other stations and access your settings, and another which says "Likes profile Icon" which seems to be dimmed all the time. Apart from that, everything is labelled correctly.
As far as the website goes (see link above), when I tried to access it using various browsers on my iPhone and on my Mac, I noticed that it didn't give too much information about the service. When I tested the site on my PC however, NVDA gave me an "Embedded object unavailable" message, and I realized that most of the site was designed in Flash, and therefore inaccessible to blind and visually impaired users.
I have contacted the developers in regards to these accessibility issues, and I would encourage you all to do the same as I feel that this app would open up more opportunities for blind and visually impaired future podcasters and online radio show hosts like myself.
Anyway, I was wondering if any of you have ever used it, and if so, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences.
Thanks in advance!
Kind regards,
Siena.I have been looking for apps that would allow me to broadcast live streams from my iPhone 5, and I stumbled upon this app. I think that this app has the potential to be a cool and simple solution for blind and visually impaired users who wish to record a podcast/live broadcast on the go or over Wifi. The app is called Instaradio, and it allows you to turn your iPhone into a broadcasting station with the touch of the button.
Having tested the app, I stumbled across a few accessibility glitches not only in the app, but on their website itself: http://www.instarad.io .
Firstly, in the app, when I sign in using my Twitter account, every time I try to open the app again it will no longer open. So I had to delete the app from my phone, reinstall it and sign up with my email and a password. Once signed in, there is what I assume is a 4 page tutorial that Voiceover doesn't read at all, and two unlabled buttons which I discovered take you back and forth through the tutorial screens. The only labelled button in that section is the Start button. Once you are on the main screen, you have an unlabelled button which brings up a menu from which you can search for other stations and access your settings
As far as the website goes (see link above), when I tried to access it using various browsers on my iPhone and on my Mac, I noticed that it didn't give too much information about the service. When I tested the site on my PC however, NVDA gave me an "Embedded object unavailable" message, and I realized that most of the site was designed in Flash, and therefore inaccessible to blind and visually impaired users.
I have contacted the developers in regards to these accessibility issues, and I would encourage you all to do the same as I feel that this app would open up more opportunities for blind and visually impaired future podcasters and online radio show hosts like myself.
Thanks in advance!
Kind regards,
Siena.