iOS accessibility: what are the pros/cons for hardcoding "double tap to activate" as hint?

Question

iOS has built-in support for accessibility, for UIButtons it reads the title of the button followed by a hint "double tap to activate" (by default). Sometimes we are required to make a non-UIButton control behaving similar to UIButton in terms of accessibility, so we would set its accessibility trait to button and hardcode "double tap to activate" for accessibilityHint.

I don't like altering system behaviours, and I've seen accessibility users who prefer single tap instead of double tap (there's an option they can set), although I haven't checked if the opt for single tap instead of double tap, does the system hint become "single tap to activiate".

What is the common practice regarding accessibility support for a non-UIButton control that is tappable? Thanks!

Answer 1

I've seen accessibility users who prefer single tap instead of double tap (there's an option they can set)

I'm really curious to know how it's possible using VoiceOver because a single tap with one finger deals with the accessibility focus. In the UIButton documentation, Apple states: 🤓

VoiceOver speaks the value of the title [...] when a user taps the button once.

Would you mind detailing the way to activate this option you mentioned because I'm really astonished, please? 🤔

What is the common practice regarding accessibility support for a non-UIButton control that is tappable?

Using a hint is a very good practice to provide useful information to the user but this information mustn't be crucial for using because the accessibility hint may be deactivated in the device settings.😰
Admittedly speaking, this kind of element must be read out in such a way that its goal and its using are clear enough for any user: that's what traits are made for. 👍

Many traits are well known and give rise to different actions like adjustable values, customed actions and the rotor items using.
Besides, it's also possible to use the accessibilityActivate() method so as to define the purpose of a double-tap with one finger of an accessible element. 🤯

The way you want to vocally expose the possible actions on a tappable control depends on the content of your application.

Finally, keep in mind that hardcoding a hint must be understood as a plus information but definitely not as an essential one because it can be deactivated by the user: a conception oriented a11y is very important when building an app. 😉