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Get started with Accessibility Scanner
When you design and develop an Android app, Accessibility Scanner can help you improve your app for users.
Accessibility Scanner scans your screen and provides suggestions to improve the accessibility of your app, based on:
- Content labels
- Touch target size
- Clickable items
- Text and image contrast
Important: Accessibility Scanner isn't a replacement for manual testing and doesn't guarantee the accessibility of the app.
Step 1: Install & turn on Accessibility Scanner
Accessibility Scanner is available for phones and tablets with Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.
- Download Accessibility Scanner from Google Play.
- Open Accessibility Scanner .
- In your device's Settings app, follow the prompts to turn on Accessibility Scanner.
- Tap Accessibility Accessibility Scanner Use service.
- To turn off Accessibility Scanner: Return to Settings Accessibility Accessibility Scanner.
Step 2: Scan your app
You can scan a snapshot of your app or a series of screens as you interact with your app.
Scan a recording
You can scan a workflow or task within your app. With this option, Accessibility Scanner records and analyzes the elements on your screen as you use and navigate through your app.
Important: The recording includes a series of screenshots, and doesn’t include video or audio. The recording stays on your device and is never shared with Google.
To scan a recording:
- Open your app.
- Tap the Accessibility Scanner button .
- Tap Record .
- Use your app.
- If you go to another app, the recording pauses until you return.
To stop a recording:
- From the top of your screen, swipe down to open your notifications. Or, open another app.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner is recording.
- Tap Stop .
Scan a snapshot
To scan a single screen of your app:
- Open your app.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap Snapshot .
Review the results of a scan
After you scan a recording or snapshot, Accessibility Scanner displays one or more screenshots of your app. Within a screenshot, results of the scan are outlined in orange rectangles.
- To view details: Tap the outlined area. If a screen has multiple results, tap Next .
- To view a complete list of results from all the screenshots: Tap List View by screen or View by category.
- To share results: Tap Share .
If you scanned a recording or have more than one screenshot:
- To navigate between screenshots: In the carousel at the top, tap a screenshot. Or, tap Next .
- To view a grid with all the screenshots: Tap Library .
Tip: If a resource name is too long to fit on your screen, touch and hold the resource name to marquee it.
Scan secure windows
If your app has a window that's declared "secure" (using
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE
) Accessibility Scanner can't capture an image of the screen or check color contrast. For these windows, after it scans your app, Accessibility Scanner shows a black screen. However, you can still read the scan results for other opportunities.Change contrast & touch target size thresholds
You can change the thresholds that Scanner uses for contrast ratio and touch target size.
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner Settings .
- View or change your settings:
- Text contrast ratio: Set a new minimum for text color contrast.
- Image contrast ratio: Set a new minimum for image color contrast.
- Touch target size: Set a new minimum for touch target size.
Edit contrast ratio results
Scanner uses foreground and background colors to decide the contrast ratio. You can change the foreground or background colors.
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap a scan that has a color contrast suggestion Edit colors.
- Below the screenshot, tap Foreground or Background.
- To change the foreground or background color:
- Drag the selection frame to a different area of the screenshot.
- At the bottom, tap one of the suggested colors.
- Tap Apply.
Tip: To move the selection frame, tap the arrows on the side. Or, to make larger adjustments, touch and hold the arrows.
Share your scan results
You can share your results with other people, like teammates.
To share your results now:
- Complete a scan.
- Tap Share .
- Choose how to share your results.
Tip: To share results for an individual item, tap Share while viewing the item.
To share your results later:
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap the scan Share .
- Choose how to share your results.
Manage past scans
Rename a scan
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap a scan More Rename title.
- Create a title.
- Tap Rename.
Add a description
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap a scan More Edit description.
- Add a description.
- Tap Save.
Delete a scan
- On your device, go to the Apps section.
- Tap Accessibility Scanner .
- Tap a scan More Delete scan Delete.
Get help or send feedback
To get help or send feedback about Accessibility Scanner, in the app, tap Help and feedback.
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Accessibility Scanner results
Accessibility Scanner looks for the following opportunities to improve your app's accessibility.
Content labelingMany user interface controls depend on visual cues to indicate their meaning and use. A user with impaired vision might have difficulty seeing these cues.
You can make user interface controls more accessible with content labels. Content labels don't appear on the screen, but users with visual impairments can access them through accessibility services like TalkBack or other screen readers.
Accessibility Scanner looks for the following content labeling opportunities:
- Item label missing
IdentifyViews
that a screen reader could focus and that have an empty spoken description, either for theView
or relevantViews
in its sub-hierarchy. Learn more about content labels. - Item labeled with type or state
Identify cases where aView
has a redundant description. Learn more about items labeled with type or state. - Duplicate item descriptions
Identify cases where a hierarchy containsViews
with exactly duplicate descriptions. For example, two separately focusable buttons with descriptions of "More options" could confuse a user. Learn more about duplicate descriptions. - Link purpose unclear
Identify uninformative link text, such as "click here." Learn more about unclear link text. - Unexposed text
IdentifyViews
with visible labels that aren't spoken by screen readers. Learn more about unexposed text.
Accessibility Scanner examines
View
hierarchies and identifies instances where users with motor impairments might have difficulty interacting with a layout.- Clickable links
Identify uses ofClickableSpan
that aren'tUrlSpans
. Learn more about clickable links. - Duplicate clickable elements
Identify clickable elements that share the same on-screen location as other clickable elements. Learn more about duplicate clickable elements. - Editable item label
IdentifyEditTexts
and editableTextViews
that have a non-emptycontentDescription
. Learn more about editable View labels. - Unsupported item type
Identify item types that are not supported by accessibility services. Learn more about unsupported item types. - Traversal order
Identify possible issues in the traversal ordering of items, which might affect users of screen readers or other accessibility services. Learn more about traversal order. - Text scaling
Identify possible issues with font size and layout specifications when you design a user interface that may cause text to become cropped, cut, or hidden. Learn more about text scaling.
Accessibility Scanner looks for small touch targets that could cause difficulty for users with motor impairments.
- Touch target size
Identify clickable and long-clickableViews
that are smaller than 48x48dp in either dimension, or 32x32dp forViews
within input method windows or against the display edge. You can change the minimum size in your Accessibility Scanner settings. Learn more about touch target size.
Accessibility Scanner suggests improvements to color contrast ratios to make your app more accessible to visually impaired users.
- Text and image contrast
Identify text or images with a contrast ratio lower than 3.0 between the text color and background color (for non-emptyTextViews
) or between the foreground and background color (forImageViews
). You can change the minimum ratio in your Accessibility Scanner settings. Learn more about color contrast.
Learn more about accessibility
Read more in the Android Developer Accessibility documentation.
- Item label missing