Accessibility Assessment in Mobile Applications for Android
Description
Testing accessibility in mobile applications is a big challenge for accessibility experts. Currently, the lack of clear accessibility definitions and adequate methods for testing whether a mobile application is accessible have become a barrier for users of mobile applications. This article proposes a method to measure the accessibility of mobile applications, which allows new processes and experimental to be tested data on the validity and usefulness of the method. As a case study, it was applied to 10 mobile applications, taken randomly, most used in the world according to PCMAG. The method proposes the use of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 with the Accessibility Scanner tool version 1.2 of Google. The results indicate that the mobile applications evaluated do not comply with an adequate level of accessibility. The research proposes some suggestions for the design of accessible and inclusive mobile applications. The method used to assess the accessibility of mobile applications is as follows: (i) select the applications, (ii) install the applications from the Google Play shop, (iii) install and activate the accessibility scanner, (iv) open the application for evaluation, (v) record the results, (vi) analyze the results, (vii) propose suggestions to improve accessibility in mobile applications.
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Steps to reproduce
Phase 1: Select the applications. In this phase the most used applications were selected according to PCMAG, ten mobile applications were randomly selected. Table 1 contains information on the mobile applications evaluated in this case study. Phase 2: Install the applications from the Google Play Store. In this phase the selected applications are searched and installed in the studio was used Android version 7.0. Installed applications are shown in Table 1. Phase 3: Install and activate Accessibility Scanner. In this phase to perform the accessibility assessment requires the installation of the Accessibility Scanner application, developed by Google LLC, which was updated to September 21, 2018, has more than 100,000 the current version is 1.3.0, requires Android 6.0 and later. Then, from the accessibility option, we proceed to activate the accessibility test and start the test to evaluate the accessibility of the selected mobile applications. Phase 4: Open the application to evaluate. In this phase each mobile application is opened, the functionality is executed and tested by clicking on the icon that evaluates accessibility, the data is captured automatically. The data is stored in a registry of the Accessibility Scanner application, which can be shared via email, social networks or stored in the cloud. Phase 5: Record the results. In the fifth phase, the results are recorded in a spreadsheet. Table 3 records the data obtained in the evaluation of mobile applications. Phase 6: Analyze the results. In this phase, the results obtained from the accessibility evaluation are reviewed. In this phase is a study of the problems identified with Accessibility Scanner, identifies the failures and barriers related to the four principles of accessibility, and success criteria for mobile applications by WCAG 2.1. Phase 7: Propose suggestions to improve accessibility. In this phase, the barriers identified in the evaluation of web applications are reviewed. In the section on conclusions and future work, some suggestions for the design of accessible and inclusive mobile applications are proposed.