Accessibility

Applowance is used by parents and by children of different ages and abilities, so we build it on Apple's own accessibility features and test them as part of every release. This page explains what works today, where we still fall short, and how to tell us when something gets in your way.

iOS accessibility features

Applowance runs on iPhone and iPad and follows these iOS settings:

• VoiceOver. Buttons, images and status badges have spoken labels. VoiceOver also announces key moments, such as a chore being sent for review or a PIN being entered incorrectly.
• Larger Text. Most text follows your Dynamic Type size, including accessibility sizes. Layouts adapt and sign-in and setup screens scroll to keep buttons reachable. Some controls and widgets have size limits, described below.
• Dark Mode. Choose System, Light or Dark in Settings > Appearance. The screen shown on a blocked app follows dark mode too.
• Differentiate Without Color. Chore status, streaks and the countdown use symbols and words as well as color. With this setting on, Applowance adds extra shapes and labels.
• Reduce Motion. The animated background, tilt effects, zoom transitions and celebration confetti all stop. Screens change with a simple transition instead.
• Contrast. Our text, badge and accent colors are checked against contrast thresholds by automated tests.

Made for younger kids and early readers

• Read chores aloud. Each chore in a child's list has a large speaker button that reads it out, and tapping it again stops reading.
• Choose a voice. Children can pick from the Apple voices installed on the device and hear a preview first. The setting explains where to download more voices in iOS.
• Pictures alongside words. Chores have icons and every child has an emoji avatar, so the list is easier to scan.
• Bigger targets and haptics. Children's controls are at least 44 points across. A gentle vibration confirms a completed chore, signals when screen time is running low, and flags an incorrect PIN.
• A built-in guide. A step-by-step tour of the app, available from Settings, that adapts to large text sizes.

Known limitations

We'd rather tell you about these up front:

• Voice Control works for most labeled buttons, but we have not yet confirmed every task by voice alone. A few family-management actions also use swipe gestures.
• Increase Contrast is not specifically adapted. The standard colors meet our contrast checks, but some translucent cards and locked premium features are dimmer by design.
• Text-size limits. Widgets and some icons cap their size. The Switch Profile toolbar control also caps its label size; on compact screens it becomes an icon at larger text sizes. At accessibility text sizes, touch and hold the control to see its enlarged label.
• QR codes always appear on a white background, including in dark mode, so cameras can scan them.
• Captions and audio descriptions don't apply, because Applowance has no video or recorded audio. Read-aloud only speaks text that is already on screen.

Feedback and help

If something in Applowance is hard to use with your assistive technology, please tell us. Let us know which screen, which iOS setting and which device, and we'll treat it as a bug. Contact us through our contact form or at support@applowance.app.