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iOS: How to maintain good app icon contrast in grayscale mode?
I’m developing an iOS app, and I’ve noticed that when the user enables Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Grayscale, my app icon loses a lot of visual contrast. The original colored version looks fine, but in grayscale it appears “flat” and harder to distinguish, unlike a pure black-and-white design. What I want to achieve: Ensure the app icon remains visually clear and high-contrast even when iOS renders it in grayscale. Ideally, provide an alternate “high-contrast” app icon version when grayscale mode is enabled. What I’ve tried: Increased color contrast in the original icon design. Added outlines and stronger shapes. Tested with grayscale filters in design tools. Researched Asset Catalog and alternate icons, but found no documented API to detect or respond to grayscale mode. Questions: Is there any API in iOS that allows detecting when the system is in grayscale mode so that I can programmatically switch to an alternate app icon? If not, are there Apple-recommended best practices for designing app icons that still look clear in grayscale? Are there any accessibility guidelines specifically addressing icon design for grayscale or color-blind modes? Additional info: iOS version tested: iOS 17.5 Development in Swift + SwiftUI, using Asset Catalog for icons. I am aware that iOS supports alternate icons via setAlternateIconName, but I haven’t found a trigger for grayscale mode.
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443
Aug ’25
App Store Policy for apps that allows users to unlock contact details of person who posted content.
We have an app under development which allows musicians to unlock contact details of people who posted about an upcoming event. The musician pays a fees to unlock this contact details. Both the musician & the post owner are registered users. We will reveal the same contact info that the post owner used for account signup verification. Questions: Is this allowed? (given that we obtain consent to share contact info to other people and clearly mention this in privacy policy) If yes, will we have to use App store in-app purchase to facilitate this transaction or are we free to use a payment processor such as Stripe.
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621
Feb ’25
18.3 Update
I did the 18.3 update over the weekend and every contact and their information (family names, addresses, photos etc) that was added to my phone over the last year is completely gone. I’ve spent hours on the phone with Apple and their “top” senior account employees with no resolution. I am told my case has been escalated to engineering and they will get back to me in one week. I have zero confidence my issue will be resolved. I’ve gone over and over every action done over the weekend and the only thing I did was erase some emails and do the update. There has to be a way they can see every action made on my phone to find the issue.
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588
Jan ’25
VoiceOver incorrect focus on modal alert
When my macOS Cocoa app displays a modal alert with beginSheetModal(for:completionHandler:), VoiceOver sometimes seems to focus on an "illegal" upper level, where any attempts at navigation will give the unhelpful response "Alert, dialog", until you "drill down" with VO + shift + down or switch apps. After that, things will work as expected. Is this a known bug? Does it happen to anybody else, or am I doing something wrong?
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149
Apr ’25
Discussion on Location Services and Green light (Will someone deaf or blind ever know when their location was last on?)
Haptic or Sound queue to allow for the accessibility of the blind (sound) and deaf population (haptic) for even knowing when location services and the camera were last used? Also, the grey notification rather than the purple notification for location services should appear for the full 24 hours after an application has used the app, if the correct description is within the "copy" of Settings The green light lets them know that the application has changed to the camera and fade out orange light both could even have subtle simply click sounds, like a shutter, big haptic, softer sound, but editable in Settings, of course
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241
May ’25
Custom prediction panel not working in Google Docs
I’m working on a macOS Accessibility setup for a French-speaking user and I’ve hit a wall. (I'm not a developper and I'm trying to help my kid with dyslexia) I successfully built a custom word prediction panel using the Panel Editor (Keyboard) in macOS Accessibility > Keyboard > Accessibility Keyboard. Here’s what I have so far: • The prediction panel works system-wide: I can use it to type in Finder, Safari, Notes, TextEdit, and even browser search bars. • The panel appears above all applications and suggestions show up correctly. • However, it does not work inside Google Docs (tested in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox). Selecting a word from the panel does nothing in the Docs editor. I suspect this is because: • Google Docs does not use a standard macOS text input field. • Docs is a web app that relies on custom JavaScript editors, contentEditable elements, and canvas rendering, so macOS Accessibility APIs (AXTextField, AXInsertText, etc.) don’t register or inject text events. • Accessibility tools like the Accessibility Keyboard rely on native macOS text input methods, which don’t hook into Google Docs’ custom editor. Important: I’m not a programmer. I’d like to know if there is an easy fix or option in macOS, Google Chrome, or Google Docs that would make my custom prediction panel work, before going into custom development. Technical setup: • MacBook Air (M2, 2022) • RAM: 8 GB • macOS: Sequoia 15.3.1 • Language: French (system and keyboard) • Accessibility Keyboard: Enabled via Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard • Custom panel: Built using Panel Editor (Keyboard), named “Philemon Prédiction” • Browsers tested: Chrome, Safari, Firefox (same issue) • Behavior: Panel is visible, suggestions appear, but inserting text does nothing in Google Docs Has anyone worked around this limitation? Is there a simple setting, workaround, or accessibility option to bridge macOS Accessibility input with Google Docs’ editor? Thanks a lot!
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939
Aug ’25
Apple is lying about its commitment to accessibility on macOS
I've just received an email from Apple regarding the Global Accessibility Awareness Day and some forthcoming sessions to promote their accessibility features. What a joke. For many years, Apple refuses to provide the most basic accessibility requirement on macOS: LET USERS DISABLE ALL NON-CONSENSUAL UNSOLICITED ANIMATIONS AND OTHER UI CONVULSIONS. The scourge of animations started from macOS Lion. Yes, many of them can be, fortunately, disabled through some obscure Terminal commands (that is, if the user is lucky enough to discover them on some obscure internet resources). The "Reduce motion" control in System Settings is a fake option that doesn't do anything. And there are two most glaring accessibility violations that cannot be disabled: Scroll bar rollover highlight effect introduced on macOS 10.7.3. Every time you move the cursor over a scroll bar, the bar gets highlighted. It results in bringing the user's attention to random scroll bars for no reason whatsoever just because the cursor happens to pass over the bar at some point. HUNDREDS of unnecessary, annoying events of distraction daily! Expand/collapse animation of NSOutlineView (such as when we open/close a folder in the list view in the Finder, as well as any other app that's using outline views). It's extremely annoying, distracting, and time-wasting. All feedback submitted about this through the years remains mostly ignored (except for a few cases where I received some ridiculous replies from employees who, apparently, are barely familiar with Macs in general). Apple does NOT care about accessibility. Not only this, but it's obvious that Apple is, in fact, intentionally abusing those users who can't tolerate distracting, time-wasting animations and UI convulsions.
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229
Apr ’25
Implementing App Clips with .NET MAUI
We have an iOS App built in .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI). This is a web view App. We wish to integrate APP Clips into this App. But we are unable to do it, due to less available resources online on such implementation. We do not wish to share code between .NET MAUI App and App clips. We understand it is not possible to add APP Clips without a parent swift/Xcode app. As an alternative solution we were thinking to Create a new APP in APP Store Connect using XCode/swift and integrate app clips to it. This parent app when downloaded by users will only redirect users to our MAIN .NET MAUI app to app store connect. We need to know if such apps will be approved by APPSTORE Connect? Please guide us on this. Also please do let us know if you have any other solution to integrate App clips to a .NET MAUI App
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121
Jun ’25
Imessage and Facetime error
Yesterday I installed iOS 26 on my iPhone as a beta tester. At first there was no problem, but during the afternoon I noticed that neither FaceTime nor IMessage worked... I tried to go through the settings as described by Apple Support, but my phone number would not activate. Sometimes I was even asked to activate iCloud. I always get a REG-RESP message. Does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be?
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154
Jun ’25
Subpath for access to Silence Unknown Callers
Hi, Our app has a section where, we show to users how to activate "Silence Unknown Callers", because is a crucial feature for our app. But, we saw that 30% of users drop the process here, because we can't open directly that setting option in phone app. We are using this url scheme to open phone settings in iOS 18: if let url = URL(string: "App-prefs:com.apple.mobilephone") { UIApplication.shared.open(url) } But, we don't see other way to open directly the path "silence", like in iOS 17, with this url scheme: prefs:root=Phone&path=SILENCE_CALLS So, do you know if is possible open that option directly? We want to improve our accessibility. Thank you!
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362
Mar ’25
Guided Access Unresponsive After Period of Use
Hello, I'm observing a persistent and frustrating issue with an accessibility feature called Guided Access that seems to affect many users across different devices and iOS versions. Problem The triple-click gesture (side or home button) to activate Guided Access intermittently stops working after the device has been in normal use for a few days (typically 2-7 days) without a restart. I have done some debugging for Apple in FB16094026 but received no updates after 6 months. So I'm posting here in the hope that this will be solved sooner. A core accessibility feature shouldn't require daily device restarts to function reliably. Details: Guided Access is correctly enabled in Settings > Accessibility. Initially, the triple-click works perfectly. After a period of normal device use (2-7 days), the triple-click no longer triggers Guided Access in any app. Restarting the device temporarily resolves the issue, and Guided Access triple-click works again immediately after a reboot. However, the problem recurs after continued use. Simply toggling the Guided Access setting on/off does NOT fix it. Additional observation: Even trying to select Guided Access manually via the Accessibility Shortcut menu (if multiple shortcuts are enabled) sometimes fails to launch the feature when in this state. Affected: iPhones and iPads Observed on iOS/iPadOS 16, 17, and now 18, indicating it's a long-standing bug. Impact: Guided Access is a crucial accessibility feature for many users (for focus, special needs, parental controls, etc.). Its unreliable activation significantly disrupts daily workflows and reliance on this function. This issue appears to be widespread, with many reports across forums like Apple Support Communities and Reddit. For example, this post received over 1k upvotes. To see more examples please refer to FB16094026. Could Apple please investigate this bug urgently? Thanks.
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Apr ’25
¿How do I make Siri announce the local currency on notifications?
I'm currently testing the announce notifications feature and I can't seem to find out how to make Siri read aloud the current currency instead of dollars. My locale is es-CL (Chile). It uses the currency symbol $ and reads as Pesos locally or Chilean Pesos where the number 5000.1 is represented as 5.000,1 This is the notification content         let content = UNMutableNotificationContent()         content.body = "¡Has recibido un pago por $5.000!" Siri reads it aloud as "¡Has recibido un pago por 5.000 Dolares!" which translates to "You have received a payment for 5,000 Dollars", instead of the expected "¡Has recibido un pago por 5.000 Pesos!" -> "You have received a payment for 5,000 Pesos" I've tried changing the development region of the app, interpolating the string with NumberFormatter.localizedString(from: 5000, number: .currency), and with others styles( .currencyAccounting, .currencyISOCode and .currencyPlural) without good results. The last one seems to work buts it's not ideal since it outputs "5.000 pesos chilenos" which gets read as "5 pesos chilenos" which is not the correct amount (bug), it's as is you're not on Chile and I personally prefer it to be a symbol instead of words. I'm testing with my device which is setup with the region "Chile" Could someone help me find a solution?
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1.4k
Feb ’25
Accessibility for detents behaves different in fullscreen cover
The only way I found to make the accessibility focus work correctly in the detent in a fullscreen cover is to apply the focus manually. The issue is in the ContentView the grabber works while in the fullscreen it does not. Is there something I am missing or is this a bug. I also don't understand why I need to apply focus in the fullscreen cover while in the ContentView I do not. struct ContentView: View { @State private var buttonClicked = false @State private var bottomSheetShowing = false var body: some View { NavigationView { VStack { Button(action: { buttonClicked = true }, label: { Text("First Page Button") .padding() .background(Color.blue) .foregroundColor(.white) .cornerRadius(8) }) .accessibilityLabel("First Page Button") FullscreenView2() } .navigationTitle("Welcome") .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $buttonClicked) { FullscreenView(buttonClicked: $buttonClicked, bottomSheetShowing: $bottomSheetShowing) } } } } struct FullscreenView: View { @Binding var buttonClicked: Bool @Binding var bottomSheetShowing: Bool var body: some View { NavigationView { VStack { Button(action: { bottomSheetShowing = true }, label: { Text("Show Bottom Sheet") .padding() .background(Color.green) .foregroundColor(.white) .cornerRadius(8) }) } .accessibilityHidden(bottomSheetShowing) .navigationTitle("Fullscreen View") .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .navigationBarLeading) { Button(action: { buttonClicked = false }, label: { Text("Close") }) .accessibilityLabel("Close Fullscreen View Button") } } .accessibilityHidden(bottomSheetShowing) .onChange(of: bottomSheetShowing, perform: { _ in }) .sheet(isPresented: $bottomSheetShowing) { if #available(iOS 16.0, *) { BottomSheetView(bottomSheetShowing: $bottomSheetShowing) .presentationDetents([.medium, .large]) } else { BottomSheetView(bottomSheetShowing: $bottomSheetShowing) } } } } } struct FullscreenView2: View { @State var bottomSheetShowing = false var body: some View { VStack { Button(action: { bottomSheetShowing = true }, label: { Text("Show Bottom Sheet") .padding() .background(Color.green) .foregroundColor(.white) .cornerRadius(8) }) } .accessibilityHidden(bottomSheetShowing) .navigationTitle("Fullscreen View") //.accessibilityHidden(bottomSheetShowing) .onChange(of: bottomSheetShowing, perform: { _ in }) .sheet(isPresented: $bottomSheetShowing) { if #available(iOS 16.0, *) { BottomSheetView(bottomSheetShowing: $bottomSheetShowing) .presentationDetents([.medium, .large]) } else { BottomSheetView(bottomSheetShowing: $bottomSheetShowing) } } } } struct BottomSheetView: View { @Binding var bottomSheetShowing: Bool // @AccessibilityFocusState var isFocused: Bool var body: some View { VStack(spacing: 20) { Text("Bottom Sheet") .font(.headline) .accessibilityAddTraits(.isHeader) Button(action: { bottomSheetShowing = false }, label: { Text("Dismiss") .padding() .background(Color.red) .foregroundColor(.white) .cornerRadius(8) }) .accessibilityLabel("Dismiss Bottom Sheet Button") } .padding() .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity) .background( Color(UIColor.systemBackground) .edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all) ) .accessibilityAddTraits(.isModal) // Indicates that this view is a modal // .onAppear { // // Set initial accessibility focus when the sheet appears // DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1.0) { // isFocused = true // } // } // .accessibilityFocused($isFocused) } }
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614
Feb ’25
Autocomplete Select not working with VoiceOver in iOS 18.6.2
Hey folksI, I would like to ask for help on this topic: I think this is exactly the same problem Combobox not working with VoiceOver after… - Apple Community. VoiceOver also breaks the combobox from the official ARIA W3C website https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/combobox/examples/combobox-autocomplete-list/. When VO is turned off, I can use the up/down arrow to go through the menu items from the dropdown, but when VO is turned on, the up/down arrows cannot access the dropdown menu items. Is there an official tutorial on how to control it using voice over? Kind regards, Jakub
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421
Sep ’25
Not able to receive silent pushes in background
I’ve developed the Pro Talkie app—a walkie-talkie solution designed to keep you connected with family and friends App Store: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/pro-talkie/id6742051063 Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.protalkie.app While the app works flawlessly on Android and in the foreground on iOS, I’m facing issues with establishing connections when the app is in the background or terminated on iOS. Specifically, I’ve attempted the following: Silent pushes and alert payloads: These are intended to wake the app in the background, but they often fail—notifications may not be received or can be delayed by 20–30 minutes, leading to a poor user experience. VoIP pushes: These reliably wake the app, but they trigger the incoming call UI, which isn’t suitable for a walkie-talkie app that should connect directly without displaying a call screen. I’ve enabled all the necessary background modes (audio, remote notifications, VoIP, background fetch, processing), but the challenge remains. How can I ensure a consistent background connection on iOS without triggering the call UI?
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450
Mar ’25
I can’t create an iTunes Connect account.
I learned that I need to create an iTunes Connect account to publish my book translations on Apple Books, following the instructions on the Apple Support page. I was then directed to the iTunes Connect website. Despite trying multiple Apple accounts with different credit cards on my Mac, iPad, and iPhone, I kept getting the error “This Apple Account does not have a valid credit card on file.” In the end, I began to wonder if iTunes Connect is unavailable in Turkey. What do I need to do to publish content on Apple Books from Turkey? Do I need to obtain a developer account, or is this service not available in Turkey? The Apple customer service representative I contacted in Turkey said they didn’t have information on the matter and directed me here.
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472
Mar ’25
I cannot pair my PHONAK hearing aids
I cannot pair my PHONAK hearing aids after I upgraded to iOS 18.3 under hearing devices, it just keeps on switching will not find anything. I’ve undelete them and reinstall them four times. Uninstalled the app. Under Bluetooth, it finds it and has it. But under hearing devices where I can control everything it will not. Once I add the hearing aids, my phone goes completely silent. I do not know if anyone calls or texts me
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539
Jan ’25