Transcript: Facebook iPhone app a step back

9 September 2012

Roberta: Facebook has revamped their app for Apple devices such as the iPhone and the iPad. The update to the app is said to have improved the speed and user interface, however the Media Access Australia digital technology and online media team have found that the app is still largely inaccessible to people who are blind or vision impaired. I have with me today Clarizza Fernandez, who is going to answer a couple of questions. Hello Clarizza.

Clarizza: Hi Roberta.

Roberta: Tell us about the latest update to the Facebook app for Apple devices.

Clarizza: Well, the latest update to the Facebook app for Apple devices, so like the iPhone and iPad, is, according to Facebook, a complete overhaul of the app. They’ve made the app faster and changed the user interface so that when you scroll through your news feed, pictures and status updates load faster. When you like a status update or a picture, it is now shown in real time.

Roberta: So, in what ways has Facebook said the update has improved the usability of the app?

Clarizza: In the past, the Facebook apps for Apple devices have been slow to start and it could take a long time for photos to load. The updated apps now provide a bar at the top that shows how many new stories have been posted. If you scroll down to view a news feed you can now simply select that bar when you want news stories to load.

However, the improvements to the app come mainly in its speed. It just works faster now.

Roberta: How would the app score on the accessibility front, and is it compatible with Apple’s in-built screen reader?

Clarizza: There are some things that do work with the in-built screen reader - it’s called VoiceOver - that come with the iPhone and iPad. And there are some things that don’t.

VoiceOver is a screen reader that can be used by blind or visually impaired users. And with those is announced what is on screen. When we use VoiceOver to navigate through the updated Facebook app, we found that some buttons were announced. However, we were unable to access some of the core features of the app.

While the button labels in the main menu are announced, there are still some inconsistencies with scrolling up and down. Sometimes you can’t access the status, photo and checking options through VoiceOver. You can’t also get past a certain step in performing a function, which is why it is still largely inaccessible.

Roberta: Clarizza, what testing did you do to check the accessibility of the app?

Clarizza: Well we turned VoiceOver on and tested a few of the core features of Facebook. We tried direct messaging of friends, chatting and creating a status update. When we tried to select to contact a friend to send a direct message from the news feed, there were no instructions on how to select a contact.

You can begin to type the contact’s name and then select them from there. But VoiceOver doesn’t announce any instructions to do so. When we tried to send a direct message to a friend through the main menu, it was very difficult to select the contact.

There are also no instructions on how to select friends to send the message to. So VoiceOver’s compatibility with the contact list in general and particularly when using chat, is inconsistent. VoiceOver will announce “tap here to go online”, but for a blind or visually impaired person it will be hard to find where the icon actually is.

We also checked to see how VoiceOver works with status updates. When a status update in a news feed is selected by VoiceOver, the status and amount of likes and comments is announced. No instructions on how to like or comment on the status update is given by VoiceOver.

So, as you can see, these features are what allows people to communicate with their family and friends. And so far in our testing, we have found them to be incompatible with VoiceOver. So in essence, the Facebook app update has improved the software’s speed but has left behind any improvements to its accessibility.

Facebook has made a huge investment in this last update, by completely rebuilding it. So this would have been the perfect opportunity to improve its accessibility. But that has unfortunately not been made a priority with this software update.

Roberta: How can people report an issue with Facebook accessibility?

Clarizza: Unfortunately Facebook hasn’t made their accessibility complaint form very easy to find. So the best way to locate it is to go to our website. Go in to the online media section and under Social Media, in the menu, you will find information on Facebook accessibility, including a link to their forms for reporting issues with accessibility and assistive technology.

Roberta: Okay. Or you can send Media Access Australia an email. Thank you for all that today Clarizza.

Clarizza: Thanks Roberta.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Clarizza Fernandez from Media Access Australia. And Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.