Google Does What Apple Didn’t…
The tiniest of Android features that changes how we develop apps forever.
This is one of those occasions where Apple objectively dropped the ball. This is also one of those occasions where I wish I had my “I told you so” banner ready with big bold serif letters printed next to my large grinning face. 😁 I’m not even being smug here. This is nerd excitement, one that finally matters not just to nerds, but every single user out there who owns a smartphone. Google decided to introduce a feature, which I knew they would eventually. Five years ago, once they launched Lighthouse as a default developer tool in the browser, I said this…
Watch out, Google started ranking sites and apps by SEO, then responsiveness. Accessibility is the next one.
People shrugged, went to get a Subway, washed it down with a Mountain Dew and forgot everything I said. Guess what? I was right. While it’s not actual websites yet, Google, and understandably so, decided quietly to introduce a new feature on its Play store. I say quietly because the announcement was made as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which is almost as loud as a Mickey Mouse’s post-COVID whisper compared to everything else going on in the news these days.
To celebrate this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we have tagged apps that are accessible with relevant accessibility (a11y) tags in the Play Store app. — Google Play Help
If this were April 1st, I would have said “ha ha Google, tasteless joke, go make fun of someone else”. But no, this is no joke, and few realise yet how monumental this decision is. I’ll be honest. I expected this from Apple. Heck, I expected this way before they even added the privacy tags. But no, Google did it first. While so far, only a handful of apps have accessibility tags, this list will only grow. You can check out the entire announcement on their Google Play Help page, but I will try to summarise a few key points here as well, and also what they mean.
- There are six accessibility tags: Screen reader-friendly, Visual assistance, Hearing assistance, Learning disability, Motor assistance and Accessible communication. This makes it granular enough that users will be able to filter down applications based on their unique needs, rather than just one global accessibility tag and then hope for the best.
- Interacting with a tag will also show other apps that meet the same accessibility requirements. This, for clever app developers, can act as free marketing for a good while. Given how low the number of accessible apps out there is, appearing on that list will be easy enough and gives their app a much higher chance of being discovered.
- The results are currently Google curated, and some more apps will be added over time.
What does this mean for developers?
It’s important to note that at the time of writing, there is no indication yet whether a developer can set these tags themselves. Current Play Store settings and documentation doesn’t seem to indicate that. I checked myself in Google Play Console.
However, there might be a reason for that. Accessibility overlays on the web already prove how some companies resort to predatory tactics to make money. They sell an injected overlay which allegedly makes one’s website or web app accessible. This has now been debunked several times, however all their customers would assume their web presence is now accessible.
A very similar situation could happen with Android apps too. Moreover, allowing developers to mark their apps as accessible and policing that only through an honour system could be dangerous unless lying comes with serious consequences for the app’s owner. Ideally, apps would be tested for accessibility when submitted to the Play Store and the appropriate tags assigned, but it remains to be seen how exactly this will unfold.
The good news is, developers can — and frankly should — start making their apps accessible from this day onward. Google will add the tags retroactively, and I have a feeling if someone really believes their app should be tagged as accessible and contacted Google about it, they might take that request into account and prioritise the review. Either way, if until now developers couldn’t find a reason to design and build their apps accessibly, now the Android Play Store will give them one.
Mark my words. There is a future where apps that don’t have accessibility tags will fall to the very bottom of the app stores, or won’t even get approved. Regardless of OS.
I think we can all agree our apps should make the most of this future because an accessible app won’t only be good for every human, but will also be the smart business decision. On that note, go forth and build accessible apps. 🚀
Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!
