Accessibility

Every button, row and control has a spoken label that makes sense on its own, and hints where the outcome is not obvious. A mate's row reads their name, how their friendship is going and when you last reached out, without needing to see the screen. Actions that sighted users reach by swiping a row, such as logging a check-in, deleting a mate, or starring or deleting a check-in in the Log, are also exposed as VoiceOver actions, so nothing depends on a gesture alone. The one-time tip that shows sighted users the swipe on Today, Mates and the Log is read out to you instead. The menu a sighted user opens by pressing and holding a row is there too, as More options, and what the card that lifts with it shows (when you last talked, the next date, what to remember) is on the mate's page, one tap away. On a long Mates list sorted by name, the letter rail down the edge is one control: swipe up or down on it to jump to the next or previous letter. Recap's big number works the same way: swipe up or down on it for the next or previous month or year. The month on Today's calendar works the same way: swipe up or down on it to change month, and each day from today on has a Plan something on this day action. When someone is waiting, the Today tab carries a count, and VoiceOver reads it with the tab's name, so you hear how many mates need you from any tab. With VoiceOver on, a profile opened from Today, Mates or the Log has up and down buttons at the top that name the mate before and after it on that list and say where you are, such as 3 of 12, so you can move through your mates without the swipe.

Because every control carries a clear label, you can tap, swipe and type through the app with Voice Control. Say the name of a mate, a tab or a button to activate it. Hidden or icon-only controls have names too.

The app follows your Dynamic Type setting, including the largest accessibility sizes, scaling text to well over 200%. Rows that sit two items side by side rearrange to stack instead of cutting text short, and status text is never truncated. At those sizes the Mates circle shows as the list, whose rows can grow with the text. Full support for the largest accessibility sizes arrived in version 1.0.1.

Howdy Mate! has a full dark mode. By default it follows your device's appearance; you can also pin it to Light or Dark from Settings, then Appearance.

Friendship health is the one thing the app colours. It is always paired with a symbol and a word, so a mate who is overdue is described as overdue and not merely tinted. Buttons, selected states and errors likewise use text, shape or an icon alongside any colour.

Every text and background pairing in both light and dark mode meets the WCAG AA contrast ratio, and an automated test in the codebase fails the build if a palette change would break that. The palette is deliberately plain ink on paper so that text stays legible and the few colours that do appear stand out.

When Reduce Motion is on in iOS Settings, the app's animations and springs collapse to instant transitions. Nothing slides, bounces or scales, and no feature depends on an animation to be understood.

• Haptics: Vibration feedback can be set to On, Subtle or Off in Settings.
• Touch targets: Every tappable control is at least 44 by 44 points, the size Apple recommends.
• Time to read: The only thing that leaves on a timer is the short confirmation along the bottom, with its Undo. Rest a finger on it and it waits until you let go; flick it down to clear it early. With VoiceOver on, it stays twice as long and offers a Dismiss action, or scrub with two fingers to close it.
• No audio or video: The app contains no media, so captions and audio descriptions do not apply.

If something in Howdy Mate! is hard to use with the assistive technology you rely on, email [email protected] and describe what happened. Accessibility fixes go to the front of the queue. You can also visit our support page.