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SPEAKER: There are billions of people who use Android devices.
And it's important to remember that not everybody interacts
with their device the same way.
TalkBack is one of the tools that
allows people to more easily interact with their device.
And as an Android developer, it's
important to test that your app works well
with services such as TalkBack.
In this episode, we'll look at what TalkBack
is, how to set it up on your device,
and how to navigate an app using TalkBack.
TalkBack is a Google screen reader included on most Android
devices.
When TalkBack is turned on, it provides spoken feedback
so users can navigate their device
without looking at the screen.
Once TalkBack is enabled, users can navigate their device
through gestures such as swipes and taps.
There are various ways to turn on TalkBack.
And the specific steps may vary by device and Android version.
One of the ways to turn on TalkBack
is through the Settings app.
On your device, open the Settings app.
In the Settings app, navigate to the Accessibility section
and find the TalkBack option.
Once you're inside the TalkBack settings,
you can turn Use TalkBack to On or Off.
You can also easily toggle TalkBack
by asking Google Assistant.
For other ways to turn on TalkBack,
check out the link in the video description below.
If you want to easily toggle TalkBack in the future,
you can also enable the TalkBack Shortcut option.
This allows you to turn TalkBack on or off by holding the Volume
keys for three seconds.
Some devices even come with TalkBack preconfigured
for this shortcut.
Now that TalkBack is turned on, let's see how navigation works
using TalkBack in a sample app.
Here, we're on the Home screen of a task tracking app,
with TalkBack turned on.
With TalkBack on, one of the ways users
can navigate the screen is by exploring through touch.
As a user taps around the screen,
TalkBack announces the text, buttons, and items.
After a pause, TalkBack might also
suggest actions the user can take
on an active item, such as double
tapping to activate a button.
Another common way for users to navigate
their device with TalkBack is through various gestures.
On TalkBack's default settings, a common navigation gesture
is the one-finger swipe to the left or right.
Swiping right with one finger will navigate you
to the next item on the screen.
And swiping left with one finger will
navigate to the previous item.
Another common gesture is the double tap,
which will take action on a selected item.
For example, you can navigate through the items in this task
tracking list with one-finger swipes
and then double tap anywhere on the screen
to go into the detailed view of that specific task.
Finally, you can also easily open the TalkBack menu
by using the swipe down, then right gesture.
From this menu, you can then access the custom actions
for your app.
There are many more gestures that you
can use to navigate your device with TalkBack and ways
for you to customize how TalkBack navigates a screen.
Check out the link in the video description
below for a more comprehensive list of TalkBack gestures
and how to customize TalkBack navigation.
To summarize, TalkBack is a screen reader
that allows people to more easily interact
with their device.
Using TalkBack, users can navigate their device
with gestures and spoken feedback.
A great way to test for areas of improvement in your app
is to navigate your app with TalkBack turned on.
Now that you've learned the basics of how TalkBack works,
be sure to test navigating your app with TalkBack.
And stay tuned for more tips on how
to make your app more accessible for everybody.
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