Practitioner Views on Mobile App Accessibility: Practices and Challenges
This program is tentative and subject to change.
As mobile applications (apps) become ubiquitous in everyday life, it is crucial for developers to prioritize accessibility for users with diverse abilities. While previous research has identified widespread accessibility issues and raised awareness of developer challenges, there remains a lack of cross-platform, globally representative insights into how practitioners approach accessibility in practice. This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods survey of 110 mobile app developers across 43 countries, examining how platform ecosystems (iOS vs. Android) and developer experience shape accessibility practices. Results show that while developers recognize the importance of accessibility, they often rely on platform-specific guidelines and typically perform compliance testing late in the development process. Developers primarily implement text-focused features while struggling with API limitations and organizational constraints. Through systematic cross-platform comparison, we identify novel platform-specific barriers and demonstrate how accessibility practices differ across developer experience levels. Our findings offer new insights into the challenges of achieving accessibility in practice and provide actionable steps for various stakeholders to promote more consistent and inclusive app development.
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Fri 17 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
11:00 - 12:30 | Human and Social Aspects 11Research Track at Oceania V Chair(s): Victoria Jackson University of Southampton | ||
11:00 15mTalk | Practitioner Views on Mobile App Accessibility: Practices and Challenges Research Track Amila Indika University of Hawaii at Manoa, Rick Kazman University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Anthony Peruma University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa DOI Pre-print | ||
11:15 15mTalk | Perspective-Taking in Software Engineering: A Study on its Relationship to Team Performance Research Track Kezia Devathasan University of Victoria, Jayani Samaraweera University of Victoria, Dana Damian University of Victoria | ||
11:30 15mTalk | Women’s Career Paths in the Nordic Software Industry: A Narrative Analysis Through Gender-Switched Personas Research Track Claudia Maria Cutrupi Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Mia Bjørndal Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Anh Nguyen-Duc University of South Eastern Norway, Letizia Jaccheri Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) DOI Pre-print | ||
11:45 15mTalk | The Software Infrastructure Attitude Scale (SIAS): A Questionnaire Instrument for Measuring Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Technical and Sociotechnical Infrastructure Research Track Miikka Kuutila Dalhousie University, Paul Ralph Dalhousie University, Huilian Sophie Qiu Northwestern University, Ronnie de Souza Santos University of Calgary, Morakot Choetkiertikul Mahidol University, Thailand, Amin Milani Fard New York Institute of Technology, Rana Alkadhi King Saud University, Xavier Devroey University of Namur, Gregorio Robles Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Hideaki Hata Shinshu University, Sebastian Baltes Heidelberg University, Vladimir Kovalenko JetBrains Research, Shalini Chakraborty University of Bayreuth, Eray Tüzün Bilkent University, Hera Arif Dalhousie University, Gianisa Adisaputri Dalhousie University, kelly Garces Pernett Universidad de los Andes, Anielle Severo Lisboa de Andrade Catholic Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul, Eyram Amedzor Dalhousie University, Bimpe Ayoola Dalhousie University, Keisha Gaspard-Chickoree Dalhousie University, Arazoo Hoseyni Dalhousie University Pre-print | ||
12:00 15mTalk | "Making Our Life Less Monotonous" or "Just Tick Things Off": An Exploratory Multi-Method Study of ToilDistinguished Paper Award Research Track Tom Kafoe Independent Researcher, Lina Ochoa Eindhoven University of Technology, Sharath Siravuru ING, Alexander Serebrenik Eindhoven University of Technology | ||
12:15 15mTalk | TraceCoder: A Trace-Driven Multi-Agent Framework for Automated Debugging of LLM-Generated Code Research Track Jiangping Huang Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Wenguang Ye Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Weisong Sun Nanyang Technological University, Jian Zhang Beihang University, Mingyue Zhang Southwest University, Yang Liu Nanyang Technological University | ||