TalkBack evaluation examples for TV apps

This guide lists steps to evaluate your TV app to improve a screen reader user’s experience. Perform these steps to understand how users experience your app when TalkBack, the Android screen reader, is enabled.

Evaluation examples

Start your evaluation by enabling TalkBack and opening your app. We recommend that the first time you conduct this evaluation, you do so without looking at the TV screen.

First-time use

Explore the landing page and log into an account, trying every possible login path:

  • Use the remote control to enter the account credentials.
  • If available, log in with a code.
  • If available, opt into a trial.

Confirm the following:

  • Are all key elements on the page reachable and clickable? That is, can you select all key elements when navigating with the remote?
  • Are elements, such as “Login,” meaningfully labeled and announced when TalkBack is enabled? Watch out for unlabeled elements or sequences of numbers, such as “unlabeled” or “item 08328492qw.”
  • When TalkBack is enabled, is all the text that appears on screen announced?
  • Do interactions yield expected results? For example, does clicking the Sign in button actually bring users to a sign-in page?
  • Is navigation smooth, or do issues occur? For example, does the selection jump to the wrong element in the UI at any point?
  • Confirm the following login-specific issues:
    • Can you move from character to character on the screen keyboard when using the remote to type?
    • When using a login code that displays on the TV to be entered on a secondary device, can you navigate from character to character?

Navigate through the interface, testing the following behaviors for all pages and menus:

  • Navigate all the way to the end of the page and back.
  • Navigate all the way to the end of a row and back.
  • Click row elements, including content cards and buttons, to confirm that all actions yield expected results.

Confirm the following:

  • Are all key elements on the page reachable and clickable? That is, can you select all key elements when navigating with the remote?
  • If an element has focus, is it meaningfully labeled and announced? Watch out for unlabeled elements or sequences of numbers, such as “unlabeled” or “item 08328492qw.”
  • If an element with text has focus, is all the text that appears on screen announced by TalkBack?
  • Do interactions yield expected results? Is navigation smooth, or do issues occur? For example, does the selection jump to the wrong element in the UI at any point?
  • When opening a page, does clicking the Back button bring the user to where they were before opening the page?
  • Confirm the following row-specific issues:
    • If a row heading has focus, is it announced by TalkBack?
    • If a row has focus, are all items within the row announced by TalkBack? For example, if it’s a movie row, are all movie titles announced by TalkBack?
  • Avoid instances of automatic playback. Check the following:
    • Does content start playing only when the user has initiated an interaction?
    • If not, can autoplaying content be paused or stopped by the user?

Note: Automatic playback of content, such as trailer autoplay, can be disruptive for users with vision impairments. The ability to pause or stop autoplay content is recommended by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Explore information pages for media content

If your app contains media content with detail pages, such as an information page about a movie or show, open the detail page for two or more media titles and do the following:

  • Navigate through all the information available for a title.
  • Test all available actions, such as play, rent, and add to favorites.

Confirm the following:

  • Are all key elements on the page reachable and clickable? That is, can you select all key elements when navigating with the remote?
  • If an element has focus, is it meaningfully labeled and announced? Watch out for unlabeled elements or sequences of numbers, such as “unlabeled” or “item 08328492qw.”
  • If an element has focus, is all the text announced by TalkBack?
  • Do interactions yield expected results? Is navigation smooth, or do issues occur? For example, does the selection jump to the wrong element in the UI at any point?
  • When opening a page, does clicking the Back button bring the user to where they were before opening the page?
  • Confirm the following detail-page specific issues:
    • Is the title announced by TalkBack when the user lands on the page?
    • Is metadata, such as ratings and genre, announced by TalkBack?
    • If there are additional rows, are all row headings announced by TalkBack?
  • Watch out for instances of automatic playback. Check the following:
    • Does content start playing only when the user has initiated an interaction?
    • If not, can autoplaying content be paused or stopped by the user?

Play media content

If available, play one or more media titles and test the following interactions:

  • Play and pause.
  • Rewind and fast-forward.
  • Activate audio descriptions, if available.
  • Change audio language.
  • Enable and change subtitles or captions, if available, including changing any associated settings.
  • Test any additional playback controls that are available.

Confirm the following:

  • If media controls have focus, are they appropriately labeled and announced by TalkBack? This includes additional options such as subtitle options or audio descriptions.
  • If media controls have focus, do all media controls work in the expected manner when TalkBack is enabled?
  • When pausing and resuming media playback, do TalkBack announcements occur concurrently over the movie or show’s audio?
  • When rewinding or fast-forwarding, does TalkBack provide information about timestamps or about rewinding and fast-forwarding speed?
  • Change settings and check the following:
    • Are actions confirmed by TalkBack?
    • Are toggles and toggle actions appropriately labeled? For example, is current state + action announced?

Watch live content with an Electronic Programming Guide

If your app has live TV content, do the following:

  • Browse the Electronic Programming Guide (EPG).
  • Browse through different channels.
  • Browse forward in time.
  • Click to play live content.
  • Test any additional controls that are available, such as marking channels as favorites and reordering rows.

Confirm the following:

  • Are all key elements on the page reachable and clickable? That is, can you select all key elements when navigating with the remote?
  • If an element has focus, is it meaningfully labeled and announced? Watch out for unlabeled elements or sequences of numbers, such as “unlabeled” or “item 08328492qw.”
  • If an element has focus, is all the text that appears on screen announced by TalkBack?
  • Do interactions yield expected results? Is navigation smooth, or do issues occur? For example, does the selection jump to the wrong element in the UI at any point?
  • When opening a page, does clicking the Back button bring the user to where they were before opening the page?

Voice support

If your app has any embedded form of voice search, use it to do the following:

  • Spell, if available.
  • Search for content.

Confirm the following:

  • Can users revise what they have spelled?
  • Are there any interferences between searching or spelling with voice and TalkBack? For example, when TalkBack announces something, is the announcement picked up as a voice query?

Examine the search results page like any other page. For guidance, see the Navigate the user interface with a remote section.

Explore app settings

Navigate through settings, including the following:

  • Navigate through every menu and submenu.
  • Modify settings.

Confirm the following:

  • Are all key elements on the page reachable and clickable? That is, can you select all key elements when navigating with the remote?
  • If an element has focus, is it meaningfully labeled and announced? Watch out for unlabeled elements or sequences of numbers, such as “unlabeled” or “item 08328492qw.”
  • If a setting has focus, is all the text that appears on screen announced by TalkBack?
  • Do interactions yield expected results? Is navigation smooth, or do issues occur? For example, does the selection jump to the wrong element in the UI at any point?
  • When opening a page, does clicking the Back button bring the user to where they were before opening the page?
  • Change settings and check the following:
    • Are selections confirmed by TalkBack?
    • Are toggles and toggle actions appropriately labeled? For example, is current state + action announced?

Make changes to global TalkBack settings

Open the global TalkBack settings on the TV device and do the following:

  • Modify each TalkBack setting, such as speech rate and verbosity, one by one.
  • After modifying each setting, return to the app you are evaluating and confirm that the changes you made to TalkBack settings successfully carry into the app.

Learn more

To learn more, see our accessibility development resources.