At a glance
- Larger text Supported The iPhone and iPad app uses the system text styles, so it follows your Dynamic Type size, including the accessibility sizes. Figures such as distance and time scale down only when a row would otherwise be cut off.
- Dark interface Supported Every screen has a dark appearance, and the Topo map has a true night palette rather than a dimmed day map.
- Sufficient contrast Supported Text on the app’s orange is dark, not white, because white on that orange fails the contrast bar in bright light. Small labels and secondary text were checked against the WCAG AA ratio.
- Reduced motion Supported With Reduce Motion on, the opening animation, the app tour and the larger transitions are replaced by plain changes. Map movement itself is the map following you and is not animated for effect.
- VoiceOver Partly Buttons, lists, settings, the stats bar, the route bar and the Emergency Location screen are labelled and read in a sensible order. The map itself is a graphic: VoiceOver does not read the map, its pins or the drawn route. See below for how to follow a route without it.
- Voice Control Supported Controls with visible names respond to “Tap Start Hike” and the like, and the icon-only map buttons have spoken names: “Tap Map Layers”, “Tap My location”, “Tap Zoom in”. The map itself cannot be operated by voice.
- Differentiate without colour alone Supported State is never carried by colour on its own: going off route is spoken, buzzed and written; GPS accuracy is a figure and a word, not just a coloured dot.
- Captions and audio descriptions Not applicable The app contains no video or audio content. Spoken guidance is also shown as text.
Following a route without looking
The app was built to be used while walking with the phone in a pocket, which helps if you cannot see the screen well.
- Spoken guidance. Turn prompts in Great Britain (“In 150 m, turn left onto the West Highland Way”), off-route and back-on-route notices, arrival, and optional distance milestones and daylight warnings, spoken through the phone or your headphones. Each can be switched on or off under Settings → Map.
- Haptics. A distinct buzz for a turn, for leaving the route and for arriving, on the phone and on the watch.
- The route bar. The next turn, the distance to the next waypoint and the distance left are text, so VoiceOver reads them, and they are also on the lock screen as a Live Activity.
- Apple Watch. A bearing arrow and the distance to the next waypoint on the wrist, with haptics, while the phone follows the route.
Emergency Location
Your coordinates and grid reference in large, high-contrast type, with your GPS accuracy, and a single button that dials the local emergency number after you confirm. VoiceOver reads the position in full. The screen is one tap from Home, and stays readable at the largest text sizes.
Known limitations
- The map view is not readable by VoiceOver. Pins for places, photos and waypoints can be reached through their lists instead: Saved places, the hike’s waypoint list and the Photos tab.
- The Apple Watch app uses fixed text sizes on its small screen, so it does not yet follow the watch’s text-size setting.
- Spoken turn directions are available in Great Britain only. Elsewhere the app speaks off-route, arrival and milestone notices but not junctions.
- Summit names on the map can be tapped to plan a route to them, but they are part of the map graphic and are not reachable by VoiceOver. The Summits list under Hikes → Stats offers the same hills with VoiceOver.
Settings that help
- iOS Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size: larger text, bold text and button shapes all apply throughout the app.
- Settings → Map in the app: spoken guidance switches, including the new warning before a steep climb, the zoom buttons, the stats bar, GPS accuracy and coordinates on the map.
- Settings → Appearance: light or dark, and the map’s night palette.
- Map layers → Minimal: a quieter map with fewer colours when the Topo style is too busy.
Tell us
If something does not work with the assistive technology you use, email [email protected] and say which device, which version of the app (Settings → About) and what you were trying to do. Accessibility problems are treated as bugs, and this page is updated with each release.