Banking App Resolves 23 Critical Screen Reader Failures, Achieves WCAG 2.1 AA
A regional community bank's iOS and Android apps had 23 critical screen reader failures that blocked visually impaired customers from checking balances or initiating transfers. Every issue was resolved. Zero regressions in 18 months of monitoring.
23→0
Critical screen reader failures
2
Platforms remediated (iOS & Android)
WCAG 2.1 AA
Web + mobile conformance
18 months
Zero regressions with monitoring
The Challenge
What A Regional Community Bank Was Facing
A regional community bank with 340,000 account holders received a complaint from a customer who was blind stating they were unable to check their balance, view transaction history, or initiate a transfer using the bank's mobile app with VoiceOver on iPhone. The app had never undergone assistive technology testing, and the custom chart and data visualization components produced no meaningful output when navigated by VoiceOver or TalkBack.
With the CFPB increasingly attentive to financial services accessibility and the bank's legal team citing ADA Title III exposure, leadership authorized a full mobile and web accessibility remediation program.
Our Approach
How We Solved It
Conducted combined web and mobile WCAG 2.1 AA audits: web portal via browser-based automated scanning and manual keyboard testing; iOS app via VoiceOver and Xcode Accessibility Inspector; Android app via TalkBack and Android Studio Layout Inspector.
Identified 23 critical failures including account balance displays using color alone (WCAG 1.4.1), transaction tables with no header associations (WCAG 1.3.1), icon buttons with no accessible names (WCAG 4.1.2), and chart components announcing only 'Image' when read by VoiceOver.
Rebuilt the core account dashboard chart component using SwiftUI Charts with full accessibility modifiers, providing a programmatic data-table alternative announced correctly by VoiceOver and TalkBack.
Fixed accessibilityLabel properties on all icon buttons across iOS (SwiftUI) and Android (Jetpack Compose) using platform-native accessibility APIs.
Replaced color-only transaction status indicators (red/green markers) with icon + color + text combinations satisfying both WCAG 1.4.1 and 1.4.3.
Added UIAccessibility.post(.screenChanged) focus management for iOS modals and AccessibilityNodeInfo events for Android, ensuring VoiceOver and TalkBack move focus correctly when modals open and close.
Delivered a 4-hour VoiceOver and TalkBack testing workshop for the mobile development team, establishing accessible component patterns as team standards.
The Outcome
What We Achieved Together
All 23 critical failures were resolved across both platforms in 8 weeks. The bank published an updated Accessibility Statement confirming WCAG 2.1 AA conformance for the web portal and both mobile apps. The customer who filed the original complaint confirmed the app was fully usable with VoiceOver.
In the 18 months since remediation, automated monitoring and a QA checklist implemented by BuildWithAccess have caught three potential regressions introduced by app updates — all resolved before a production release reached users.
“Our mobile team had never tested with a screen reader before. BuildWithAccess did not just fix our app — they showed our developers how to do it right going forward. Eighteen months and zero regressions is the result we are proud of.”
Services Used
- WCAG Audit
- Remediation
- Monitoring
Standards Achieved
- WCAG 2.1 AA
- ADA Title III
- EN 301 549
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