Google Play Store update news

Google Play may lose some popular apps due to their use of Accessibility Services

 Scott Adam Gordon

1 day ago



Google is keen to ensure that its services have truly mass appeal, and part of this means offering functions to help those with disabilities. This includes YouTube captions for the hearing impaired, screen reading for its Chrome browser, and a host of features for its premier mobile platform.

On Android, these come under the umbrella of Accessibility Services, features that developers can take advantage of to help make their apps easier to use for those with disabilities. This includes options like saying passwords out loud (for the visually impaired) and “talkback” so that users can hear an explanation of what they are doing on screen (for the visually impaired).

Accessibility Services can also be taken advantage of to achieve functionality that isn’t explicitly intended for disabled users and apps like LastPass and Action Launcher make use of these settings as part of their core features.