Software and Game Localisation 5 August 2026
Mobile Accessibility: Touch and Contrast in App Translation
A localised app should be accessible to everyone. We look at what mobile accessibility is and how closely it is bound up with translation.
Localising an app is not simply a matter of moving it into another language; it is a matter of making it usable for everyone. Users whose sight, hearing or movement gives them different abilities should be able to use that app just as comfortably. Mobile accessibility is the dimension of localisation that is most often overlooked and yet is becoming steadily more critical.
Contents
This article looks at what mobile accessibility is, which checks it involves, how it interlocks with localisation and why it has to be planned from the very beginning. The aim is to present accessibility not as an afterthought but as an inseparable part of both design and translation.
What is mobile accessibility?
Mobile accessibility means that an app can be used by everyone, whatever their abilities. In apps, accessibility works hand in hand with the accessibility options built into every operating system (Jiménez-Crespo, 2024). The app, in other words, has to be compatible with the accessibility infrastructure the device provides.
That compatibility is not a single feature but an approach to design. An accessible app works properly with screen readers, offers sufficient colour contrast, keeps touch targets large enough and does not make gestures more complicated than they need to be. Every decision takes users of differing abilities into account.
Accessibility is not only an obligation; it is also an opportunity to widen your audience. An accessible app reaches more users and improves the experience of more people. Seen this way, accessibility carries both an ethical and a commercial value.
Accessibility checks
Mobile accessibility covers a series of concrete checks (Jiménez-Crespo, 2024). The table below summarises the main accessibility checks and what each of them is for.
| Check | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Different screen sizes | Readability on every device |
| Simplifying gestures | Easy interaction |
| Adjusting touch targets | Comfortable tapping |
| Making data entry easier | Effortless use |
| Colour contrast | Visual readability |
| Consistent layouts | Predictable navigation |
These checks complement one another. Large touch targets help users with limited mobility, while high colour contrast benefits those with impaired vision. Consistent layouts let everyone find their way around the app easily. Each check answers a different need.
Screen readers and local-language text
The point at which accessibility meets localisation most directly is the screen reader. Visually impaired users experience the interface through the screen reader’s voice. Every piece of text it speaks has to be accurate and comprehensible in the local language; otherwise the app becomes inaccessible to these users.
Localisation therefore covers not only the visible text but also the hidden text the screen reader reads out. Alt text for images, button labels and audio cues all have to be carried into the local language. A piece of alt text left unlocalised opens a gap in the audio experience.
For mobile games and apps, accessibility options such as text to speech, audio menus, audio cues and voice commands improve access for users of differing abilities. All of these options only mean something when they work correctly in the local language. You can find further reading on the subject in our knowledge centre.
Touch targets and gestures
Mobile interaction runs on taps and gestures, and that brings challenges peculiar to accessibility. Touch targets being large enough is critical for users with limited mobility or reduced precision in the fingers. Small buttons placed close together lead to mistaps and to frustration.
Simplifying gestures matters just as much. Complex, multi-finger gestures are out of reach for some users. An accessible app offers a simple alternative for every function, so that a user who cannot perform a complex gesture can still reach the same result by another route.
These design decisions intersect with localisation as well. Different cultures may have different interaction habits, and text expansion affects both the size and the placement of touch targets. At this point accessibility and localisation meet at the same design table.
Colour contrast and visuals
Colour contrast is the cornerstone of visual accessibility. If the contrast between text and background is insufficient, users with impaired vision cannot read the text. Adequate contrast improves the experience not only for those users but for anyone looking at a screen in bright sunlight.
Colour also carries a cultural layer. What a colour means can change from one culture to another, so visual localisation weighs association as carefully as it weighs contrast. Accessibility and cultural fit are assessed together when colours are chosen.
Information should also never rest on colour alone. An interface that signals a state purely by colour – green and red, say – is unintelligible to colour-blind users. Accessible design backs colour up with text or an icon, so that the information reaches everyone.
Accessibility testing
Accessibility, much like translation, cannot be assured without testing. The app should be reviewed across different screen sizes, with screen readers running and with accessibility settings switched on. This testing matters especially in critical areas such as health and crisis apps; the need in this field became still more apparent during the pandemic (Jiménez-Crespo, 2024).
Accessibility testing can be run as part of localisation testing. It confirms that the local-language text is read correctly by the screen reader, that the alt text has been translated and that the contrast is sufficient. These findings are documented and put right just like any other defect.
Ideally this testing is carried out with real users who have accessibility needs, because the best judge of whether a feature genuinely works is the person who needs that feature. This feedback secures accessibility in real use rather than on paper.
Accessibility and usability
Accessibility and usability are often confused, but they are not the same thing. Usability is about how easy an app is to use in general; accessibility is about people of differing abilities being able to share in that ease. The two feed each other, and an accessible design is usually more usable for everyone.
Large touch targets, for instance, help not only people with limited mobility but anyone using their phone while walking. High colour contrast serves people with impaired vision and, equally, anyone looking at a screen in bright light. Accessibility is not designing for a particular minority; it is really designing for everyone.
This view turns accessibility from an obligation into a marker of quality. An accessible app is usually a better thought out, clearer and more robust product. When it is planned together with localisation, that quality holds in every language and for every user.
Why should it be planned from the outset?
The biggest mistake made with accessibility is leaving it until later. Accessibility added afterwards usually calls for an extensive redesign, whereas accessibility planned from the start flows as a natural part of the design. As with the principle of universal design, this is an approach that is built in from the beginning rather than patched on later.
Planning from the outset both lowers cost and raises quality. When the size of touch targets, colour contrast and screen reader compatibility are settled at the design stage, expensive corrections later become unnecessary. A small effort invested at the start of the process is what puts accessibility on its firmest footing.
Early planning matters from the localisation side too. When screen reader text, alt text and audio cues are brought into the translation scope from the outset, none of them is forgotten. A team that plans accessibility and localisation together produces a product that reaches everyone in every language.
The Türkiye context
Awareness of digital accessibility is growing steadily in Türkiye; public sector apps and some private sector products are giving accessibility features more weight. Many apps, however, still treat accessibility as a layer thought about afterwards. This gap can leave millions of users outside the experience.
The special characters of Turkish call for separate attention in the screen reader experience. Whether letters such as ç, ğ, ı and ş, and Turkish words generally, are spoken correctly by the screen reader determines the quality of the audio experience. Text that is read out wrongly becomes unintelligible to a visually impaired user. In Turkish accessibility testing, therefore, it is not only how the text looks on screen that must be checked, but also how it is spoken by the screen reader, listened to on a real device.
Turkish developers who plan accessibility from the outset reach a wider audience and also meet rising legal and social expectations. In the Türkiye market, accessibility is steadily ceasing to be a preference and becoming a standard. Meeting that standard should be treated as an inseparable part of localisation. In a country with millions of disabled users, an accessible app is not only a matter of conscience; it is also the way to reach a body of users too large to ignore.
What does this mean for you?
When you bring your app into Turkish, you should take accessibility into scope from the very beginning. Accessibility that someone tries to add later usually calls for an extensive redesign; planned from the start it is both higher in quality and more economical, and it widens your app’s audience. When you set the translation scope, adding not just the visible interface text but also the hidden text the screen reader reads and the alt text is the first and easiest step towards accessible localisation.
- Plan accessibility at the very start of the design; do not leave it until later.
- Localise screen reader text and alt text as well.
- Check touch targets, colour contrast and the simplicity of gestures.
- Run accessibility testing with real users.
If you would like to talk about how to build accessibility into your localisation process, you can look at our localisation services and get in touch for an assessment suited to your scope. An accessible app offers everyone, without distinction, an equal and respectful experience.
Frequently asked questions
What is mobile accessibility?
It is a mobile app being usable by everyone, whatever their abilities. It works hand in hand with the accessibility options of the operating system and concerns every layer, from design through to translation.
How is accessibility related to localisation?
The text that screen readers read out, the audio cues and the alt text are localised as well. Text that is not read correctly in the local language undermines accessibility.
Which accessibility checks are carried out?
The main ones are allowing for different screen sizes, simplifying gestures, adjusting touch targets, making data entry easier, paying attention to colour contrast and using consistent layouts.
Why should accessibility be considered from the very beginning?
Added later, it calls for an extensive redesign. Accessibility planned from the outset is both higher in quality and more economical, and it widens the app’s audience.
Sources
- Jiménez-Crespo, M. A. (2024). Localization in Translation. Routledge (Ch. 11).
- W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and mobile accessibility.
- Pagano, A. et al. (2020). On accessibility in mobile applications.