Designing the Swiggy App to Be Truly Accessible (Episode 3)
Article Summary
Swiggy made their food delivery app fully accessible for visually and physically challenged users. The result? A measurable increase in orders from users with disabilities.
Swiggy's iOS team tackled accessibility head-on, focusing on VoiceOver for vision impairment and Voice Control for motor disabilities. This is Episode 3 of their accessibility journey, diving deep into the technical implementation.
Key Takeaways
- Grouped restaurant info into single accessible elements to reduce focus shifts
- Added backend alt text for all images and banners for screen readers
- Built custom actions (add, remove, go to cart) for each menu item
- Modified layouts specifically for VoiceOver sessions with cart shortcuts
- Voice Control enables hands-free ordering using item numbers or names
After rolling out these iOS accessibility features, Swiggy saw a significant increase in completed orders from users with disabilities.
About This Article
Swiggy's iOS app didn't have proper accessibility features. Labels, traits, hints, and frames were missing, which meant visually and physically impaired users couldn't navigate the food ordering flow.
Agam Mahajan's team added iOS accessibility properties to the app. They set isAccessibilityElement flags, created custom announcement notifications for asynchronous events, and integrated backend alt text for images.
Once VoiceOver support for vision-impaired users and Voice Control for motor-disabled users were live, Swiggy saw more completed orders from accessible users. The numbers showed the feature actually worked.