[The TetraLogical logo whooshes into view on a white background. The logo flashes and stops with a sonar-like 'ping'. It then magnifies and fades out.]

[A dark purple background appears with the TetraLogical logo faintly overlaid]

Browsing with a mobile screen reader.

Like desktop screen readers, mobile screen readers announce everything on a web page and within an application.

All static text is spoken including paragraphs of text, headings and lists.

Screen readers also announce additional information, such as text descriptions for images, visually hidden text, and the names of landmark regions (for example banner, main, and footer) when browsing web content.

[An image of the TetraLogical homepage appears on a mobile device being held in hand. The logo is displayed at the top, then below it a horizontal list of links for main navigation. The main heading is below that, and the body of the page content fills the rest of the screen]

When a mobile screen reader is enabled on a touch-screen device, all the gestures change.

Instead of visually scanning the screen and tapping once on something to activate it, people will scan the screen by touch, and move their screen reader focus sequentially, in a linear fashion, through elements on the screen.

[The hands holding the device navigate through the elements on screen]

Swipe right to move focus to the next item. Swipe left to move focus to the previous item.

In addition, mobile screen readers also let you "explore by touch", dragging a finger over the screen.

[As the user drags their finger, a green visible focus outline highlights content as it moves. Text is displayed at the bottom of the screen as the screen reader reads content aloud]

The screen reader will focus and announce each item you touch.

This can be useful in situations where an item can't be reached through normal navigation, but can be quite inefficient.

[The user moves the visible focus to the "News" page. They double-tap elsewhere on the screen and the News page opens]

Once a mobile screen reader is focused on an item, double-tapping anywhere on the screen will activate it.

[The TetraLogical homepage on a mobile screen is displayed on a purple background]

On both Android and iOS it is possible to navigate by a specific type of element.

On iOS, the VoiceOver rotor makes it possible to access different configuration settings and to navigate applications and web pages by different elements.

Moving two fingers clockwise opens the rotor where you can choose what types of element you want to navigate between.

[The Voiceover rotor appears on screen with 8 options displayed in a dial. As the user navigates and each new item is announced, the dial moves clockwise through the options]

[VoiceOver] Characters, Words, Lines, Speaking rate, 60%, Containers, Headings, 5 headings

[The rotor disappears]

Once a type of element is selected, swiping up or down moves focus between the elements of that particular type.

For example, while browsing a website, if headings are selected in the rotor, then swiping up or down moves focus from heading to heading.

[The visible focus moves from heading to heading as the user navigates down the page and each heading is read aloud]

[VoiceOver] Hello, we're TetraLogical, Heading level 1, News, heading level 2, Blog, heading level 2, Contact us, heading level 2.

[The TetraLogical homepage on a mobile screen reappears. The visible focus is now an outline over the entire screen]

On Android you can swipe down then up in one gesture to cycle between TalkBack navigation options.

[V-shaped arrows pointing up and down appear on screen, they are displayed above and below each the word being announced]

[TalkBack] Characters, Words, Lines, Headings, Swipe up or swipe down to read by headings

[The visible focus outline stops on the main heading]

Once an option is selected, such as headings, a single swipe, either up or down, moves focus between each heading.

[The visible focus outline moves down the page as the user navigates]

[TalkBack] Hello, we're TetraLogical, Heading 1, News, heading 2, Blog, heading 2.

All screen readers can be customised to suit people's preferences. Probably the most common setting people change is the rate of speech output.

[The VoiceOver rotor reappears with "Speaking Rate" selected in the dial]

Many people who use screen readers on a daily basis listen to the speech output very fast.

This is similar to how someone who is sighted might skim read or read fast in their head.

The speech rate can be so fast that output is almost impossible to follow for people unaccustomed to screen readers.

As an example, here we change the speaking rate in iOS VoiceOver from 60% to 100%, and then read through content on the TetraLogical website's homepage.

[The "Speaking Rate" overlay disappears]

[VoiceOver] Speaking Rate, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%

[VoiceOver, speaking at a very high rate] We take the time to understand your organisation, your project, and your goals, so we can put together services that are tailored to suit you. Our accessibility services include...

These are some of the high level details about mobile screen readers, and common strategies that people browsing with a mobile screen reader use.

[The screen fades to white and the TetraLogical logo appears again]

To find out more about accessibility visit tetralogical.com.