# Improving Android Accessibility with Modifiers in Jetpack Compose

DevFeed: [Improving Android Accessibility with Modifiers in Jetpack Compose](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/improving-android-accessibility-with-modifiers-in-jetpack-compose-38457.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://eevis.codes/blog/2023-07-11/improving-android-accessibility-with-modifiers-in-jetpack-compose/>)

Author: Eevis Panula

Published: 2023-07-11T05:48:08.009000Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Eevis Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/eevis-blog.md>)

Topics: [Accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/accessibility.md>), [Jetpack Compose](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/jetpack-compose.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [User interface design](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ui-design.md>), [android-development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android-development.md>)

Tags: [accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessibility.md>), [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [assistive-technology](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/assistive-technology.md>), [focus](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/focus.md>), [jetpack-compose](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/jetpack-compose.md>), [modifiers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/modifiers.md>), [visibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/visibility.md>)

## AI overview

A tutorial on using Jetpack Compose modifiers to improve Android app accessibility. It explains how modifiers can add accessibility information, adjust behavior and semantics, reduce unnecessary tab stops, provide focus indicators, improve touch feedback, and increase touch target sizes. The article also emphasizes testing with different assistive technologies.

## Source excerpt

The other day, I was doing some accessibility fixes on our codebase. I came across a switch that didn't have a label associated with it, meaning screen reader users would need to do a bit of guessing to get the information on what they were toggling. I wanted to fix that and started researching. At one point, I was going through the list of modifiers for composable components and noticed that many could help make the app more accessible. I got so excited! And I wanted to share some of these modifiers with you, so here we are. I'm going to go through these modifiers: toggleable selectable clickable magnifier But first, let's talk a bit about modifiers in general and what they are. What are Modifiers? As the Android Developers site defines modifiers: Modifiers allow you to decorate or augment a composable. Modifiers let you do these sorts of things: Change the composable's size, layout, behavior, and appearance Add information, like accessibility labels Process user input Add high-level interactions, like making an element clickable, scrollable, draggable, or zoomable (Source: Android Developers: Compose modifiers) So they are a way to modify composables' looks, behavior, and semantics. They're used a lot in modern Android development with Jetpack Compose, so if you've ever tried Compose, you've probably come across them. As the modifiers can do many things, we can use them for improving accessibility as well. Let's talk about that more in the next section. Modifiers for Accessibility There are many use cases for different modifiers to improve the accessibility of our apps. For example, with modifiers, we can reduce the amount of tab stops for users that use switch devices, hardware keyboards, or screen readers, or we can add more semantic information for assistive technology users in general. We can add visual cues such as focus indicators or improve the visibility and feedback of touch interactions. A good example is what we will do later in this post by increasing