Accessibility

Our Commitment

We believe everyone should be able to track their pet's health with confidence, regardless of ability. Family Cat Asthma Tracker is designed and developed with accessibility as a core priority, following Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for Accessibility and targeting conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA where applicable to native iOS apps.

How Accessibility Works

Family Cat Asthma Tracker does not have its own accessibility settings page. Instead, the app automatically detects and respects the accessibility preferences you configure in your device's iOS Settings > Accessibility menu. When you enable a feature like VoiceOver, Reduce Motion, or Larger Text at the system level, the app adapts its behavior immediately — no additional setup required.

Supported Accessibility Features

VoiceOver (Screen Reader)

Enable VoiceOver in iOS Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver. Family Cat Asthma Tracker is fully compatible with Apple's VoiceOver screen reader. Every interactive element in the app — buttons, toggles, form fields, and navigation controls — includes descriptive accessibility labels, hints, and values so VoiceOver users can understand and operate the entire app by touch and gesture alone.

Specific VoiceOver support includes:

• Dose tracking: Each dose checkbox announces the medication name, scheduled time, dose count, and completion state. Hints describe the action that will occur on double-tap (e.g., "Double tap to log dose" or "Double tap to undo").
• Breathing counter: The tap-to-count button announces the current breath count and time remaining during an active session. Duration selection buttons convey their selected state.
• Health logging: Quick-action icon buttons for logging breathing rate, asthma attacks, and weight include full descriptive labels (e.g., "Count breathing rate for Luna").
• Medication management: Stock levels, supply progress, notification toggles, and schedule status are all announced with meaningful context.
• Pet and family cards: Related information (name, breed, age, stock alerts) is combined into single accessible elements so VoiceOver reads them as coherent units rather than fragmented pieces.
• Decorative elements: Ornamental icons, background patterns, and color-coded reference dots are hidden from the accessibility tree to reduce clutter.
• Section headings: Key sections are marked with the header trait so VoiceOver users can navigate between sections using the rotor.

Dynamic Type (Larger Text)

Adjust text size in iOS Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger Text. The app uses system text styles and custom fonts that are being updated to scale with Dynamic Type. Standard SwiftUI controls and labels respect your text size preference automatically. Custom font scaling across all screens is an active area of improvement (see Known Limitations below).

Reduce Motion

Enable in iOS Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion. All animations in the app respect this setting. When Reduce Motion is enabled:

• Card press effects display without scale animation
• Pulse indicators on alerts and reminders are shown as static indicators instead of repeating animations
• Shimmer loading effects are replaced with static placeholders
• List item transitions appear immediately without sliding or staggering
• Progress bar fills are set instantly without animation
• Chevron hover effects are disabled
• Pet card border animations stop rotating
• Medication icon animations appear without scale-in effects

Smart Invert Colors

Enable in iOS Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Smart Invert. When active, the app protects visual content that should not be color-inverted:

• Pet photos (in detail views, pickers, and thumbnails) retain their original colors
• Health charts (respiratory trend and weight trend) display with their intended color mapping
• The app logo on the welcome screen is preserved as designed

Dark Mode

Toggle in iOS Settings > Display & Brightness > Appearance. Family Cat Asthma Tracker includes full Dark Mode support. All screens, panels, and controls adapt to your system appearance setting with color variants designed to maintain readability and adequate contrast in both Light and Dark modes.

Touch Target Sizing

Interactive elements are designed to meet Apple's recommended minimum touch target size of 44x44 points, ensuring the app is usable for people with motor impairments or reduced dexterity.

Full Keyboard Access

Connect a Bluetooth keyboard and enable in iOS Settings > Accessibility > Keyboards > Full Keyboard Access. The app uses standard SwiftUI navigation patterns (tab views, navigation stacks, lists, buttons) that support keyboard traversal with Tab and Shift+Tab. Focus indicators follow the system default styling.

Switch Control and Voice Control

Enable in iOS Settings > Accessibility > Switch Control or iOS Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control. Because all interactive elements have meaningful accessibility labels and standard SwiftUI control patterns, the app is compatible with both. Users can navigate and operate the app using adaptive switches, head tracking, or voice commands.

Color Independence

The app pairs color indicators with text labels, icons, or shape differences so that information is not conveyed by color alone. Status badges display text (e.g., "Low", "Due", "Replace") alongside their background color, and medication supply levels include numeric values in addition to progress bar fills.

App Store Accessibility Nutrition Labels

Starting with iOS 26, the App Store displays self-reported Accessibility Nutrition Labels across nine categories. Below is the current status for Family Cat Asthma Tracker:

Standards and Guidelines

Our accessibility work is guided by:

• Apple Human Interface Guidelines — Accessibility: The primary reference for iOS accessibility design and implementation.
• WCAG 2.1 Level AA: The internationally recognized standard for digital accessibility, applied where relevant to native mobile apps.
• Apple Accessibility API Documentation: The technical reference for SwiftUI accessibility modifiers, traits, and notifications.

Known Limitations

We are continuously improving accessibility and are aware of the following areas where further work is planned:

• Custom font scaling: The app's custom Futura fonts do not yet fully scale with Dynamic Type at all text sizes. Standard system labels and controls scale correctly. We are updating custom font definitions to support the full range of Accessibility Text Sizes.
• Color contrast: The brand cinnamon accent (#BA5B3F) achieves a 4.2:1 contrast ratio on light backgrounds, which is below the 4.5:1 WCAG AA threshold for normal-size text. The blue accent color used for some icons and badges is also under review. We are working on higher-contrast variants for both light and dark modes.
• Color-only reference dots: The breathing counter's reference range indicators (green, yellow, red dots) currently rely on color alone. Shape or label alternatives are planned.
• Breathing counter alternative input: The tap-to-count breathing rate feature requires rapid tapping, which may be difficult for some users with motor impairments. A manual entry alternative is under consideration.
• External video content: Equipment maintenance videos linked from the app are hosted on YouTube. Captioning availability depends on the content creator.

Feedback and Assistance

Accessibility is an ongoing effort. If you encounter a barrier using Family Cat Asthma Tracker, or if you have suggestions for improving the app's accessibility, we want to hear from you.

Email: support@davidpm.pro

Please include "Accessibility" in the subject line so we can prioritize your message. We aim to respond to all accessibility-related inquiries within 48 hours.