Using the App with a Screen Reader

A guide for people who use VoiceOver (iPhone) or TalkBack (Android) to use the Mobility Mapper app. If you help someone who uses a screen reader, this guide works for you too.

Mobility Mapper lets you record the journeys you make in your wheelchair, mobility scooter, or other wheeled mobility device, report barriers like missing dropped kerbs, and add accessible toilets and Blue Badge parking spaces — helping build a map of routes that are wheelable for everyone. This guide explains how to do all of that by listening and using touch gestures.

The gestures you’ll use

Everything in the app can be done with four gestures. They are the same on iPhone and Android:

To do this	Gesture
Move to the next thing and hear it	Swipe right with one finger
Move back to the previous thing	Swipe left with one finger
Choose/press the thing you’re on	Double-tap anywhere
Scroll through a list or page	Swipe up or down with two fingers

When the screen reader reads something, a box is drawn around it. That is the item you’ll press if you double-tap.

Tip: you can also slide one finger slowly around the screen to hear what is where.

iPhone (VoiceOver): Settings → Accessibility → VoiceOver. Tip: set the Accessibility Shortcut to VoiceOver so a triple-click of the side button turns it on and off.
Android (TalkBack): Settings → Accessibility → TalkBack. Tip: turn on the TalkBack shortcut so holding both volume keys turns it on and off.

1. Signing in or creating an account

Open Mobility Mapper.
Swipe right through the screen to hear each field. Double-tap the Email field and type your email, then the Password field and type your password.
To see your password as you type, find the “Show password” button next to the password field and double-tap it. Double-tap again to hide it.
Find and double-tap Log in. If anything is wrong (for example a mistyped password), you’ll hear the reason spoken aloud.

If you are creating a new account, the first screen is Welcome. Find and double-tap Get Started. There is no separate tick box for the terms — double-tapping Get Started is how you accept them, and links to the full Terms of Service and Privacy Notice sit just below the button.

Complete the Register form and verify the six-digit code sent to your email — the code is submitted for you as soon as the sixth digit is typed. You'll then be asked to add your mobility device, and can choose whether to join the pilot study and turn on notifications.

2. Finding your way around

Along the bottom of the screen are five tabs. Swipe to each to hear it:

Home — where the app opens.
Map — browse the paths, barriers, toilets and parking around you, or anywhere else.
Record a journey — start recording a trip.
Me — your journeys, contributions, devices and privacy zones.
Mail — messages from the Mobility Mapper team, and alerts when another wheeler confirms or edits something you added. If you have unread messages, this tab tells you how many, for example “Mail, 3 unread.”

Double-tap a tab to open it.

The Home screen

Swipe through Home to hear a short introduction and a “Take a tour of the app” button, News and updates from the Mobility Mapper team (double-tap any item to read it in full), an optional pilot survey card, and then three sections you can help with: Confirm Barriers Near You, Confirm Toilets Near You and Confirm Parking Near You. Double-tap any item in them to open it and add your confirmation.

Taking the tour

Double-tap “Take a tour of the app” on Home (it is also in Settings). The tour visits each tab in turn and describes it on a card. Each card has Exit, Back and Next buttons; the last card has Done. A few stops ask you to tap an icon, such as the Settings cog under Me — Next opens that screen for you if you would rather not find the icon.

3. The Map tab: hearing what’s on the map

The map itself is visual, so with a screen reader on, the Map tab gives you the same information as a list.

Swipe to the “What’s in this area” button near the bottom of the screen. It tells you how many barriers, accessible toilets and parking spaces are in the map area.
Double-tap it to open the list, then double-tap any item to hear its full details.
Pan the map to another town and the list covers that area instead — useful for planning a trip somewhere new.

The map’s other buttons are Map settings, Map key, Zoom to my location, and Add to the map, which offers Report a barrier, Add an accessible toilet and Add a disabled parking space.

4. Recording a journey

This is the heart of the app: recording where you travel so it can be added to the wheelable map.

Double-tap the Record a journey tab. Your mobility device is selected for you; to record with a different one, find and double-tap “Change mobility device”. If you haven’t added a device yet, the screen tells you and offers a button to add one.
Find and double-tap Start journey. You’ll hear “Recording started.”
If nothing happens, look just above the button for a Settings to change list. Recording can’t start until every item on it is sorted — double-tap each one and the app explains what to change. Android has more of these than iPhone, because its battery and scanning settings also need adjusting.
Put your phone away and make your journey as normal. The app records your route in the background, and keeps recording without a signal — anything recorded offline uploads once you’re back online.

While recording, you can:

Pause — double-tap “Pause recording”; you’ll hear “Journey paused.”
Resume — double-tap “Resume recording”; you’ll hear “Recording resumed.”
Finish — double-tap “Finish journey”; you’ll hear “Journey saved.” After finishing you can give the journey a name and notes.

With a screen reader on, these are labelled buttons — you do not need the press-and-hold that sighted users do. On a long journey the app sends a notification after a couple of hours to check you are still recording.

If a journey can’t be saved (for example no location was recorded), the app tells you why out loud instead of failing silently.

5. Knowing what barriers are around you

The app shows barriers on a map. Because a map is visual, Mobility Mapper gives you the same information by voice and in a list while you record.

Hearing barriers as you approach them

If the “Announce nearby barriers” setting is on (it is on by default), the app speaks a barrier when you come within about 30 metres, for example:

“Barrier 25 metres north-east: dropped kerb.”

Each barrier is announced once, so it won’t keep repeating.

Browsing the barriers near you

While recording, swipe near the top of the screen to find the “barriers nearby” button — it tells you how many, for example “3 barriers nearby.”
Double-tap it to open the list.
Swipe through the list. Each barrier reads its type, distance, and direction, for example “Dropped kerb. 45 metres north-east.”
Double-tap any barrier to hear its full details.
Find “Close nearby barriers list” and double-tap to go back.

Turning the spoken announcements on or off

Go to Me, double-tap the Settings cog, then swipe to Announce nearby barriers, under the Preferences heading. Choose On or Off. Turning it off stops the spoken alerts but keeps the barriers list available.

6. Reporting a barrier

If you come across a barrier — a missing dropped kerb, a blocked pavement, steps with no ramp — you can report it so others know.

While recording a journey, find and double-tap Report barrier. When you are not recording, use Add to the map on the Map tab, then Report a barrier — or go to Me, then Barriers, then Report new barrier.
Normally you’d place the barrier by dragging a map, which needs sight — so when your screen reader is on, the app instead uses your current location as the barrier’s position. You’ll hear “Barrier location set to your current position.” Just report the barrier while you’re beside it and it will be pinned to where you are.
Choose the barrier type. This is the only part you have to fill in — Next stays unavailable until you pick one.
Add a description if you want to. Optional, so you can move straight past it.
You can add up to three photos if you wish — also optional.
A Review Your Report step reads back the type, description and any photos before anything is sent.
Submit the report. It’s added to the map for other people to see.

7. Adding an accessible toilet or parking space

Use Add to the map on the Map tab, then Add an accessible toilet or Add a disabled parking space — you can do this while recording a journey too. Or go to Me, then Accessible Toilets or Blue Badge Parking, then Add new toilet or Add new parking space.
As with barriers, with a screen reader on the place is added at your current location — so add it while you are there.
The form is a series of short steps: a name or location, the facilities or restrictions, opening times or notes, and optional photos, with a review step that reads everything back before you submit.

8. Confirming and editing what others have added

Open a barrier, toilet or parking space — from Home’s Confirm sections, from the Map tab’s “What’s in this area” list, or from your lists under Me. It tells you how many wheelers have confirmed it.
If you have been to the spot and it is as described, find and double-tap “Confirm barrier”, “Confirm toilet” or “Confirm parking space”.
If something has changed, swipe to the edit buttons — for example “Edit barrier details”, “Edit description”, “Edit opening times” or “Edit photos” — double-tap one, make the change and save. The person who added it is told by Mail.
If something is wrong or inappropriate, find “Report this content” at the bottom and double-tap it.
Anything you added yourself also has a delete button.

9. Looking back at your journeys and contributions

Double-tap the Me tab and swipe through its six buttons: Journeys, Barriers, Accessible Toilets, Blue Badge Parking, Mobility Devices and Privacy Zones. Each button also tells you how many items you have, or that there are none yet. The Settings cog is at the top of Me.
Double-tap Journeys, then a journey, to hear its details — distance, how long it took, the date, and the device you used. You can also edit its name or notes. On the journey’s map, the start and end points are labelled “Journey start” and “Journey end.”
The Barriers, Accessible Toilets and Blue Badge Parking lists show what you have added, edited and confirmed, and each has a button for adding a new one. Anything saved while you were offline is marked as waiting to upload.

10. Privacy zones

A privacy zone hides the part of any journey that passes within a chosen distance of a place — your home, for example — before it is saved.

Go to Me, double-tap Privacy Zones, then Add privacy zone.
The screen describes what is on the map for you: a new zone is centred on your current location, so add it while you are at the place you want to protect.
Set how large the area is with the Decrease radius and Increase radius buttons. Double-tap either and you’ll hear the new size, for example “Zone radius, 25 metres.” It can be set from 15 up to 50 metres.
Give the zone a name, for example “Home”, and double-tap Save.

Existing zones are listed as buttons — double-tap one to hear its details, edit it or delete it.

11. Settings and your account

Under Me, double-tap the Settings cog. Settings has:

Distance units (kilometres or miles), Announce nearby barriers, Take the app tour, Notification settings and, if you are eligible, Join the study.
Troubleshooting, About Mobility Mapper, this guide, the Terms of Service and Privacy Notice.
Your account — Change email, Change password, Delete account and Log out.

Swipe through each and double-tap to open. Your mobility devices and privacy zones are not in Settings — they live under Me, as Mobility Devices and Privacy Zones.

Getting help

If something isn’t clear, or a part of the app is hard to use with your screen reader, we want to know — it helps us make the app better for everyone. Double-tap “Contact and feedback” near the top of the Mail tab, or email us at support@mobilitymapper.co.uk.

Thank you for helping build a wheelable network.

Using Mobility Mapper with a Screen Reader