Accessibility roles 'radio' & 'checkbox' not announced by screenreader on ios since 0.73.0

Description

since version v0.73.0 the roles for radio & checkbox are not announced by Screen readers on ios
this was working in v0.72.10 but stopped working in v0.73.0

Steps to reproduce

install the app with yarn ios
navigate with a screenreader or Accessibility inspector to the text Welcome to React Native and go down from there
listen to the output - it does not announce roles for radio & checkbox - button is still announced fine

React Native Version

0.73.5

Affected Platforms

Runtime - iOS

Output of `npx react-native info`

System:
  OS: macOS 13.6.1
  CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M1 Max
  Memory: 1.12 GB / 32.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 20.10.0
    path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.10.0/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.21
    path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.10.0/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 10.2.3
    path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.10.0/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2023.11.06.00
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods: Not Found
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 23.2
      - iOS 17.2
      - macOS 14.2
      - tvOS 17.2
      - visionOS 1.0
      - watchOS 10.2
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2022.3 AI-223.8836.35.2231.10811636
  Xcode:
    version: 15.2/15C500b
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 11.0.15
    path: /Users/lutz.kwauka/.sdkman/candidates/java/current/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 2.6.10
    path: /Users/lutz.kwauka/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
  react:
    installed: 18.2.0
    wanted: 18.2.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.73.5
    wanted: 0.73.5
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: false
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: false

Stacktrace or Logs

no crash happened

Reproducer

https://github.com/lutzk/accessibility-reproducer/

Screenshots and Videos

v0.72.10 working:
https://github.com/facebook/react-native/assets/793755/cec0dd90-6b7b-40d1-9fb5-9cd1d00e3f97

v0.73.5 not working:
https://github.com/facebook/react-native/assets/793755/c86794d2-f4fa-43df-835e-93315a63aa46

Bug added with 2d07d5f

Accidentally miscopied some mappings from previous JS shim.

Hmm, actually, I am seeing these were mapping to UIAccessibilityTraitNone before that change as well.

Let me check if they are read someone else. The blamed commit is potentially responsible for changes though.

@lutzk

Okay, these roles are specially handled here: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/ec928d7a669fa2624bcf7da520041f140dd0fb03/packages/react-native/React/Views/RCTView.m#L343

There was another change around localization of these strings, but RCTLocalizedString does work a bit differently in OSS and internal (and the translation part has not been wired to external).

@lutzk would you be willing to take a look around this area, to see what might be happening in current OSS build?

IIRC I might have primarily tested this on new arch as well.

Thank you for looking into it!
i can have a look into it but i am not experienced with objC so probably not of much help

@Saadnajmi

Also FYI @Saadnajmi who needed to touch this recently for macOS.

@Saadnajmi

@Saadnajmi Have you had a chance to look at it or @lutzk do we have any ideas here on a potential fix.

This seems to apply to 'tab' role as well, but other roles like 'button' and 'header' works correctly.

@FalseLobster

@FalseLobster fyi as well

@NickGerleman

My suspicion is that the if-checks added in 2d07d5f are too strict and they exclude valid cases:

UIAccessibilityTraits accessibilityRoleTraits = json ? [RCTConvert UIAccessibilityTraits:json] : UIAccessibilityTraitNone;
if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRoleTraits != accessibilityRoleTraits) {
    view.accessibilityRoleTraits = accessibilityRoleTraits;
    view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRole = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
    [...]

UIAccessibilityTraits roleTraits = json ? [RCTConvert UIAccessibilityTraits:json] : UIAccessibilityTraitNone;
  if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.roleTraits != roleTraits) {
      view.roleTraits = roleTraits;
      view.reactAccessibilityElement.role = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
      [...]

Views such as radio have no matching trait in UIAccessibilityTraits, so the if-block won't be executed and neither role nor accessibilityRole will be set on view.reactAccessibilityElement.

As a result, they have no role and hence none is accounced by the SR.

could that be the case or am I missing something, @NickGerleman ?

Here is how I fixed it in case that someone finds it helpful:

diff --git a/React/Views/RCTViewManager.m b/React/Views/RCTViewManager.m
index 9b4775ceec3c220c521cd8428af1da528bd688de..0cf1787d1a961ab385e97dc8d376e92835a10a19 100644
--- a/React/Views/RCTViewManager.m
+++ b/React/Views/RCTViewManager.m
@@ -231,7 +231,8 @@ - (RCTShadowView *)shadowView
 {
   UIAccessibilityTraits accessibilityRoleTraits =
       json ? [RCTConvert UIAccessibilityTraits:json] : UIAccessibilityTraitNone;
-  if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRoleTraits != accessibilityRoleTraits) {
+  NSString *roleString = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
+  if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRoleTraits != accessibilityRoleTraits || view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRole != roleString) {
     view.accessibilityRoleTraits = accessibilityRoleTraits;
     view.reactAccessibilityElement.accessibilityRole = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
     [self updateAccessibilityTraitsForRole:view withDefaultView:defaultView];
@@ -241,7 +242,8 @@ - (RCTShadowView *)shadowView
 RCT_CUSTOM_VIEW_PROPERTY(role, UIAccessibilityTraits, RCTView)
 {
   UIAccessibilityTraits roleTraits = json ? [RCTConvert UIAccessibilityTraits:json] : UIAccessibilityTraitNone;
-  if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.roleTraits != roleTraits) {
+  NSString *roleString = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
+  if (view.reactAccessibilityElement.roleTraits != roleTraits || view.reactAccessibilityElement.role != roleString) {
     view.roleTraits = roleTraits;
     view.reactAccessibilityElement.role = json ? [RCTConvert NSString:json] : nil;
     [self updateAccessibilityTraitsForRole:view withDefaultView:defaultView];

Additionally, we needed to add key-value pairs to React/I18n/strings/<locale>.lproj/Localizable.strings so that roles are read out in the user's target language and not in English. Keys were determined by debugging the RCTLocalizedStringFromKey function, for example:

"rDy1kaz-"="alert"; // "alert"="alert" would not be picked up by RN

+1 This is a pretty large accessibility issue.

~~Looks like if you manually add a accessibilityLabel VoiceOver reads it out as {accessibilityLabel} radio button, {checked/unchecked}~~

Looks like this is no longer working for some reason.

Can confirm the patch above does work, however.

It seems that it's not just "radio" and "checkbox" that are broken.
"tab" and "tablist" roles are also not being announced by VoiceOver.

Tested on React Native 0.76, iPhone 13, iOS 18.5.

Minimal example:

            <View accessibilityRole="tablist">
                <TouchableOpacity
                    accessibilityRole="tab"
                    accessibilityState={{ selected: true }}
                    onPress={() => { }}
                >
                    <Text>Home</Text>
                </TouchableOpacity>
                <TouchableOpacity
                    accessibilityRole="tab"
                    accessibilityState={{ selected: false }}
                    onPress={() => { }}
                >
                    <Text>More</Text>
                </TouchableOpacity>
            </View>

VoiceOver reads:

"Selected. Home."
"More."

but it never says "tab", "tab bar", or "tab list".
Ideally, would be nice if this worked without needing to provide accessibilityLabel manually, since maintaining translations across the app would be error-prone and unnecessary for built-in roles.

Bump. Pretty critical issue (as mentioned earlier)

+1 This is a pretty large accessibility issue.

Please fix

bumping, any update on timeline when this will be worked on?

Bump, we are running into this issue and our app has very strict accessibility requirements

Bump.
If iOS traits do not have a corresponding value for certain roles, it should at least be clarified in the documentation.

Also experiencing this issue. I hope this gets fixed soon, as it's a pretty large accessibility issue.

fix(nurse-create): apply 4 KPI-judge remediations

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Accessibility roles 'radio' & 'checkbox' not announced by screenreader on ios since 0.73.0 #43266

Description

Steps to reproduce

React Native Version

Affected Platforms

Output of `npx react-native info`

Stacktrace or Logs

Reproducer

Screenshots and Videos

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Accessibility roles 'radio' & 'checkbox' not announced by screenreader on ios since 0.73.0 #43266

Description

Description

Steps to reproduce

React Native Version

Affected Platforms

Output of npx react-native info

Stacktrace or Logs

Reproducer

Screenshots and Videos

Activity

NickGerleman commented on Mar 4, 2024

NickGerleman commented on Mar 4, 2024

NickGerleman commented on Mar 4, 2024

lutzk commented on Mar 7, 2024

NickGerleman commented on Mar 11, 2024

pal-roy commented on May 16, 2024

jacobarvidsson commented on May 16, 2024

Saadnajmi commented on May 16, 2024

sladek-jan commented on May 21, 2024

sladek-jan commented on Jun 18, 2024

scottgrunerud commented on Mar 26, 2025

RayKay91 commented on Apr 23, 2025

kaua-melo commented on Jul 18, 2025

JorenVos commented on Aug 14, 2025

thaiscristine commented on Aug 25, 2025

hajrullinbulat commented on Sep 1, 2025

MorganLKestner commented on Oct 10, 2025

DylanWard14 commented on Nov 24, 2025

GBS05577-Andrea commented on Dec 22, 2025

paul-moers commented on Jan 22, 2026

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Output of `npx react-native info`