Accessibility checkers are tools in support of accessible app development, and their use is encouraged by accessibility best practices. However, most current checkers evaluate static or mechanically-generated contexts, failing to capture common accessibility errors impacting mobile app functionality. In this work, we define functiona11ity errors as accessibility barriers that only manifest through interaction (i.e., named according to a blend of “functionality” and “accessibility”). We introduce TaskAudit, which comprises three components: a Task Generator that constructs interactive tasks from app screens, a Task Executor that uses agents with a screen reader proxy to perform these tasks, and an Accessibility Analyzer that detects and reports accessibility errors by examining interaction traces. Our evaluation on real-world apps shows that TaskAudit detects 48 functiona11ity errors from 54 app screens, compared to between 4 and 20 with existing checkers. Our analysis demonstrates common error patterns that TaskAudit can detect in addition to those from prior work, including label-functionality mismatch, cluttered navigation, and inappropriate feedback.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems