How Do I Make Videos in My App Accessible to Everyone?

A dating app launches a new feature where users can add short video introductions to their profiles. It's meant to help people show their personality better than photos alone—and it works brilliantly for most users. But within days, the support team starts getting complaints. Users who are deaf or hard of hearing cant understand what people are saying in the videos. Users with visual impairments have no idea what's happening on screen when they use their screen readers. Suddenly, this feature thats meant to make connections easier has actually locked out a huge portion of potential users. The company scrambles to add captions, but by then theyve already lost trust with a community that represents around 15% of their user base.

Video accessibility isnt just about being nice or ticking compliance boxes—its about making sure everyone can actually use your app. And I mean everyone. When you build an app with video content, whether its educational courses, social media posts, product demos or anything else, you need to think about all the different ways people consume that content. Some people cant hear the audio. Some cant see the visuals. Some need both audio and visual information presented differently than you might expect.

Making videos accessible means thinking beyond the "standard" user experience and designing for the full spectrum of how people interact with content on their devices.

The thing is, video accessibility sounds complicated but its actually pretty straightforward once you understand whats needed. Captions for people who cant hear. Audio descriptions for people who cant see. Accessible controls for people who navigate differently. Supporting user preferences so people can customise their experience. That's basically it—though the details of doing each bit properly matter quite a lot. Over the years Ive worked on apps across healthcare, education and social platforms where video accessibility went from an afterthought to a core requirement, and honestly? It makes the app better for everyone, not just users with disabilities.

Understanding Video Accessibility Requirements

Right, so before we start adding captions and tweaking video players, we need to understand what video accessibility actually means and why its so important. I mean, when I first started building apps with video features, I'll be honest—accessibility wasn't the first thing on my mind. But after working with clients in healthcare and education where accessibility is literally a legal requirement, I learned pretty quickly that this stuff matters.

Video accessibility is basically about making sure everyone can consume your video content, regardless of their abilities. That includes people who are deaf or hard of hearing, people who are blind or have low vision, people with cognitive differences, and even people in situations where they cant use audio (like commuting on a noisy train). Its a wider audience than you might think.

Legal Requirements You Should Know About

Here's the thing—depending on where you operate, video accessibility might not be optional. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires that services are accessible to disabled people. In the US, its the Americans with Disabilities Act. And if you're dealing with government contracts or educational institutions? They'll have specific WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliance requirements, usually Level AA as a minimum.

But even if you're not legally required to make your videos accessible, you should still do it. Why? Because its the right thing to do, and honestly, it makes your app better for everyone. I've seen apps gain thousands of users just by adding proper captions—not just users who need them, but people watching videos in quiet offices or noisy environments where audio isnt practical. Just like when building healthcare apps where compliance requirements significantly impact development costs, accessibility considerations need to be factored in from the start rather than bolted on later.

The Core Components of Video Accessibility

When we talk about accessible video, we're really talking about four main things that need to work together:

• Captions and subtitles for people who cant hear the audio
• Audio descriptions for people who cant see the visual content
• Accessible player controls that work with keyboards and screen readers
• Flexible viewing options like adjustable playback speed and colour contrast

Each of these components serves different users with different needs, and you really need all of them to call your video properly accessible. Miss one out and you're excluding a whole group of potential users.

Adding Captions and Subtitles to Your Videos

Right, lets talk about captions and subtitles because honestly—these are probably the most important thing you can add to your app's video content. I've built apps with thousands of hours of video content and the difference in user engagement when you add proper captions is massive. We're not just talking about helping deaf or hard of hearing users here (though that's obviously the main reason to do it), but also people watching on mute in public spaces, non-native speakers trying to follow along, and even people who just prefer reading whilst they watch.

The thing is, captions and subtitles aren't quite the same thing—something a lot of developers get confused about. Captions include all the audio information, so that means sound effects, music cues, speaker identification, the lot. Subtitles are basically just the dialogue translated or transcribed. For true video accessibility you want captions, not just subtitles.

The Technical Bit (Don't Worry, Its Not That Bad)

You've got a few format options for adding captions to your videos, and the one you choose depends on your video player and platform. WebVTT is the standard for web-based players and works brilliantly across most browsers; SRT files are older but still widely supported; and TTML is what you'll see in broadcast settings. I mean, for most mobile apps WebVTT is your best bet because its supported natively on both iOS and Android. When choosing between native and third-party solutions, consider how AI tools can help automate the caption generation process, though human review remains essential for accuracy.

Auto-generated captions are a good starting point but they're bloody terrible at accuracy—especially with technical terms, accents, or industry jargon. Always have a human review and edit them before publishing. I've seen auto-captions turn medical terminology into complete gibberish, which isn't just embarrassing, its potentially dangerous depending on your app's purpose.

What Makes Good Captions Actually Work

Here's what I've learned makes captions actually usable: timing is everything. Captions need to appear before or right as the words are spoken, not three seconds later when the conversation has moved on. Each caption should stay on screen long enough to be read comfortably—about 1-7 seconds depending on length. Break captions at natural speech points, not mid-sentence in weird places that make people pause their reading flow.

Speaker identification matters more than you'd think. When you have multiple people talking, users need to know whos saying what. You can do this with colour coding, position on screen, or by adding names before dialogue. And don't forget about sound effects and music cues—things like [door slams], [phone ringing], or [tense music playing] give context that hearing users get automatically but caption readers would miss.

The formatting needs to be readable too. Use a sans-serif font (much easier to read on small screens), make sure there's enough contrast between the text and background, and give users the option to customise caption size and colour if your video player supports it. Some users need larger text, some need different colour combinations—flexibility here goes a long way.

One mistake I see constantly: burned-in captions that cant be turned off. Sure, they're easier to implement because you just encode them directly into the video file, but they're terrible for accessibility. Users should always be able to toggle captions on and off, and ideally customise how they look. Plus burned-in captions mean you cant offer multiple languages without creating entirely separate video files, which is a maintenance nightmare.

• Always provide captions that can be toggled on and off rather than burning them into the video permanently
• Keep caption lines to about 32-40 characters maximum so they don't crowd the screen
• Position captions at the bottom centre by default but allow repositioning if your player supports it
• Include sound effects and music descriptions in square brackets to provide full context
• Test your captions on actual mobile devices, not just desktop—what looks fine on a 27-inch monitor might be unreadable on a phone
• Offer multiple language options if your app serves an international audience; machine translation isn't perfect but its better than nothing

Creating Audio Descriptions That Actually Work

Audio descriptions are basically narration tracks that describe what's happening visually in your video—and honestly, they're one of the most overlooked parts of video accessibility. I mean, most developers I work with know they need captions, but audio descriptions? That's where things get a bit fuzzy. The thing is, if someone cant see your video, captions alone don't tell them much about what's actually happening on screen. Similar to how voice technology faces challenges in noisy environments, visual accessibility requires thoughtful planning to overcome environmental limitations.

Here's the thing—audio descriptions need to fit into the natural pauses in your video's dialogue or soundtrack. You're not talking over people; you're filling the gaps with descriptions of important visual information. What counts as important? Actions, scene changes, text that appears on screen, facial expressions that matter to the story, basically anything that someone who can see would understand but someone who cant wouldn't know about.

What Makes a Good Audio Description

Good audio descriptions are clear and concise. Short sentences work best. You want to describe what's happening without interpreting it—so "the man smiles" rather than "the man looks happy". Let people form their own conclusions from the facts you give them. Also, use present tense and be specific about who's doing what; saying "she opens the door" is better than "the door opens".

Recording and Implementing Your Descriptions

You've got two main options for adding audio descriptions to your app videos. Extended audio descriptions pause the video to give you time for longer descriptions, whilst standard ones fit between existing audio. Most videos can work with standard descriptions if you've planned properly.

• Record your descriptions in a quiet space with decent audio quality
• Use a voice thats neutral and clear, not overly dramatic
• Time your descriptions carefully so they don't overlap dialogue
• Provide an option to turn descriptions on or off in your player settings
• Test with actual users who rely on audio descriptions for feedback

The technical side isn't too complicated—most video players support separate audio tracks or you can pre-mix descriptions into an alternate version of your video. Just make sure users can easily find and activate the audio-described version from your player interface.

Making Your Video Player Controls Accessible

Right, so you've got captions sorted and audio descriptions in place—but here's something that catches people out all the time: your video player controls themselves need to be accessible too. I mean, what's the point of having perfect captions if someone cant even press play because they're using a screen reader? Its a bit mad really how often this gets overlooked. Building secure, accessible controls requires the same attention to detail as designing mobile APIs that resist cyber attacks—you need to think about every potential failure point from the start.

The basic video player controls need to work with keyboards and assistive technology, not just mouse clicks. Every button—play, pause, volume, fullscreen, the timeline scrubber—needs proper labels that screen readers can announce. When someone tabs through your controls, they should hear "play button" or "volume slider, currently at 75 percent" not just "button" or complete silence. Android and iOS both have built-in accessibility APIs that make this possible, but you need to actually implement them properly.

A video player that looks beautiful but cant be operated by keyboard or screen reader users isnt accessible at all, its just decorative

Focus indicators are another thing people forget about. When someone navigates your video controls with a keyboard, they need to see where they are—that means visible outlines or highlights around the active control. Sure, designers hate these things because they dont look "clean" but they're absolutely necessary for people who navigate without a mouse. And the timeline scrubber? That needs to work with arrow keys so people can move forward and back through the video in small increments. Testing this is straightforward: just unplug your mouse and try using the video player with only your keyboard. If you get stuck or frustrated, your users will too. Most native video players on iOS and Android handle a lot of this automatically if you use standard components, but custom players need extra attention to get right.

Supporting Different Viewing Preferences and Settings

Right, so here's something that doesn't get talked about enough—people watch videos in wildly different ways. Some prefer watching in portrait mode on the bus, others want landscape on their tablet at home. Some need high contrast because they have low vision, whilst others find bright whites painful to look at. Your app needs to handle all of this without making a fuss about it.

The basic stuff first: your video player should respect the system-level preferences users have already set on their device. That means if someone has enabled dark mode, increased text size, or turned on reduce motion settings, your video interface needs to follow suit. I mean, it sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how many apps ignore these settings completely; its like they're pretending the operating system preferences don't even exist. This is particularly important when considering wearable device compatibility, where screen real estate and interaction patterns are even more constrained.

Settings Your Video Player Should Support

Here's what I always make sure to include when building video functionality:

• Playback speed controls (0.5x to 2x at minimum)—some people process information faster or slower
• Adjustable caption size and positioning—not everyone wants tiny text at the bottom
• High contrast mode for the player controls themselves
• Option to disable auto-play (honestly this should be the default)
• Reduce motion setting that stops animations in your interface
• Picture-in-picture support so users can multitask

Remembering User Preferences

One thing that really frustrates users? Having to set their preferences every single time they open your app. Save their settings locally and sync them to their account if possible. If someone always watches at 1.5x speed with large captions, remember that—don't make them configure it again tomorrow.

And here's a quick tip: test your video player with actual accessibility features turned on. Enable VoiceOver or TalkBack and try navigating your controls. Turn on high contrast mode and see if your buttons still make sense. You'll find issues you never knew existed.

Testing Your Video Accessibility with Real Users

Right, so you've added captions and audio descriptions, you've made your controls keyboard accessible—but here's the thing, none of that actually matters if it doesn't work for real people. And I mean genuinely work, not just technically function. The only way to know if your video accessibility features are any good is to get them in front of actual users who rely on these features every single day. This is where keeping stakeholders satisfied becomes crucial—accessibility testing requires buy-in from the whole team to be effective.

Start with people who use screen readers regularly. Watch how they interact with your video player—do they understand what all the controls do? Can they find the audio description option easily or are they hunting around for it? I've seen so many apps where the accessibility features are technically there but buried three menus deep, which basically makes them useless. Its not enough to have the features; people need to be able to discover them without a treasure map.

Who Should You Test With?

You want a proper mix of users here. People with different visual impairments, folks who are deaf or hard of hearing, users with cognitive differences, and—this is important—people who speak English as a second language who benefit massively from captions. Each group will spot different issues. Someone using a screen reader will notice problems that someone relying on captions won't see at all, and vice versa.

Pay attention to how long it takes users to complete basic tasks like turning on captions or adjusting playback speed. If its taking more than a few seconds, something's wrong with your interface. Ask them to think out loud whilst they're testing—you'll learn so much more from hearing their actual thought process than from watching silently.

Record your testing sessions (with permission obviously) so you can review them later and spot patterns you might miss in the moment. Sometimes the most telling feedback comes from a frustrated sigh or a confused pause that you wouldn't catch in written notes.

Making Sense of the Feedback

Don't just collect feedback and file it away. Actually implement the changes users suggest, then test again. This iterative process is how you get from "technically accessible" to "genuinely usable"—and that's the difference between an app people tolerate and one they actually want to use.

Common Mistakes That Break Video Accessibility

Right, lets talk about the mistakes I see all the time—the ones that completely ruin video accessibility even when teams have good intentions. First up is auto-playing videos with sound. I know its tempting to grab attention this way, but for users with screen readers or anyone with sensory processing issues, this is genuinely awful. Your video should never play automatically, and if it absolutely must (though I'd argue against it), it needs to be muted by default. Just like how fake apps can deceive users through misleading interfaces, poor accessibility implementation can create barriers that feel deliberately exclusionary.

Another massive issue? Keyboard traps. I've seen so many apps where users can tab into the video player but cant get out without using a mouse. This breaks the entire navigation flow for keyboard users—basically making your app unusable for anyone who relies on keyboard navigation. Test this yourself; tab through your video controls and make sure you can reach every button and escape when needed.

Caption Quality Problems

Here's something people dont realise—having captions isnt enough if they're rubbish. Auto-generated captions without human review are full of errors that completely change meaning. Medical terms, brand names, technical jargon...the AI gets these wrong constantly. I mean, I've seen "investment portfolio" transcribed as "investment port folio" which might seem minor but changes how screen readers pronounce it.

Contrast and Sizing Issues

The other big one is poor contrast between captions and video backgrounds. White text on light scenes becomes invisible; many developers forget to add that semi-transparent background behind caption text. And making controls too small? That affects everyone but especially users with motor difficulties who need larger tap targets. Your play button should be at least 44×44 pixels on mobile—no exceptions. These seem like small details but they make the difference between an accessible video experience and one that excludes huge portions of your audience.

Choosing the Right Video Platform and Tools

Right, so you've done all the hard work—you understand what makes videos accessible, you know how to add captions and audio descriptions, you've sorted your player controls. But here's the thing: if you pick the wrong video platform or tools to begin with, you're going to make your life much harder than it needs to be. I've seen brilliant apps struggle with video accessibility simply because they chose a platform that didn't support the features they needed. This decision impacts your budget significantly—similar to how travel app development costs can spiral when you don't account for integration complexities upfront.

When you're evaluating video platforms, ask yourself these questions straight away: does it support WebVTT caption files? Can users customise caption styling? Does it handle multiple audio tracks for audio descriptions? Will it work with screen readers without you having to build everything from scratch? These aren't nice-to-have features—they're the baseline for making accessible media content. For developers just starting out, modern coding tools like Cursor and Windsurf can help streamline the development process, but choosing the right foundation remains critical.

Native vs Third-Party Solutions

You've got two main paths here. You can use native video players (AVPlayer on iOS, ExoPlayer on Android) and build your own accessibility features on top, or you can use a third-party platform that handles most of this for you. Native players give you complete control but require significantly more development time; third-party platforms like JW Player, Video.js, or Vimeo's player come with built-in accessibility support but might limit what you can customise. The cost implications here are similar to those faced when building messaging apps where real-time features require careful platform selection to avoid technical debt later.

The best video platform for your app is the one that supports your accessibility requirements without requiring you to reinvent the wheel every time you need to add a new feature

What to Look For

Make sure whatever platform you choose supports programmatic control of playback speed, because some users with cognitive disabilities need slower playback. Check if it handles subtitles and captions properly—some platforms treat these as the same thing when they're actually different. And honestly? Test it with VoiceOver and TalkBack before you commit, because documentation doesn't always match reality. I've been burned by platforms that claimed to be accessible but had their controls completely invisible to screen readers. Building transparent API security practices into your video platform selection process helps ensure you're not locked into solutions that compromise either accessibility or data protection.

Conclusion

Making videos accessible in your app isn't just about ticking boxes or avoiding legal trouble—its about making sure everyone can actually use what you've built. After working on hundreds of apps over the years, I can tell you that accessibility features often end up benefiting way more people than you'd expect. Those captions you added for deaf users? Turns out people watching videos on the train without headphones love them too. The playback speed controls? Busy professionals use them constantly to save time.

The thing is, accessible video implementation doesn't have to be complicated or expensive if you plan for it from the start. Start with the basics: good quality captions that are properly synchronised, a video player that works with screen readers, and simple controls that people can actually navigate without a mouse. You don't need to implement everything at once—just make sure your foundation is solid and you're not building in barriers that will be difficult to remove later.

I've seen too many teams treat accessibility as an afterthought, only to realise later that retrofitting these features costs three or four times more than doing it right the first time. And honestly? Its just not fair to your users. When someone downloads your app, they should be able to access all its features regardless of how they interact with their device.

Test with real users who have different needs. You'll learn things no specification document can teach you. And remember—accessible design is usually just good design. When you remove barriers for people with disabilities, you often end up creating a better experience for everyone. That's not a nice side effect; that's the whole point of building something people actually want to use.

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