Updated 21 August 2026 · app 1.0.0, iOS and Android
When an animal goes missing there isn't a minute to spare, and nobody should have to ask for help to raise the alert.
The declared criteriaNot everyone can go out and staple posters to lampposts. For those families the app is sometimes the only way to search.
Apple asks that a criterion only be declared when every common task in the app can be completed using that feature.
Every common task in the app can be completed with these four.
The day we can hold them everywhere, we will declare them.
Nothing to declare, and nothing to expect from us.
Right-to-left layout isn't on this list: none of the languages offered today is written that way, and that changes the day we add Arabic. For everything else, we won't name a date before we're sure of it.
You can move through the app by speech, keyboard or braille. Buttons, fields and animal cards announce what they are and what they do, and lists announce how many items they hold.
Creating an account, browsing the map, publishing a report, managing your settings, deleting your account: all of it works with a screen reader. Deleting your account is part of that, because it is the one thing you cannot ask someone else to do on your behalf.
The app follows the text size set on your phone, up to 200%. Buttons grow along with the text instead of clipping the words inside them.
Headings and the sign-in screen scale a little less: enough to stay comfortable, not enough to pull the layout apart.
A report's status is always written out, never merely tinted: "waiting for review", "approved", "animal found".
Nothing to switch on, it is how the whole app behaves. Those are also exactly the words a screen reader speaks.
If your phone is set to Reduce Motion, the app follows it everywhere: transitions, reveals and map movements are cut or simplified.
That covers the whole app: transitions between screens, lists appearing, and the map recentring.
Open the Settings tab, then Accessibility. By default the app follows your phone's preferences; these settings exist so you can make a different choice inside Animalert.
Cuts animations in Animalert without touching the rest of your phone.
Turns off the vibrations that confirm your actions.
Tells you whether VoiceOver or TalkBack is running. Information rather than a switch: the app adapts on its own.
Hands control back to your phone, as it was on day one.
Choices that appear on no official checklist but change how the app feels to use.
With a screen reader running, the main screen swaps the map for the list of animals reported around you, and announces how many there are. Nothing is lost: the map only ever showed your own position.
Every meaningful action has its own vibration, so you can feel a confirmation instead of looking for one. You can turn them off.
To set an animal's age, the spinning wheels give way to a plain number field and buttons as soon as a screen reader is running. Profile photos, which you normally flick through, can also be stepped through one at a time.
Body text is dark on a light background, with a wide legibility margin. The brand's green is never used for writing.
Screen-reader announcements are written in both languages.
Searching for your own animal is one thing. Helping someone else find theirs is another, and no one should be shut out of that.
Six things we want to be able to take off this list.
They exist in French and English. In the app's other languages they are spoken in English.
Body text is highly legible. Links and error messages would benefit from standing out more.
The screens reserved for moderation and for local authorities are not announced to a screen reader yet. Nobody should be shut out of a role over that.
Pinching to zoom into a photo, and dragging a panel away to dismiss it, have no announced equivalent yet.
A few small buttons deserve a more generous target.
The app doesn't have one yet. It's coming.
Yes. Buttons, fields and animal cards are announced, and every common task can be completed with a screen reader: creating an account, browsing the map, publishing a report, managing your settings and deleting your account.
Yes. The app follows the text size set on your phone, up to 200%, and buttons grow with the text instead of clipping it. Headings and the sign-in screen scale a little less, to keep the layout intact.
The app follows your phone's Reduce Motion setting automatically. You can also quiet animations in Animalert alone, using the setting under the Settings tab, then Accessibility.
The map is replaced by the list of animals reported around you, and the app announces how many there are. Nothing is lost: the map only ever showed your own position.
A "skip to content" link appears on the very first tab press, and everything you can act on shows clearly where the keyboard focus sits.
Pages stay legible when you enlarge the text, and nothing spills off the screen.
Tell us: your phone, the assistive feature you use, and the screen where it blocks. We reply to every message, and we tell you where the fix stands.
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