Telegram and Digital Blindness: the accessibility challenges that remain unresolved in 12.7.
Steps to reproduce
Telegram is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Its focus on privacy, speed, and customization makes it a powerful tool for millions of people. However, behind all these virtues, there is a group of users who face enormous barriers to using it normally: people with visual disabilities.
App issues.
In Telegram's case, these issues repeat throughout various parts of the app. Below, I share a summary of the most important problems I have identified so far. It's important to note that these are just a few examples—there are more, but I focused on what I consider the most critical ones.
There are some unlabeld buttons.
The log out and search buttons in settings.
The clear local database button in the "storage usage" page.
When recording a voice message, I can't know the elapsed time using TalkBack. This problem also occures when I pause the recording. Also I can't play the voice message after I pause the recording.
When a new user send me a private message, I can't know their account info like registration date, country, common groups... Using TalkBack.
In group chats, the member tags aren't readable in TalkBack. It just reads the account name, message, the time of the message, and the reactions. The member tag can't be read.
Currently, #TalkBack only correctly recognizes contact previews. In contrast, link previews—whether external or internal Telegram links (like posts, channels, or groups)—are not detected or accessible. Moreover, several buttons next to these previews are also not recognized by TalkBack, such as Instant View, View Message, View Channel, View Group, or Send Message. This severely limits navigation and interaction within chats.
Image description limitations: Although the image description feature is available in Telegram, when opening an image in expanded view TalkBack does not recognize it as an on-screen element. As a result, you cannot access the description or perform any other action related to the image, rendering this feature completely useless. Also #TalkBack doesn't detect the count of photos in a chat or the count of profile photos.
Lack of ad identification in channels: #TalkBack does not inform the user that certain messages in channels are ads. Instead, it starts reading the content as if it were a regular post, without marking any difference. This can lead to confusion and makes it difficult for users to know when they are viewing an advertisement.
I believe the most sensible approach would be for TalkBack to either not detect ads or for them to be clearly identified and better interpreted—especially considering that, in many cases, these ads appear in languages the user does not understand.
#TalkBack can't identify whether the bottom tab is selected or not. Also the screen reader should identify that this is a tab, and speak the number of the currently focused tab and the count of all tabs.
E.G.: Chats. Tab. Selected. 1 of 4.
Conclusion.
These observations are not meant to criticize for the sake of criticizing, but to contribute from the real experience of those who use TalkBack daily. Accessibility should not be an extra, but a fundamental part of the design of any app that aims to be universal.
With over one billion active users monthly, an app like Telegram has the responsibility to be more accessible and inclusive for people with visual disabilities.
Hopefully, the development team will take these observations into account to improve the experience for all its users.
This issue does not seem to be a priority for Telegram, as there have been reports for years through various channels and many of them remain unresolved. It is important to consider that, as Telegram incorporates new features, they must be properly identified in the interface so that screen readers can interpret them correctly.
Device info
Telegram Android 12.7.2 (67432), Vivo V50, 16 (36)
Telegram, please fix the issues for the blind that people are writing to you about. We would be very grateful.After all, blind people are the same as everyone else.
Thanks.