Wasted $80 on a screen reader testing tool that barely worked

I bought this app called AccessiBuddy off the App Store because it claimed to simulate how blind users navigate your site. Cost me $80 after the trial ran out and I forgot to cancel. Turns out it only works on static HTML pages and crashes every time you hit a dynamic element like a dropdown or modal. I lost a whole afternoon trying to test my checkout flow with it and got zero useful feedback. The voiceover read half the buttons as 'unlabeled' even though they had aria labels. Save your money and just use the free built-in screen reader on your phone or computer instead. Has anyone else fallen for those paid accessibility testing tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_murray14d ago

Unlabeled on everything with aria labels? That right there tells you the tool is trash, not your code. I tested a bunch of those paid apps a few years ago and they all had the same problem. They just can't keep up with modern javascript frameworks. Built in screen readers are free and actually work, nobody needs to drop cash on that kind of junk.

logan_schmidt14d ago

All those paid tools claim to simulate blindness but what they really do is simulate having a screen reader installed on a perfect document. The real issue isn't just compatibility with frames or aria labels, it's that these apps don't test how someone actually moves through a site with muscle memory and keyboard shortcuts. I've seen people who use screen readers fly through checkout flows that made those paid apps crash, because they know how to skip around content the tool never expects.