How to add VoiceOver accessibility to an App's Icon Badge Number?

Question

Question:

How do I add a custom VoiceOver accessibility Label or Hint to an App Icon Badge Number?

          

          

---

For example, when the iOS Setting Accessibility > VoiceOver is turned On, VoiceOver reads aloud items touched on screen. For the App Store and Mail icons, the following is read out aloud:

App Store icon, VoiceOver says: "App Store. 2 updates available. Double tap to open."

Mail icon, VoiceOver says: "Mail. 1 unread message. Double tap to open."

But, for the project I am working on, the VoiceOver read out is generic and not entirely helpful:

My App icon, VoiceOver says: "My App. 123 new items. Double tap to open."

The phrase "... new items" is too vague, not accurate, and I'm certain there must be a way to change this with a custom string to make it read better through setting an accessibilityLabel, accessibilityHint or something similar.

But how exactly in Swift code?

Many thanks.

---

Additional observation:

Using the Simulator Accessibility Inspector, it appears the VoiceOver values come from Label - "My App" and Value - "123 new items". So updated in the code I have tried setting the accessibilityValue to something custom - "123 custom description.". But still no luck, VoiceOver continues to read "My App. 123 new items. Double tap to open."

Why isn't VoiceOver reading the custom badge value as expected?

---

Code:

The below method adds a red circle App Icon Badge Number to My App's icon:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let badgeCount: Int = 123
        let application = UIApplication.sharedApplication()
        if #available(iOS 8.0, *) { 
            //// iOS 8, iOS 9, iOS 10
            application.registerUserNotificationSettings(UIUserNotificationSettings(forTypes: [.Badge], categories: nil))
        } else {
            //// iOS 7
        }
        application.applicationIconBadgeNumber = badgeCount
        application.accessibilityValue = "123 custom description."
    }
}

Answer 1

It appears this is an "Apple-only" feature as of now... source

Digging through API documentation, there doesn't seem to be any identifier that can set this for you, and I therefore think it's not publicly supported yet. It's likely been reported already, but reporting this as a request to Apple can never hurt.

Sorry this is probably not the answer you were hoping for! :/