Accessibility
How SlyOS is built to be usable, what we have measured, and what is not good enough yet.
SlyOS aims to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Much of it does. This page says which parts we have checked, which we know fall short, and how to tell us when something stops you — because a statement that only claims success is not an accessibility statement.
What we are aiming for
SlyOS targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA. That is the standard the UK public sector and the European Accessibility Act are written against, and it is the one we hold ourselves to across the web app, the Mac companion, and the iPhone and Android apps.
This is a statement of intent AND of current state. Where we fall short, it is written below by name rather than left for you to discover.
What already works
Every colour in the product is defined as a pair, and both are checked for contrast: text against its own background, in light and in dark. The interface follows the theme your device asks for, and an explicit choice overrides it.
Text scales with your system setting rather than being pinned to a fixed pixel size. Long content wraps or scrolls inside its own container, so nothing is clipped when type is enlarged.
Anything that moves respects Reduce Motion. The preview panel, which slides in beside a conversation, appears without animation when you have asked your device to stop moving things.
On iPhone and Android the apps use the platform’s own controls, so VoiceOver and TalkBack read them, and Dynamic Type and font scaling apply.
What is not good enough yet
Keyboard navigation on the web app is incomplete. The main flows are reachable, but some controls in the preview panel and the conversation list are not yet in a sensible tab order, and focus is not always visible. This is the gap we consider most serious and it is being worked on.
Screen-reader labelling on the web is partial. Buttons drawn as shapes rather than text do not all carry a name yet.
The SlyOS keyring has a small screen and no screen reader. It is designed to be used by voice, and anything it can do can also be done from a phone or a computer. It is not a substitute for those.
Files SlyOS produces inherit their format’s limits. Generated PDFs carry real text rather than pictures of text, so they can be read aloud and searched; tagged-PDF structure is not yet emitted.
We have not yet commissioned an independent audit. The assessment above is our own.
Using SlyOS without a screen
Smart glasses and the keyring have no usable display, and the product is built so that they still work: you speak, and SlyOS answers. Everything it may do on its own is switched on by you, separately and by name, in Settings under “What SlyOS may do on its own” — and the refusal you hear when something is switched off names the switch, so the instruction is one you can act on without looking at anything.
Where a device cannot show something — a document it has just made, for instance — SlyOS says so and says where to find it, rather than telling you it is on a screen you cannot see.
Telling us when something stops you
If any part of SlyOS is unusable for you, write to hello@slyos.world and say what you were trying to do and what got in the way. You do not need to identify the standard or the rule.
We aim to reply within five working days. If something blocks you from using the product at all, say so and we will treat it as urgent.
If you are not satisfied with our response and you are in the UK, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service. In the EU, your national enforcement body under the European Accessibility Act can take a complaint.
How this page is kept honest
This statement is reviewed whenever a release changes how the product is used, and at least every six months. When something listed above as a shortcoming is fixed, it is removed from the list rather than quietly reworded.
Last reviewed: 21 September 2026.