Puppet Pals 1 accessibility
What your school needs to know about accessibility compliance.
Puppet Pals 1 (including School Edition) has been built with accessibility as a priority. We conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA across the app’s UI, with a small number of known limitations in the creative puppet stage. This page summarizes our accessibility posture in plain language. The full technical report is linked at the bottom.
What we support
VoiceOver
Comprehensive labels, hints, and traits throughout the app. All menus, buttons, dialogs, and navigation are fully accessible with VoiceOver. Recording states and selection changes are announced automatically.
Dynamic Type
All text and UI elements scale with iOS Dynamic Type settings, including the largest Accessibility sizes (AX1–AX5). Padding and interactive elements scale proportionally.
Color and contrast
All text meets the WCAG AA minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1. All UI components, icons, and borders meet 3:1. Color is never the only way information is conveyed.
Reduce Motion
Animations respect the iOS “Reduce Motion” setting. Students who are sensitive to motion can use the app comfortably.
Orientation support
The app works in both portrait and landscape on iPad and iPhone. Content adapts to orientation changes.
Safe interactions
No content flashes more than three times per second. No auto-playing audio. Destructive actions (like deleting a show) always require confirmation.
Known limitations
Puppet Pals is a creative animation tool, and some aspects of the core puppet stage are inherently visual and gesture-driven. We want to be transparent about what we don’t support:
Puppet stage requires touch gestures
The core creative experience—moving, resizing, and rotating puppets on stage—requires touch gestures (including pinch and rotate). This is not fully accessible via keyboard or Switch Control. All other parts of the app (menus, cast selection, recording controls, saving) are fully accessible.
No captions or audio descriptions for recordings
Puppet shows recorded by students do not include captions for spoken audio or audio descriptions of puppet movements. This is user-generated content and captioning is not currently supported within the app.
Standards and compliance
WCAG 2.1
Puppet Pals conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA, with exceptions noted in the limitations above. Our full VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) documents conformance for every individual criterion.
Section 508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that technology used by federal agencies be accessible. Schools receiving federal funding often apply the same standard. Our WCAG 2.1 AA conformance aligns with Section 508 requirements.
European Accessibility Act (EAA)
The EAA requires digital products sold in the EU to meet accessibility requirements based on EN 301 549, which references WCAG 2.1. Our conformance to WCAG 2.1 AA supports compliance with these requirements.
Full VPAT report
For procurement teams and accessibility reviewers, our complete VPAT 2.5 (WCAG Edition) is available below. It documents conformance level and remarks for every WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA criterion.
Questions?
If you have questions about Puppet Pals’ accessibility or need information for a procurement review, we’re happy to help.