Accessibility

Last updated: May 25, 2026

Verve is built for adults with ADHD, and we know that many in our community also navigate other forms of neurodivergence, sensory sensitivities, or disability. We take accessibility seriously and have designed Verve to be usable, calm, and adjustable for as many people as possible.

This page documents the accessibility features Verve supports today, known limitations, and how to reach us with feedback.

What Verve supports

Larger text

Settings → Text Size lets you pick Small, Normal, or Large. The base font size adjusts across the entire app — lessons, prompts, buttons, everything.

Dark mode

Choose System (follows your iPhone setting), Light, or Dark in Settings. Dark mode is fully consistent across every screen — no half-dark, half-bright surprises.

High contrast mode

Settings → High Contrast darkens text, removes translucent surfaces, and adds clear focus outlines. Works in both light and dark mode for users who need more contrast than the defaults provide.

Reduced motion

Verve respects your iOS Reduce Motion preference automatically (Settings → Accessibility → Motion → Reduce Motion on your iPhone). When enabled, decorative animations, card transitions, and the splash pulse are disabled. This helps users with vestibular sensitivity or motion-triggered nausea.

Calm mode

Settings → Calm Mode removes background gradients and decorative visuals for a flatter, less stimulating interface. Useful when sensory load is high or when you just want a quieter experience.

Sound on/off

All in-app sound effects, lesson audio cues, and focus-timer soundscapes can be toggled off in Settings. For users with auditory sensitivities or who simply prefer silence.

VoiceOver and screen reader support

Icon-only buttons throughout the app have descriptive labels so VoiceOver announces them clearly. Toggles announce their state (on/off). Status changes use polite live regions to avoid interrupting your reading.

Haptic feedback

Verve uses native iOS haptic feedback for key actions (lesson completion, task done, focus session start). This gives you non-visual, non-auditory feedback that something happened.

Color-independent design

No information is conveyed by color alone. Selected states, button states, and status indicators all use color plus icons, labels, or other visual differentiation. Designed to work for users with any form of color blindness.

Notifications: opt-in, fully customizable

All notifications are off by default. You decide which ones to enable and when. There are no required notifications, no badge counts that grow until you tap something, no shame-based reminders.

No account required

Verve has no sign-up, no login, no password to remember. Just open the app and start. Reduces cognitive load and avoids the friction of account management for users who struggle with multi-step processes.

Forgiving streaks

Missing a day does not break your streak or trigger shame messaging. Verve is designed to celebrate showing up, not to punish imperfection. This is critical for users with rejection sensitivity (common in ADHD).

Built into the experience itself

Beyond technical accessibility features, Verve is designed around how ADHD brains actually work:

Bite-sized lessons (about 5 minutes each) for short attention spans
Plain language throughout — no medical jargon, no patronizing tone
Flexible focus tools — different things work on different days, and that is OK
No required reading order — start anywhere in the lessons that interests you
Saves your place automatically so you do not lose progress

Known limitations

We want to be honest about what Verve does not yet support:

iOS Dynamic Type — Verve has its own in-app text size control, but does not currently scale based on the system-wide Dynamic Type setting. We plan to add this in a future update.
Bluetooth keyboard navigation — Tab key focus works, but focus indicators are only fully visible in High Contrast mode currently.
Captioning — Verve has no video content, so captions are not applicable. Audio cues (lesson complete, etc.) are always accompanied by visual feedback.
Languages other than English — Currently English only. We hope to add localizations as the app grows.

Tell us what we are missing

Accessibility is a journey, not a checkbox. If something in Verve is hard to use, please tell us — we want to fix it. Email support@verveadhd.app with "Accessibility" in the subject line and we will prioritize your feedback.

If you discover an accessibility issue that meaningfully blocks your use of the app, we treat that as a bug, not a feature request. We aim to ship a fix in the next release.

Compliance

Verve aims to meet the principles of WCAG 2.1 Level AA where applicable to a native mobile app, and is designed to work well with iOS built-in accessibility features including VoiceOver, Voice Control, Switch Control, Reduce Motion, and Increase Contrast.

Contact

Questions about accessibility?

Email: support@verveadhd.app