Swipe actions not available to TalkBack users

Checklist

• I have used the search function to see if someone else has already submitted the same bug report.
• I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.

App

Thunderbird for Android

App version

11.0b4

Where did you get the app from?

Google Play

Android version

14

Device model

Pixel 5

Steps to reproduce

1. Turn on TalkBack.
2. Open Thunderbird.
3. Open a folder.
4. Navigate with TalkBack to one of the messages in the message list.

Expected behavior

• Tapping with three fingers on the message brings up the TalkBack menu. One of the options is "Actions", which allows the user to choose the left or right swipe actions.
• Swiping up or down on the message cycles through the left or right swipe actions.

Background

To better serve Thunderbird users with TalkBack enabled, I’d like to request Accessibility Actions be added to the message list.

The available actions should at least match the currently configured swipe actions (Toggle selection, Mark as read/unread, Add/remove star, Archive, Delete, Spam, or Move).

An example of an Android app with Accessibility Actions is Raccoon, a social media client for Mastodon and Friendica. (See their commit #567 for the rationale.)

• Each post has several buttons below it: reply, reshare, add to favorites, add to bookmarks, and options.
• If Accessibility Actions were not enabled, then when navigating with TalkBack, the user would encounter each of these buttons, one at a time.
• Instead, with Accessibility Actions enabled, TalkBack only stops once at each post. The buttons are not focused. Instead, TalkBack tells the user: “Actions available. Swipe up or swipe down and double tab to activate.”
• The user can swipe down to cycle through the following actions: reply, reshare, add to favorites, add to bookmarks, link to poster, options, or activate which loads the post into a view by itself, equivalent to tapping in the post body.

Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0e22caaf-ef40-4126-84b0-a9326838b35d

Demo transcript

This setup allows users to quickly browse posts with a minimum number of swipes, while still having access to quick actions.

By contrast, the official Android Mastodon app iterates through each button under each post. There appears to be no way to jump from one post to another, so browsing a timeline with TalkBack is more time-consuming.

Implementation in Thunderbird

• An example use case for Thunderbird is: a user is browsing newly arrived messages. Several messages are marketing emails, and the user chooses to delete them directly from the timeline. The user saves time by not navigating to each email individually.

• I believe Accessibility Actions are popular with blind users, based on these poll results from 23 Feb 2025 where 77% of the 30 respondents like using them.

• It’d be important to do some user research to determine which actions should be included. Bonus points if the actions and their ordering are configurable. This way, a user's most-used action can be available with just one swipe.

Actual behavior

No Accessibility Actions are available to the user.

Logs

No response