Accessibility Guide
We're committed to making Big Live as inclusive and accessible as possible. This guide outlines the accessibility features available to you — both those built directly into the app and those provided natively by your phone's operating system.
In-App Accessibility Features
Accessibility Profiles
Our app includes a dedicated Accessibility Settings panel (powered by the accessibility package) that lets you customise the experience to your needs. You can find it via the side menu.
One-Tap Profiles
Switch on a pre-configured profile with a single toggle:
| Profile | What It Does |
|---|
| Seizure Safe | Disables all animations and flashing effects, and reduces colour saturation to eliminate seizure-triggering stimuli |
| Vision Impaired | Enlarges text (2× scale), enables bold fonts, and increases colour saturation for improved readability |
| ADHD Friendly | Moderately enlarges text (1.25× scale), disables distracting animations, and increases colour saturation for focus |
Fine-Grained Controls
If you prefer to tailor things yourself, individual adjustments are available:
Theme & Effects
- Dark Mode — Switch to a dark colour scheme that is easier on the eyes, especially at night-time festival events
- Reduce Effects — Turn off animations and motion effects throughout the app
Colour Adjustments
- Colour Profile — Choose from Normal, Low Saturation, High Saturation, Monochrome, or High Contrast
- Text Colour — Override text colour with a colour of your choice
- Background Colour — Change page background colour
Text & Readability
- Text Alignment — Align all text left, centre, or right
- Bold Text — Make all text bold for improved legibility
- Font Size — Increase or decrease text size with a slider
- Word Spacing — Increase or decrease the space between words
- Line Height — Increase or decrease the space between lines
- Letter Spacing — Increase or decrease the space between letters
Restore Defaults: A "Restore Settings" button is always available to reset all accessibility options back to their defaults.
Your accessibility preferences are automatically saved to your device and will persist between sessions.
Readability & Text Size Controls
Beyond the global accessibility settings, certain screens provide additional text size controls:
- Artist Biographies — A dedicated text-size toggle button (increase/decrease) lets you enlarge artist bios for easier reading directly on the artist detail page
- FAQ & Informational Content — Rich HTML content rendered with adjustable formatting
High Contrast & Colour Considerations
- Automatic Contrast — The app automatically calculates whether text and icons should be light or dark based on the background colour's luminance (e.g., app bar text will be white on dark headers and dark on light headers)
- Schedule Cards — Explicit dark colour values are used for high contrast mode to ensure event details remain readable regardless of your colour settings
- Colour Profiles — The built-in Monochrome and High Contrast colour profiles help users with colour vision deficiencies
Tooltips & Labels
Interactive elements throughout the app include descriptive tooltips that provide context for screen readers and assistive technologies. These include:
- Navigation buttons (Settings, Profile, Accessibility)
- Map controls (Search, Emergency Grid, Directions, Close)
- Schedule and favourite actions
- Media controls (Open in Spotify, Mute/Unmute)
- Social features (Accept/Reject friend requests, Remove friend)
- Content moderation (Hide Post, Delete Post, Flag Post)
Safety & Emergency Features
Emergency Chat (ChatHaven)
A dedicated real-time chat channel connects you directly to event staff. Features include:
- One-tap Strobe/Flashlight — Activate your phone's torch as a flashing strobe light directly from the chat screen to signal for help or make yourself visible to nearby staff
- Location Sharing — Share your precise GPS location with staff so they can locate you quickly
- WiFi Connection Assistance — The app can assist with connecting to on-site WiFi networks for staying connected in low-signal areas
- Persistent Notifications — Emergency messages are delivered with high priority to ensure you never miss a critical alert, even when the app is in the background
Emergency Grid Reference (Interactive Map)
The interactive festival map includes an Emergency Mode toggle:
- Activates a numbered grid overlay on the map
- Displays a banner: "In case of emergency, share your grid location with staff"
- Allows you to quickly communicate your grid reference to emergency personnel without needing to describe your precise location
Strobe Beacon
A standalone Strobe Light feature designed to help you be found or signal your group:
- Customisable colours and flash speed
- Custom text message that scrolls across the screen
- Optional torch/flashlight flash synchronisation
- Photosensitivity Warning — The strobe tool displays a mandatory warning before first use, alerting you that flashing lights may cause discomfort or seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. You must acknowledge the warning before the feature activates
Emergency Contacts
Register and manage your emergency contacts within the app:
- Store contact details and a designated reunion point
- Set a reunion time, so your group knows where and when to meet if separated
- Contacts are stored securely and accessible when you need them most
Haptic Feedback
The app uses vibration patterns to provide tactile confirmation for key actions:
- Favouriting an artist/event — A short vibration confirms the action
- Unfavouriting — A distinct double-buzz pattern helps you differentiate between adding and removing favourites
- Notifications — Vibration is enabled on notification channels for important alerts
Offline Support
The app is built with an offline-first architecture so you can access essential information even without an internet connection:
- All event data (artists, schedule, map locations, FAQ) is synced and cached locally
- A persistent offline indicator lets you know when you're using cached data
- Background synchronisation keeps your data up to date when connectivity returns
Notification Preferences
Fine-grained notification controls allow you to choose what you're alerted about:
| Notification Type | Description |
|---|
| Event Reminders | Notifies you 15 minutes before your favourited events start |
| Info Updates | Alerts for lineup additions or schedule changes |
| Special Offers | Promotional messages and deals (opt-in) |
| Emergency Alerts | Critical safety notifications (always recommended) |
| Proximity Alerts | Location-aware alerts as you move through the event site |
All notification preferences can be toggled independently in the Settings page.
Responsive Layout
The app adapts its layout to different screen sizes:
- Phone — Optimised single-column layouts
- Tablet — Multi-column grids and side navigation for larger screens
- Landscape/Portrait — Layout adjusts automatically when you rotate your device
Multi-Language Support
The app supports multiple languages to serve diverse audiences:
- English (AU, GB variants)
- French
- Spanish
The app's language follows your device's system language setting. The in-app accessibility settings panel is also fully localised.
Zoomable Content
Maps and images can be zoomed with standard pinch-to-zoom gestures, making it easier to read small text on site maps or view image details at larger sizes.
Native iOS Accessibility Features
Your iPhone or iPad includes a comprehensive set of accessibility features that work with the Big Live app. Here's how to make the most of them:
VoiceOver (Screen Reader)
Settings → Accessibility → VoiceOver
VoiceOver reads aloud everything on screen as you touch it. Our app provides tooltips and labels on interactive elements to support meaningful VoiceOver announcements.
Tip: Swipe left or right to move between elements, double-tap to activate.
Display & Text Size
Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size
- Larger Text — Use the system text size slider (or enable "Larger Accessibility Sizes") to enlarge text across all apps, including ours
- Bold Text — Make all text bolder for better legibility
- Increase Contrast — Improves colour contrast across the interface
- Reduce Transparency — Makes backgrounds more opaque for clearer readability
- Differentiate Without Colour — Adds shapes and labels alongside colour cues
Motion
Settings → Accessibility → Motion
- Reduce Motion — Minimises animations and parallax effects. Combined with the app's "Reduce Effects" toggle, this eliminates virtually all motion
- Auto-Play Message Effects — Control whether message animations play automatically
Zoom
Settings → Accessibility → Zoom
Enable a system-wide magnifying glass that works over our app — double-tap with three fingers to zoom in on any content.
Spoken Content
Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content
- Speak Selection — Select text and tap "Speak" to have it read aloud (great for long artist bios)
- Speak Screen — Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen to have the entire page read aloud
Hearing
Settings → Accessibility → Audio/Visual
- LED Flash for Alerts — Your phone's camera flash will blink for notifications, useful in loud environments where you can't hear your phone
- Mono Audio — Combines stereo channels so you can hear all audio through a single earbud
Guided Access
Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access
Lock the app to a single screen and disable certain areas — useful if you're lending your phone to someone to view the schedule or map.
AssistiveTouch
Settings → Accessibility → Touch → AssistiveTouch
Adds a floating on-screen button for common actions, helpful if physical button presses are difficult.
Native Android Accessibility Features
Android devices include a powerful set of accessibility features that complement the Big Live app:
TalkBack (Screen Reader)
Settings → Accessibility → TalkBack
TalkBack provides spoken feedback as you navigate the app. Our tooltips and button labels are designed to provide clear context through TalkBack.
Tip: Swipe right to move to the next element, double-tap to activate.
Display Size & Font
Settings → Accessibility → Display size and text
- Font Size — System-wide font scaling that affects text throughout our app
- Display Size — Makes everything on screen larger or smaller
- Bold Text — Applies bold styling across apps
Magnification
Settings → Accessibility → Magnification
Triple-tap the screen to zoom in on any content. Works as a floating magnifier over the app.
Colour & Motion
Settings → Accessibility → Colour and motion
- Colour Correction — Adjust screen colours for deuteranomaly, protanomaly, or tritanomaly colour blindness types
- Colour Inversion — Invert all display colours
- Remove Animations — Disables system animations. Pair this with the app's "Reduce Effects" setting for a completely motion-free experience
Hearing
Settings → Accessibility → Audio
- Mono Audio — Combines left and right audio channels
- Sound Notifications — Flash the camera light or screen for notifications, essential in noisy environments
- Live Captions — Automatically caption audio playing on your device
Interaction Controls
Settings → Accessibility → Interaction controls
- Switch Access — Navigate the app using external switches or keyboard
- Voice Access — Control the app with voice commands ("tap Settings", "scroll down")
Timing Controls
Settings → Accessibility → Timing controls
- Touch & Hold Delay — Adjust how long you need to press and hold
- Time to Take Action — Get more time to read messages and notifications that auto-dismiss
Need Help?
If you need additional accessibility support:
- Use the Emergency Chat feature in the app to contact event staff directly
- Visit the FAQ section in the app, which includes a dedicated Accessibility category
- Contact the event organiser directly — they can configure additional accessibility options for their event through the Big Live CMS
Specific features may vary depending on the event and the configuration set by the event organiser.
