Accessibility at Cody

Chess should be open to everyone who wants to get better at it. Cody is built on the accessibility features in iOS, iPadOS, and your web browser, so the settings you already use carry over. This page describes what works today.

Buttons, tabs, menus, and cards have spoken labels, so you can navigate Cody with VoiceOver gestures, a keyboard, or a braille display. Each board square is its own control: VoiceOver reads the square, the piece on it, and any state that is otherwise shown with colour, such as the selected piece, available moves and captures, the last move, and squares the coach has marked. Select a piece and then a destination square to play a move.

The same labels let Voice Control users say the name of a control to tap it, or use “Show numbers” and “Show grid” for anything else. You can also talk to Cody directly: voice coaching lets you ask questions and describe moves out loud.

On the web, press Tab to reach the board, use the arrow keys to move between squares, and press Enter or Space to select a piece and play it. Screen readers such as VoiceOver, NVDA, and JAWS announce each square the same way as on iPhone.

Text in Cody follows the Text Size setting in iOS, including the larger accessibility sizes. Coach messages, game reviews, lessons, and settings reflow to fit. On the web, Cody follows browser zoom and your default font size. A few small glyphs, like move-quality badges, keep a fixed size. VoiceOver reads their meaning in words.

Cody has full light and dark themes. It follows your system appearance by default, and you can choose one in Profile on iPhone and iPad, or with the theme toggle on the web. Text colours are chosen for readable contrast. When Increase Contrast is on in iOS or macOS, or a high-contrast theme is on in Windows, Cody switches to a high-contrast palette where all text, including move-quality colours, reaches at least 4.5:1 against its background.

Information shown with colour also has a shape, symbol, or text. Move classifications use symbols such as !!, ?! and ?, and VoiceOver reads their names. Legal moves appear as dots and capture rings. Missed puzzles show as outlined segments rather than only red ones. Board highlights are announced to VoiceOver in words.

When Reduce Motion is on in your device or browser settings, Cody replaces sliding, zooming, and bouncing transitions with simple fades or instant changes. The animated coach avatar stays still, and decorative effects such as confetti and shimmer are turned off.

Everything the coach says in a voice session appears as text in the conversation while it speaks, and the full transcript stays in your history afterwards. Narrated onboarding demos are captioned too. Cody does not include video content, so audio descriptions do not apply.

If something in Cody is hard to use with your setup, we want to hear about it. Email support@codychess.com and tell us your device, the assistive technology you use, and what you were trying to do. You can also use Report a problem inside the app. We read every message.