What Ruta supports
These are the features declared on our App Store listing, and what each one actually means inside the app.
VoiceOver. Every control is labelled, and every label says what the control does rather than what it is called in our code. Icons that carry no meaning are skipped so you are not read a list of decorations. Related information is grouped, so a clock reads as "Rome 2:00 AM" in one breath instead of as two separate elements. Alerts announce themselves. Sections say whether they are open or closed.
Larger Text. Text scales to 200 percent throughout the app. Where a label and a value sit side by side, the label wraps to a second line rather than shrinking, so nothing gets smaller as you turn the size up.
Reduced Motion. Turn it on in iOS and Ruta stops animating. Panels open without sliding, cards appear without rising, and buttons do not spring under your finger.
Sufficient Contrast and Differentiate Without Colour. Status is never carried by colour alone. A delayed flight says delayed. Anything marked in gold is also marked in words.
Dark Interface. Ruta is dark by design, with a light mode if you prefer it.
Using Ruta without looking at it
An airport is a bad place to read a phone. You are moving, carrying something, and probably watching a child or a departure board. Ruta answers out loud.
Ask for what you need. The nearest restroom, water refill, elevator, pharmacy or coffee. Ruta tells you how far it is and opens directions.
Ask for the whole flight at once. Say "brief me" and hear your gate, seat, boarding time, arrival and connection in one answer, rather than asking four questions.
Simple mode. A larger, plainer version of the app with a microphone of its own, so you never have to leave it to ask something.
Speech that suits you. Ruta speaks more slowly if you ask her to, respects your silent switch, and comes through hearing aids and AirPods.
What we know is still weak
We would rather tell you this than have you find it at a gate.
Text stops growing at 200 percent. If you use one of the largest accessibility sizes, iOS will go further than Ruta does. Two hundred percent is where our layouts still hold together, and we would rather cap it than hand you overlapping text.
Maps are still maps. The terminal map is visual. Everything it shows you can also be asked for out loud, but the map itself will not read well.
City guides need a connection the first time. Once a guide has loaded it stays on your phone and works offline. Open it once before you fly.
Gate distances depend on the airport. We hold gate positions for 179 airports. Elsewhere, distances are measured from the middle of the airport instead of from your gate, so treat them as rough.
iPhone only, for now. Our accessibility work has been tested on iPhone. We have not made claims for any other device because we have not done the work there yet.
Tell us what does not work
The people who find the gaps are the people using Ruta with a screen reader every day, and we would rather hear it early. Write to info@rutatravels.com and say what you were trying to do and where it stopped. We read every one of these, and a specific report tends to get fixed in the next release.
If something is wrong with this page itself, tell us that too.