PWA Accessibility Issue: Inability to use "Back" function with VoiceOver on iPhone

By Suriyan, 17 November, 2025

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello everyone,

I've been using many websites that offer a Progressive Web Application (PWA) version, and I've encountered a persistent accessibility problem when trying to navigate back using VoiceOver on my iPhone.

The Problem

Missing or Inaccessible Back Button: When the PWA is running in standalone mode, I am completely unable to locate or interact with the standard "Back" button (usually located on the top-left of the screen) using VoiceOver. It's unclear whether these PWAs lack the button entirely, or if the button exists but is simply inaccessible to VoiceOver (e.g., due to missing aria-label or role definition).

Unsuccessful Workaround: I have tried using the standard VoiceOver navigation gestures for "back" but they do not execute the browser/app's "Go Back" command.

My Current Solution (Which I want to avoid)

To successfully go back to the previous page, I currently have to:

Temporarily turn off VoiceOver.

Swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right to trigger the system's "Go Back" gesture (the one that mimics the browser's back functionality).

Note: This specific gesture (swiping from the edge) does not work when VoiceOver is active.

My Question to the Community

Do any of you know of a better workaround or a definitive solution to navigate back to the previous page in a PWA without needing to disable VoiceOver?

Any advice or insight, particularly from other VoiceOver users or PWA developers, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

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Comments

By Stephen on Monday, November 17, 2025 - 05:51

hey Suriyan, almost all of the time it is an easy dev fix. Is it happening on Vision AI Assistant? I would hate for you to have that issue.

By Suriyan on Monday, November 17, 2025 - 06:37

When I use any PWA version of a website, I never see a back button in the top left corner of the screen. In rendering, it might be there, but in VoiceOver, I never see it

By Stephen on Monday, November 17, 2025 - 06:39

I just tested mine and yeah the dev has to code it in to go back to the previous page.