BUG - sev-2 - iOS - Some assistive tech can't get 'into'/'onto' screens where the only actionable items are initially offscreen

[TKDickson]

What happened?

Screens where the only actionable items are below the fold are inaccessible to keyboard-only navigation and invisible to switch control (when set to automatically rotate through actionable items). (With sufficiently-large font size, "screens where actionable items initial load offscreen" can be a LOT of screens).

One example is the BSSV letter selection screen - on this screen, a keyboard user would get the 'review letters' back button at the top, and then all of the nav at the bottom of the screen, but would not be able to get 'into' the screen to select which info to include, or generate their letter. Here's the targets for switch and keyboard.

On Android, users can get to the action items further down the screen (even when initially offscreen). On iOS, users can get to action items 'below the fold' with a keyboard, as long as at least one action item is in the 'content area' of the screen when it first loads.

Specs:

• Device:
• OS:
• User Account:
• Accessibility State:

Steps to Reproduce

If you haven't navigated the app with a keyboard before - connect any bluetooth keyboard to your device. Then in your device's settings, go to Accessibility, then Keyboards (it's in the physical and motor section), and toggle "Full Keyboard Access" on. You should be able to start using your keyboard at this point - and common commands are helpfully listed onscreen (feel free to remap in the commands section if desired):

Then, use your keyboard navigation to go to Home > Benefits > VA letters and documents > review letters > Benefits summary and service verification. Notice how on iOS you cannot go further on the screen/can't get to content offscreen, if all actionable items initially loaded offscreen.

Desired behavior

Should be able to navigate to actionable content with keyboard navigation only, no matter if it's initially onscreen or not

Acceptance Criteria

Bug Severity - BE SURE TO ADD THE SEVERITY LABEL

See [Bug Tracking](https://department-of-veterans-affairs.github.io/va-mobile-app/docs/QA#issue-severity) for details on severity levels

• Impact: High Low
• Frequency: High Low

• 3 - Low
• 2 - High
• 1 - Critical

Linked to Story

Screen shot(s) and additional information

Full JSON response for services related to issue (expand/collapse)

Ticket Checklist

• [ ] Steps to reproduce are defined
• [ ] Desired behavior is added
• [ ] Labels added (front-end, back-end, global, Health, relevant feature, accessibility, etc)
• [ ] Estimate of 1 added (for front-end tickets)
• [ ] Added either to the relevant feature epic (if found during new feature implementation), or the relevant team's bug epic (Global, Health & Benefits, API, QART)

[alexandec]

This appears to be resolved in iOS 18. Non-actionable items are focusable with Full Keyboard Access. I can scroll up and down through them using the arrow keys. Here's an example using only the keyboard to navigate:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/75b6b3f9-e0d1-466c-ab14-e9e7ec2aaf6f

[alexandec]

Okay, I tested with FKA turned on and larger text. This problem still exists with larger text sizes.