Image accessibility labels from Localizable.strings files

I recently discovered that if we add an image name to the Localizable.strings file in a SwiftUI project, SwiftUI will automatically use the localized string as the image accessibility label.

For example, we might have a custom image in the Assets catalog called person.bicycle. When it's used in a SwiftUI Image view Voice Over will read "person bicycle" when the user is focused on the image.

// Voice over reads "person bicycle" by default
Image("person.bicycle")

If we add the image name to the Localizable.strings file to provide a better accessibility label and to localize it, SwiftUI will use the localization automatically.

// Inside a Localizable.strings file
"person.bicycle" = "Person on a bicycle";

Voice Over will now read "Person on a bicycle" when the image is focused. We don't even have to apply the accessibilityLabel() modifier to the Image view.

If you are enjoying our blog and would like to support us, you can sponsor us on GitHub.