iOS: can VoiceOver swiping work with custom UITableViewCells? - ios

Question

I'm having trouble with swiping between accessibility elements in a UITableView with VoiceOver on. When in a UITableView, the next/previous element in the table is focused when the user swipes right/left. The element is usually a UITableViewCell.
But I have custom cells that use subviews of the cell as accessibility elements, as in:
cell.isAccessibilityElement = false
cell.accessibilityElements = [element1, element2];
This works perfectly fine within the cell, but there's a problem swiping between cells. If the custom cell is at the bottom of the table view, it fails to focus on the next cell in the table view. Normally, using the cells themselves as accessibility elements, the table view will auto-scroll and focus on the next cell. But after the custom cell, it doesn't auto-scroll, as if there are no more cells in the table view.
See screenshot for clarification. When Label 9 is focused, the user can't swipe right to the next cells, even though there are more cells. They can still scroll though using 3 fingers, and then they'll be able to swipe to the next cells as normal.
This problem happens when using the code below. It uses a storyboard that only has a default UITableView with a default prototype cell with some UILabels added to it. So all the accessibility stuff is done here in the code.
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
#IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!
let customRow = 5
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.tableView.register(UITableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "cell")
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
10
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> CGFloat {
if indexPath.row == self.customRow {
return UITableView.automaticDimension
} else {
return 120
}
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell: UITableViewCell
if indexPath.row == self.customRow {
cell = self.tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "customCell", for: indexPath)
cell.isAccessibilityElement = false
cell.accessibilityElements = cell.contentView.subviews
} else {
cell = self.tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cell", for: indexPath)
var content = cell.defaultContentConfiguration()
content.text = "row \(indexPath.row)"
cell.contentConfiguration = content
}
return cell
}
}