Talkback & VoiceOver Do not update custom semantics action after an action has been performed #149613

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1. darshankawar

   added

   in triagePresently being triaged by the triage teamPresently being triaged by the triage team

   on Jun 4, 2024
2. darshankawar

   changed the title [-]Talkback & VoiceOver Do n'ot update custom semantis action after an action has been performed[/-] [+]Talkback & VoiceOver Do not update custom semantis action after an action has been performed[/+] on Jun 4, 2024
3. darshankawar commented on Jun 4, 2024

   

   darshankawar

   on Jun 4, 2024

   Member

   More actions

   Thanks for the report. I was able to replicate this on latest versions and occurs in both platforms.

   stable, master flutter doctor -v

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         ios            • iOS 14.4.1 18D61
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       • iPhone 12 Pro Max (mobile) • A5473606-0213-4FD8-BA16-553433949729     •
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4. darshankawar

   added

   platform-androidAndroid applications specificallyAndroid applications specifically

   platform-iosiOS applications specificallyiOS applications specifically

   a: accessibilityAccessibility, e.g. VoiceOver or TalkBack. (aka a11y)Accessibility, e.g. VoiceOver or TalkBack. (aka a11y)

   has reproducible stepsThe issue has been confirmed reproducible and is ready to work onThe issue has been confirmed reproducible and is ready to work on

   found in release: 3.22Found to occur in 3.22Found to occur in 3.22

   found in release: 3.23Found to occur in 3.23Found to occur in 3.23

   frameworkflutter/packages/flutter repository. See also f: labels.flutter/packages/flutter repository. See also f: labels.

   team-frameworkOwned by Framework teamOwned by Framework team

   and removed

   in triagePresently being triaged by the triage teamPresently being triaged by the triage team

   on Jun 4, 2024
5. TahaTesser

   changed the title [-]Talkback & VoiceOver Do not update custom semantis action after an action has been performed[/-] [+]Talkback & VoiceOver Do not update custom semantics action after an action has been performed[/+] on Jun 5, 2024
6. goderbauer

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   P2Important issues not at the top of the work listImportant issues not at the top of the work list

   triaged-frameworkTriaged by Framework teamTriaged by Framework team

   on Jun 5, 2024
7. s17476 commented on Jul 31, 2024

   

   s17476

   on Jul 31, 2024

   More actions

   Hey @zywek123,

   Thanks for contacting me via email. I also had this problem in my app. The Semantics widget does not update after receiving new customSemanticsActions, although it should.

   The workaround is trivially simple. Just use a label in Semantics widget and update it as the value that the list of actions depends on changes.

   I use a single dot for this😅 It does not change the content of the message, but forces the widget to update.

   Below you will find your improved example correctly reading labels in the action list. I simplified the increment method a bit to make it easier to detect the change in the counter value.

   import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
   import 'package:flutter/semantics.dart';
   
   void main() {
     runApp(const MyApp());
   }
   
   class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
     const MyApp({super.key});
   
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       return MaterialApp(
         title: 'Flutter Demo',
         theme: ThemeData(
           colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
           useMaterial3: true,
         ),
         home: const MyHomePage(title: 'Flutter Demo Home Page'),
       );
     }
   }
   
   class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
     const MyHomePage({super.key, required this.title});
   
     final String title;
   
     @override
     State<MyHomePage> createState() => _MyHomePageState();
   }
   
   class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
     int _counter = 0;
   
     void _incrementCounter() {
       setState(() {
         _counter++;
       });
     }
   
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       return Scaffold(
         appBar: AppBar(
           backgroundColor: Theme.of(context).colorScheme.inversePrimary,
           title: Text(widget.title),
         ),
         body: Center(
           child: Column(
             mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
             children: <Widget>[
               const Text(
                 'You have pushed the button this many times:',
               ),
               Text(
                 '$_counter',
                 style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.headlineMedium,
               ),
             ],
           ),
         ),
         floatingActionButton: Semantics(
           excludeSemantics: true,
           button: true,
           customSemanticsActions: {
             CustomSemanticsAction(label: "Increment  $_counter"):
                 _incrementCounter
           },
           // Changing label will force Semantics widget to update
           label: 'increment${_counter.isEven ? '.' : ''}',
           child: FloatingActionButton(
             onPressed: _incrementCounter,
             tooltip: 'Increment',
             child: const Icon(Icons.add),
           ),
         ),
       );
     }
   }

   In my app I do it like this:

   I use helper class + extension + methods

   import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
   import 'package:flutter/semantics.dart';
   
   class ContextMenuItem {
     final String label;
     final VoidCallback callback;
   
     ContextMenuItem({
       required this.label,
       required this.callback,
     });
   }
   
   extension ContextMenuList on List<ContextMenuItem> {
     /// If any custom actions have already been added,
     /// overwriting this map with an empty one or null
     /// does not remove them in the Semantics widget.
     /// You need to overwrite the default action.
     Map<CustomSemanticsAction, VoidCallback>? toCustomSemanticAction({
       bool overrideDefaultAction = false,
     }) {
       Map<CustomSemanticsAction, VoidCallback> actions = {};
   
       for (var item in this) {
         actions[CustomSemanticsAction(label: item.label)] = item.callback;
       }
   
       if (actions.isEmpty) {
         if (overrideDefaultAction) {
           return {
             const CustomSemanticsAction.overridingAction(
               hint: 'Activate',
               action: SemanticsAction.tap,
             ): () {}
           };
         } else {
           return null;
         }
       }
   
       return actions;
     }
   
     List<PopupMenuEntry>? toPopupMenuItems() {
       List<PopupMenuEntry> items = [];
   
       for (var item in this) {
         items.add(PopupMenuItem(onTap: item.callback, child: Text(item.label)));
       }
   
       if (items.isEmpty) return null;
   
       return items;
     }
   }
   
   void showContextMenu(BuildContext context, List<ContextMenuItem>? items) {
     if (items != null && items.isNotEmpty) {
       if (items.length == 1) {
         items.first.callback.call();
       } else {
         showMenu(
           context: context,
           position: const RelativeRect.fromLTRB(0, 0, 0, 0),
           items: items.toPopupMenuItems()!,
         );
       }
     }
   }

   Then you can easily use the list of these actions as a context menu or popup menu - I had feedback from TalkBack users that due to set preferences they didn't always have access to the context menu, so I always add a popup menu as well.

   import 'package:dynamic_custom_semantics_actions/context_menu_item.dart';
   import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
   import 'package:flutter/rendering.dart';
   
   void main() {
     runApp(const MyApp());
   }
   
   class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
     const MyApp({super.key});
   
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       return MaterialApp(
         title: 'CustomSemanticsActions',
         theme: ThemeData(
           colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
           useMaterial3: true,
         ),
         home: const MyHomePage(),
       );
     }
   }
   
   class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
     const MyHomePage({super.key});
   
     @override
     State<MyHomePage> createState() => _MyHomePageState();
   }
   
   class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
     bool _optionOneEnabled = false;
     bool _optionTwoEnabled = true;
   
     List<ContextMenuItem> _createContextMenuOne() => [
           if (_optionOneEnabled)
             ContextMenuItem(
               label: 'Disable',
               callback: () {
                 setState(() {
                   _optionOneEnabled = false;
                 });
   
                 Future.delayed(
                   Durations.medium2,
                   () => SemanticsService.announce('Disabled', TextDirection.ltr),
                 );
               },
             )
           else
             ContextMenuItem(
               label: 'Enable',
               callback: () {
                 setState(() {
                   _optionOneEnabled = true;
                 });
   
                 Future.delayed(
                   Durations.medium2,
                   () => SemanticsService.announce('Enabled', TextDirection.ltr),
                 );
               },
             )
         ];
   
     List<ContextMenuItem> _createContextMenuTwo() => [
           if (_optionTwoEnabled)
             ContextMenuItem(
               label: 'Hide',
               callback: () {
                 setState(() {
                   _optionTwoEnabled = false;
                 });
   
                 Future.delayed(
                   Durations.medium2,
                   () => SemanticsService.announce('Hidden', TextDirection.ltr),
                 );
               },
             )
         ];
   
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       final contextMenuOneItems = _createContextMenuOne();
       final contextMenuTwoItems = _createContextMenuTwo();
   
       // This does the trick.
       // Semantics widget will update custom semantics actions,
       // because its label has changed. I'm used to add a dot '.' here.
       final labelOne = 'First label${_optionOneEnabled ? '.' : ''}';
       final labelTwo = 'Second label${_optionTwoEnabled ? '.' : ''}';
   
       return Scaffold(
         appBar: AppBar(
           backgroundColor: Theme.of(context).colorScheme.inversePrimary,
           title: const Text('CustomSemanticsActions'),
         ),
         body: Center(
           child: Column(
             mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
             children: [
               Semantics(
                 label: labelOne,
                 customSemanticsActions:
                     contextMenuOneItems.toCustomSemanticAction(),
                 child: InkWell(
                   onLongPress: () =>
                       showContextMenu(context, contextMenuOneItems),
                   child: const ExcludeSemantics(
                     child: Text('First widget'),
                   ),
                 ),
               ),
               Semantics(
                 label: labelTwo,
                 customSemanticsActions: contextMenuTwoItems
                     .toCustomSemanticAction(overrideDefaultAction: true),
                 child: InkWell(
                   onLongPress: () =>
                       showContextMenu(context, contextMenuTwoItems),
                   child: const ExcludeSemantics(
                     child: Text('Second widget'),
                   ),
                 ),
               ),
             ],
           ),
         ),
       );
     }
   }

   I've only tested this with VoiceOver, but in our production app it works just as well with TalkBack.

   Code also available here: https://github.com/s17476/dynamic_custom_semantics_actions
8. auto-submit

   closed this as completedin #185707on Apr 30, 2026
9. pull

   added a commit that references this issue on Apr 30, 2026

   [a11y] Mark SemanticsNode dirty when customSemanticsActions change (f…

   ...

   e46d8eb
10. github-actions commented on May 14, 2026

    

    github-actionsbot

    on May 14, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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11. github-actions

    locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators on May 14, 2026