[iOS] - Elements in a row are announced in the wrong order by VoiceOver

[andrea-martinez-dev]

Description

When elements with different heights are in a row with alignItems: ‘center’ or alignItems:’flex-end’, the tallest ones are selected and announced first by VoiceOver on iOS.

Tested on iPhone 13 mini, iOS 17.4.1

Steps to reproduce

1. use the code in the reproducer and build on a physical iOS device
2. activate VoiceOver and go through each example by swiping right

React Native Version

0.83.1

Affected Platforms

Runtime - iOS

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info

System:
  OS: macOS 26.2
  CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M2
  Memory: 94.20 MB / 16.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 22.7.0
    path: /Users/gbs05577/.nvm/versions/node/v22.7.0/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 10.8.2
    path: /Users/gbs05577/.nvm/versions/node/v22.7.0/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2022.11.28.00
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods:
    version: 1.15.2
    path: /Users/gbs05577/.rbenv/shims/pod
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 25.2
      - iOS 26.2
      - macOS 26.2
      - tvOS 26.2
      - visionOS 26.2
      - watchOS 26.2
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2025.2 AI-252.25557.131.2521.14344949
  Xcode:
    version: 26.2/17C52
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.16
    path: /usr/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 2.7.5
    path: /Users/gbs05577/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.0.0
    wanted: 20.0.0
  react:
    installed: 19.2.0
    wanted: 19.2.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.83.1
    wanted: 0.83.1
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true

Stacktrace or Logs

-

MANDATORY Reproducer

https://snack.expo.dev/@andreamartinez/ios-voiceover-order-bug

Screenshots and Videos

RPReplay_Final1768299277.mov

[andrea-martinez-dev]

Bump, since there was no feedback since submitting this issue.

I see the issue could be solved also by adopting the experimental_accessibilityOrder, but honestly it's a solution I'd avoid even if the feature would be consolidated and definitive.

I still believe there is something wrong with iOS that should be solved.

[andrea-martinez-dev]

As suggested by react-native-a11y-order here, applying collapsable={false} to the container could solve the problem.

Indeed, it worked perfectly on another issue in another context (keyboard TAB navigation on Android), but it did not on this specific scenario on iOS.

At the moment the only solution I found is ensuring all accessible items in a row have the same height or they are 'flex-start' aligned (or use an external lib).

Bug still present in RN 0.86.