Discoverability and characteristics of health and fitness apps for deaf/hard-of-hearing and blind/low-vision users

Purpose Regular physical activity improves health, yet Deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) and blind/low-vision (BLV) individuals face persistent barriers to participation. Accessible fitness apps could improve health equity if they are discoverable in mainstream marketplaces and include meaningful accessibility features that support participation. Materials and methods A scoping search of the Apple App Store was conducted using nine DHH/BLV-related terms. After consolidating 3,265 search returns and removing duplicates, 1,735 unique apps were analyzed. Apps were classified by DHH/BLV relevance using a mixed inductive–deductive content analysis, and features and functions that support health or physical activity were consolidated. DHH/BLV-tailored fitness apps were then directly tested using a predefined accessibility assessment framework informed by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Results Most returned apps (59.9%) were general health/fitness apps or unrelated. Only 15.7% were DHH-relevant while 6.6% were BLV-relevant, with an additional 0.5% overlapping across both groups. Most DHH-relevant apps focused on hearing-aid management, environmental or digital accessibility, or sound amplification. Most BLV-relevant apps focused on environmental accessibility, provider tools, therapeutics, or rehabilitation. Only four fitness apps tailored to DHH/BLV users were identified across the full corpus. These apps appeared inconsistently across search terms and were sometimes ranked low in search results, indicating substantial discoverability barriers. Accessibility features varied, and several apps had limited offerings or access barriers, including subscription costs and external hardware requirements. Conclusion Disability-tailored fitness apps for DHH and BLV users were rare in Apple App Store search returns and were not consistently discoverable through relevant search terms. Improving access to these tools will require better marketplace metadata, accessibility labeling, ranking practices, and filtering options so users can more easily identify apps that match their needs. DHH/BLV community testing is needed to ensure fitness tools are accessible, usable, affordable, and effective.