Making Digital Payments Accessible Beyond Sight: A Usability Study of UPI-Based Smartphone Applications

The digital era has brought significant advancements in technology to such an extent that it has transformed people’s life. Assistive technology makes it possible to undergo tasks that are otherwise difficult for people who are differently-abled. For instance, voice-over capabilities and screen readers make it possible for the visually disabled to use various smartphone applications. Digital payment applications are one such application that significantly eases their daily financial transactions needs. There may, however, be several design issues while using such applications. The mobile applications designed should be designed equitably, keeping in mind the needs of people with disability. A usability study is conducted to assess a product by its actual testing done by a diverse audience. This study aims to evaluate Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based digital payment solutions for the visually impaired. To identify the design considerations needed while designing digital payment applications, three UPI mobile applications (namely Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm) most used in India were selected and evaluated with fifteen visually impaired participants using standard accessibility guidelines. A broad objective of this study is to bring out the issues in accessibility features and suggest insights for re-designing these features to make mobile applications more accessible for visually impaired users. Usability tests were conducted on our volunteers to gather relevant data and a thorough analysis was thereby done. Our analysis reveals that while digital payment mobile applications provide accessibility features for visually impaired users, there may be significant design issues in areas such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and clear labelling of buttons and controls. Furthermore, suggestions for improving the accessibility of digital payment mobile applications to serve the visually impaired community can be found based on the findings of the present research study. These suggestions can be useful while designing or updating digital payment mobile applications considering the needs of visually impaired people.