Paramount+: A Review of iOS Accessibility
Janet Ingber
The streaming marketplace has become increasingly crowded, with services competing for subscribers through exclusive programming, extensive content libraries, live sports, and original productions. Paramount+ has established itself as a strong contender by combining original programming, classic television series, movies, live events, and local CBS content into a single service.
Paramount+ is available on most major streaming platforms, mobile devices, web browsers, smart TVs, and game consoles. The service offers a one-week free trial, after which users can choose between two subscription tiers. The Essentials plan costs $8.99 per month, while the Premium plan costs $13.99 per month, with discounted pricing available for annual subscriptions.
The Essentials plan includes ad-supported access to thousands of television episodes and movies, along with select live sports programming. The Premium plan removes most advertising from on-demand content, adds Showtime programming, enables downloads for offline viewing, and provides access to a local CBS affiliate stream in participating markets.
The Paramount+ catalog includes original productions such as NCIS: Tony and Ziva, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Behind the Music, alongside established series including NCIS, South Park, and Criminal Minds. The movie library ranges from Paramount originals to major theatrical releases such as Top Gun: Maverick, family-oriented titles like Paw Patrol: Air Rescue, and a variety of classic and contemporary films.
For this review, I evaluated the Paramount+ iOS app using an iPhone 16 running iOS 26.5.
Navigating the App
After installing the app, users are prompted to create a profile. Each time the app launches, you can select an existing profile or create a new one.
The interface is organized around a series of navigation tabs. At the top of the screen are Cast, Shows, Movies, and Hubs. The Cast tab is used to stream content to another device using AirPlay. The Shows and Movies tabs provide access to their respective content categories, while the Hubs tab groups content into broader collections. Within Hubs are categories such as Collections, Sports, and News, each providing access to related programming.
At the bottom of the screen are five primary navigation tabs: Home, Search, Clips, Live TV, and Profile.
The Home screen presents personalized recommendations based on viewing history and profile preferences. In testing, VoiceOver provided clear access to recommended content and navigation controls.
The Search tab contains an edit field along with suggestions for popular programs. As text is entered into the search field, results update dynamically. For example, entering "NC" immediately surfaced NCIS among the search results.
The Clips tab provides access to short promotional videos and previews from across the Paramount+ catalog, while the Live TV tab offers access to real-time programming, including news, sports, and local broadcasts where available.
The Profile tab contains account settings and profile management tools. Users can also access their saved content through the My List feature found within this section.
Playing Content
Selecting a program opens a detail page containing information about the title, episode descriptions when applicable, and options such as "Add to My List." A prominently placed "Watch Now" button starts playback.
Playback controls were consistently accessible with VoiceOver during testing. Once content begins playing, VoiceOver identifies the video area as "Video Player." Double tapping this element reveals controls for AirPlay, Picture in Picture, subtitles, and audio track selection.
Programs that include audio description provide an audio track labeled "English (US) AD." Because audio description was enabled in my accessibility settings, described content automatically began playing with the descriptive track selected whenever one was available.
Additional playback controls include buttons to skip backward or forward ten seconds, along with Play/Pause controls and elapsed and total playback time indicators. All controls were clearly labeled and easy to locate using VoiceOver.
Accessibility Observations
Accessibility throughout the Paramount+ app was generally very good. Navigation elements were consistently labeled, search functionality worked well with VoiceOver, and playback controls were accessible and responsive.
The automatic detection and activation of audio description tracks was particularly welcome, eliminating the need to manually select descriptive audio each time accessible content was played. This creates a smoother experience for users who regularly rely on audio description.
While the app's interface contains a significant amount of content and navigation options, the overall layout remained manageable with VoiceOver. Key controls were easy to locate, and moving between sections of the app was straightforward.
Conclusion
Paramount+ combines a substantial library of television programming, movies, live events, and original content with a generally accessible user experience on iOS. VoiceOver users should find the app easy to navigate, and support for audio description is implemented particularly well.
For users looking for a streaming service that offers a wide variety of content along with strong accessibility, Paramount+ is well worth considering.