The text-property on ActionItems on the ActionBar isn't read by VoiceOver on iOS, only the icon name is and ActionItem doesn't have the property automationText. That's because ActionItem doesn't inherit from ui/core/view.

On iOS UIBarButtonItem is used to create the ActionItem, but UIBarButtonItem doesn't implement the UIAccessibility-protocol, but according to this stackoverflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23800764/ios-7-uibarbuttonitem-with-accessibility it should be possible it activate it anyways.

Which platform(s) does your issue occur on?

iOS

Please provide the following version numbers that your issue occurs with:

• CLI: 2.3.0
• Cross-platform modules: 2.3.0
• Runtime(s): tns-ios 2.3.0

Please tell us how to recreate the issue in as much detail as possible.

• Create an ActionBar with an ActionItem set a text-label on the ActionItem
• Run the app on iOS with VoiceOver enabled
• Listen to the text being read, it's the icon-name followed by "button"