This is because the text: property is used as default value for the Accessible.name: property, so when it is not set Accessible.name is empty and the screen reader can only say that the currently focused control is a button. The trick to have both the text: property set and an icon-only button is to use the display: property and assign it to the AbstractButton.IconOnly . Controls 2.15 Button { text: i18n ( "Favorite" ) icon.name: 'favorite' display: AbstractButton .