Digital Accessibility Index: Learn where the world’s leading brands fall short on accessibility.

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The Definitive Mobile Accessibility Checklist

Open your mobile websites and apps to a wider audience

Navigate mobile accessibility with support from BoIA. Learn how to overcome the limitations of mobile devices and ensure a seamless mobile web for all your users - whether they have a disability, use assistive technology like a screen reader, or simply appreciate a perfectly-functional app.
 

What's Inside

  • Design for smaller screens
  •  Make gestures simple and provide accessible options
  •  Standards of WCAG for mobile apps
  •  Provide text alternatives for graphics and media
  •  Use color effectively
  •  And much more!

 

Mobile design brings incredible opportunity and accessibility challenges

The mobile web has brought with it a freedom to consume content and complete tasks that a decade ago seemed unthinkable. Just reading about mortgage options on a phone? Once, that was amazing. Applying for a mortgage entirely from a mobile device? Today, it’s commonplace, maybe even expected — but not equally possible for everyone.

For the millions of Americans and more than a billion people worldwide living with a disability, inaccessible features of mobile websites and applications prevent them from using and enjoying the experience fully. Failures in making mobile web properties accessible can be incredibly frustrating for people trying to use them and can subject the business to legal risk, not to mention all the lost profits and prospects.

Fortunately, this checklist can act as a guide for iOS and Android to make sure the content on your Android, iOS, and any mobile-based platform can be used independently by people with disabilities.

By focusing on intuitive user experiences and overall ease of use, the techniques outlined here make mobile websites and apps more user-friendly and enjoyable for everyone. Rooted in proven mobile accessibility practices, like those in the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), these design checkpoints should be consulted early and often.

Mobile compliance guidelines to consider

Like programs and websites visited on a desktop or laptop, applications and websites accessed from a smartphone or tablet need to be accessible to people with disabilities. However, achieving mobile accessibility requires paying attention to some key differences in design and testing strategies.

Did you know…

  • Most people use smartphones and tablets with touch gestures, but many use external keyboards and other input devices?
  • The smaller screen sizes of smartphones make the placement and amount of content even more important?
  • Websites and apps should work equally well in portrait (upright) and landscape (sideways) orientations?
  • Text alternatives should be provided for all graphical and media content, like images, videos, infographics, and podcasts?
  • How well colors contrast from surrounding colors can be easily measured and there are minimum contrast requirements to meet?

Download the Free Checklist