Accessibility Checklist for mobile content

92.3% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone. That means considering accessibility on mobile is critical. WCAG is not exhaustive when it comes to mobile accessibility recommendations, but there are a few key points they make. Here’s a checklist to follow to make sure your website and app is WCAG compliant on mobile:

• Don’t make specific motion gestures (like shaking the device) required. Provide another means for users to perform the action and allow users to disable the motion gesture - 2.5.4 Motion Actuation
• Orientation (rotating between portrait and landscape) is not locked - 1.3.4 Orientation
• All functionality that requires more than one pointer (i.e., pinch-zoom) can also be accomplished with just one pointer - 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures
• All functionality that requires a user to tap+drag through a specific pathway can also be accomplished without following the specific pathway - 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures
• Content is responsive on mobile. That means there’s no horizontal scroll bar on the window and no information gets cut out of view - 1.4.10 Reflow, 1.4.4 Resize Text
• No images of text, since they can get distorted when viewed on different devices - 1.4.5 Images of Text
• Standard color contrast rules apply - 4.5:1 for regular text, 3:1 for everything else - 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast
• Standard keyboard accessibility rules apply, since that’s how screen readers on mobile navigate the page - 2.1.1 Keyboard, 2.4.3 Focus order

While these criteria are particularly relevant to mobile accessibility, all the WCAG guidelines - like those around colour, forms, labels, headings, robust code - apply to all devices and should be followed.