Mobile Accessibility: Building Apps for Everyone

For most people, their smartphone is likely the first thing they reach for in the morning and the last thing they check before bed. But imagine trying to use your favorite apps if you couldn't see the screen clearly, hear the audio, or tap small buttons accurately. For over a billion people worldwide living with disabilities, this isn't a thought experiment—it's their daily reality.

In this article, we will explore mobile app accessibility and why it matters, as well as go over some legal considerations, accessibility guidelines, and testing accessibility for mobile apps.

What is mobile app accessibility and why it matters

Mobile app accessibility means creating products that truly serve everyone, including those with disabilities. This means ensuring that those who may have visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive impairments can use your products as easily as your user who does not. 

However mobile app accessibility extends far beyond serving users with permanent disabilities. When we design accessible apps, we create better experiences for everyone. Someone with a broken arm faces similar challenges to a person with permanent motor impairments. A user squinting at their phone in bright sunlight experiences the same visibility issues as someone with visual impairments. An aging parent who struggles with small text benefits from the same design considerations as a legally blind user. Universal design doesn't just help specific groups—it enhances all user experiences.

Essential guidelines for accessible mobile apps

Planning how to make your mobile apps can seem tricky when you don't know where to start. Fortunately, there are 2 key guidelines you can follow to help you through the process. They are the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) accessibility standards.

ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act and aims to prevent discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This is legislation that helps signpost what must be done to ensure an app is accessible. As to the “how,” the ADA standard referenced the previously mentioned WCAG standard.

The WCAG standard, established by the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C) contains 80  success criteria you need to meet to claim your apps are truly accessible. The latest update, WCAG 2.1, has mobile-specific criteria such as the need for content to work on a small screen and without complex gestures.

That still sounds like an awful lot, to help you further here we’ve made a checklist you can follow to ensure your apps are accessible.

1. Design for visual accessibility

The foundation of accessible design starts with making sure your users can “see” what's on-screen regardless of visual impairment or disability. Here's how to make your app visually accessible:

• Contrast is king. Use strong color contrast ratios between text and backgrounds (at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text). Think black text on white backgrounds, not light gray on white.
• Zooming in. WCAG 2.1 requires allowing users to resize text up to 200% without breaking your layout. Your app should be as readable on a small iPhone as it is on a large tablet.
• Spacing matters. Don't cram elements together. WCAG success criteria 3.2.3 and 3.2.4 ask for consistent navigation and identification. Make sure you use ordered hierarchies, and make sure buttons with similar functions have similar text, e.g. “Sign up” and “Join now”.

2. Touch and interaction design

Mobile devices have come a long way from keypads, and most now feature a touchscreen, so are all about touch interaction, so make sure everyone can navigate your app effectively.

• Use generous tap & touch targets. Make buttons and interactive elements at least 9mm x 9mm. Nobody should have to tap three times to hit a button. Additionally, positions elements where both left-handed and right-handed users can easily reach them.
• Simple gestures. Sticking to basic gestures like taps and simple swipes (like swiping down to refresh). Complex gestures like three-finger pinches might look cool in demos but can exclude users with motor impairments, and broken fingers.
• Consistent layout. Keep navigation elements in predictable locations. Users shouldn't have to hunt for common functions as they move through your app. If your users can’t find the “add to cart” or “pay now”  function on your app, they’ll find it on your competitors.

3. Making media accessible

Media content needs special attention to be truly accessible. Adding some extra text and control for your users not only makes apps better to use and more accessible, but it also makes them easier to maintain, no developer wants to see an imaged alt saying “image” in their code.

• Video captions. Include clear, synchronized subtitles for all video content for those with audio issues, those who may not have the app language as their first, or those who want to watch in private. This is also much easier to produce with the advent of AI tools.
• Audio descriptions. Taking it a step further. Enhancing your video transcripts for audio descriptions such as relevant information about sounds, speakers, and locations, gives users much more context.
• Image descriptions. Adding meaningful “alt text” to images helps convey information to users, as they add crucial context to those who may not be able to visualize your images. This is also applicable to any form-controls on pages so that screen readers can work with them.
• Playback control. Give users the ability to pause, stop, or hide any auto-playing content like banners that can cause them issues (think back to MySpace profile music).

4. Supporting assistive technologies

Many users rely on built-in assistive technologies to navigate their devices, making sure your app is compatible with these technologies goes a long way towards making an app accessible.

• Screen reader compatibility. Ensure your app works seamlessly with VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android). Following platform guidelines can help prevent serious issues such as those faced by Dominos who lost in court after violating the ADA act in the US when a user's screen reader couldn’t access their services. 
• Clear labels. Screen readers aren’t just about text. It’s important to label all UI elements properly so screen readers can accurately describe them to users who depend on them. It is as easy as labeling the Password field as “password” and the user name field as “username”.
• Form assistance. Supporting features like autofill not only make your app easier and faster to use for users. It also ensures easier data entry for disabled users. When done correctly you should also provide clear error messages when something goes wrong.

Testing your app's accessibility

Ok, so now you know what needs to be done, but how do you know it’s been done right, and you won't end up in court because of a feature that didn’t work, the answer is testing. Testing shouldn't be an afterthought, it should be a core pillar of ensuring your app is accessible and stays accessible as legislation (like the EAA) and standards change.

However, every app has unique requirements that require specific testing methods that can vary between web and native apps. Using teams of experienced experts can be what makes the difference between being accessible and not.

When testing you need to make sure that all your bases are covered, which means using different testing methods. Using test automation can help you quickly identify basic issues like color contrast issues, missing alt texts, and the like. But for more complicated issues that require a human touch, you need to use manual testing. For example, automated accessibility tools like: the Axe Accessibility tool, or the WAVE Accessibility Tool, can do a quick check for summon issues, but manual testing allows you to use human testers to find insights that automated tools can overlook.

There is a lot to be said for those human testers when creating products for well, humans. This is why when you user test you need human testers to give you real-world feedback.

It is important to also ensure you test multiple techniques (like voice-enabled search or color ratio) across multiple devices for both iOS and Android. So ensuring you have a team that can address all this is vital to ensuring your app's accessibility and to meet WCAG success criteria. 

Legal considerations

Accessibility isn't just good practice—it's often legally required. Many countries have laws requiring digital accessibility, and lawsuits related to inaccessible apps are on the rise. In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to many digital services, and courts have consistently ruled that mobile apps must be accessible. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) will bring newer standards along the same line and will be enforced as of 2025.

The business case for accessibility

Implementing accessibility features might seem like extra work, but consider this, you're expanding your potential user base to the tune of 1.3 billion potential users and a market worth more than $13 trillion annually. Additionally, accessible apps often have better usability for everyone, and can help improve customer loyalty and advocacy for your apps, further enhancing your brand reputation. You're future-proofing your app as accessibility regulations evolve ensuring you don’t get left behind or caught in expensive and brand-damaging legal battles. It is also most cost-effective in the long run to think about accessibility early in your software development cycle and who knows maybe it’ll help you stumble upon the next big driver in tech. Like how text-to-speech - originally designed for disabled users, evolved into virtual assistants used by millions worldwide.

Final thoughts

Building accessible mobile apps transcends mere compliance or lawsuit prevention—it's about creating technology that truly serves everyone. When we prioritize accessibility from the start, we're not just building better apps; we're contributing to a more inclusive digital world. Good accessibility is simply good design, creating features that improve the experience for all users, not just those with specific needs.

Remember that accessibility is an ongoing journey, not a destination. Start implementing these principles today, and watch your app become more usable, more inclusive, and ultimately more successful in serving its purpose—connecting with and helping all users, regardless of their abilities.