Mobile Accessibility Testing: Checklist, Process and Tools

What Is Mobile Accessibility Testing?

Mobile accessibility testing is a crucial subset of software testing that focuses on ensuring mobile applications are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This testing evaluates how easily individuals can access and use content on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The term “a11y,” a shorthand for accessibility, highlights its significance in the testing landscape. It stems from the fact that there are 11 letters between the ‘a’ and ‘y’ in “accessibility.” By performing accessibility testing, teams can identify and rectify design issues that may prevent users with disabilities from fully engaging with the mobile application.

Why Perform Mobile Accessibility Testing?

Mobile accessibility testing is important for several reasons, some of which are as follows:

• It addresses diverse needs, including those using assistive technologies, mobile accessibility testing aligns with organizations’ goals of providing inclusive digital applications and services.
• It involves validating the correct implementation of essential accessibility features such as screen readers, keyboard navigation, appropriate color contrast, and readable text size.
• It includes assessing the color schemes and text sizing within the application to ensure that content is legible and distinguishable on smaller mobile screens.
• It helps meet legal obligations that help mitigate the risk of discrimination-related lawsuits.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) brings together individuals and groups worldwide to create strategies and directives and help facilitate accessibility for individuals with disabilities on the web.

Mobile app testing for web and native apps is also available through Creative Commons funding, which can be used to ensure accessibility for disabled individuals when using mobile and tablet devices. WAI also addresses accessibility issues like the diverse screen sizes of mobile devices and different input modalities, including speech gestures, touchscreen, etc.

Note: Test Your Websites and Web Apps Using Screen Reader. Try TestMu AI Today!

Rules Defining Accessibility in Mobile Apps

Mobile app accessibility is guided by key regulations designed to ensure everyone, including those with disabilities, can use digital services. Let’s look at the main laws that shape how we make apps accessible:

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): This important U.S. civil rights law fights discrimination against people with disabilities in all public life areas. It wasn’t initially focused on digital content, but court decisions and Department of Justice statements have expanded its reach to include digital accessibility. This means mobile apps must be accessible to people with disabilities, often following well-established web accessibility standards.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these guidelines are globally recognized as the standard for web accessibility. They offer clear principles and practical steps to make web content accessible to a broad spectrum of disabilities. The guidelines are categorized into three levels of accessibility (A, AA, AAA), with AA being the target level for most compliance efforts.
• Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA): This act ensures that advanced communications services and products are accessible to people with disabilities. It spans various digital and telecommunications technologies, ensuring features like text messaging, email, and video communications are accessible. For mobile apps, the CVAA underlines the importance of including accessibility features in communication tools.
• European Accessibility Act (EAA): Set to be enforced from June 2025 in EU member states, the EAA seeks to enhance the accessibility of products and services in the EU market. This includes e-commerce platforms, electronic reading formats, and mobile apps. It requires all new products and services marketed to be accessible, thus widening the scope of compliance beyond traditional web content.

Mobile Accessibility Testing Tools

Accessibility testing tools are crucial for ensuring that mobile applications are usable by people with impairments. Here are some popular ones:

• a11yTools: It is a compilation of HTML Web Accessibility Testing Tools accessible through a Safari extension. It simplifies accessibility testing by enabling quick and easy checks. Users can select specific HTML accessibility elements or features for testing, providing a one-at-a-time approach. Test results can be displayed simultaneously, facilitating comparison.
• GSCXScanner: Google Scanner for A11y, or GSCX, is a developer assistant available as an objective-C library within an iOS app’s process. It proactively scans for accessibility issues, allowing developers to address them before formal testing. The scanner includes pre-built checks for identifying accessibility issues and supports an extensible plugin framework for custom checks.
• Abra Cloud: It streamlines accessibility testing for any app. Simply provide the app’s URL or installation file, and the testing process begins promptly. Abra Cloud utilizes real Android or iOS devices to navigate through the app, leveraging AI to detect accessibility issues on each screen automatically.
• Accessibility Inspector by Xcode: Apple provides the Accessibility Inspector that presents a utility window showcasing information properties, action methods, and position in the accessibility hierarchy of the object under the mouse pointer. It’s free downloadable from the macOS App Store as part of Xcode.
• GTXiLib: Google Toolbox for Accessibility (GTXiLib) is a framework for iOS accessibility testing. It seamlessly integrates with XCTest, enabling compatibility with any XCTest-based frameworks like EarlGrey. It enhances test cases by incorporating “accessibility checks,” allowing existing tests to be the same as accessibility tests without requiring additional code changes.

How to Perform Mobile Accessibility Testing?

Here are the steps to perform accessibility testing of your mobile apps:

• Understand Compliance Standards: Begin by aligning your testing with accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. These standards are crucial benchmarks in evaluating the accessibility of digital services.
• Setup Testing Environment: Configure your testing suite with necessary assistive technologies and tools. This setup is analogous to preparing a development environment but focuses on tools like screen readers, color contrast analyzers, and accessibility inspection tools.

It is recommended to use an online device farm to run accessibility tests across different devices to ensure your application performs as intended.

• Integrate Manual and Automated Testing: Combine manual testing—where testers manually interact with the application using accessibility tools—to catch nuanced usability issues, with automated accessibility testing to swiftly identify overt compliance gaps. Tools like Axe or Google Accessibility Scanner can automate the identification of issues such as missing alt text or insufficient color contrast.
• Check and Fix Bugs: Fix the identified issues based on their priority. Once updates are made, retest the app to ensure the fixes were successful and no new issues have been introduced.
• Documentation: Maintain comprehensive test documentation detailing the methodologies, findings, and bug fixes. This documentation is vital for stakeholder reviews and maintaining an audit trail for compliance.

Be it mobile or web, accessibility testing is crucial for ensuring that websites and applications are accessible by all individuals, including those with disabilities. Platforms like TestMu AI are invaluable in this process, offering a comprehensive solution for testing web accessibility across different browsers and devices.

Powered by AI, TestMu AI offers accessibility testing at scale, allowing users to perform manual accessibility testing using Accessibility DevTools Chrome Extension.

2M+ Devs and QAs Rely on TestMu AI for Web & App Testing Across 3000 Real Devices

Sign up with googleSign up with Email

Developers and mobile testers can also automate accessibility tests using the TestMu AI Accessibility Automation with tools like Selenium, Playwright, and Cypress.

To get started with automated accessibility on TestMu AI, head over to the guide on Accessibility Automation.

Best Practices of Mobile Accessibility Testing

Here are some of the best practices through which you can improve mobile accessibility testing include the following:

• Use automated tests for mobile accessibility testing, but don’t solely depend on them. Automated accessibility tools are available for both Android and iOS platforms. However, no automated test is flawless, and mobile app testing tools have their limitations.
• Prioritize accessibility from the outset. Many significant accessibility barriers can be quickly addressed during the initial stages of development.
• Engage your entire team in discussions about WCAG. Make it clear that everyone has a role to play — designers should ensure color accessibility, developers need to ensure content compatibility for assistive technology users, and content creators must provide clear instructions.
• Avoid making assumptions about your users’ abilities. When developing features, consider whether they are usable for people who can’t perceive color, those who can’t use motion controls, and keyboard-only users. Creating user experience personas for disabilities can facilitate this process.
• Customize your testing approach for your mobile app to cover all types of users. Therefore, test your application or site manually in various situations.
• Review your markup using native screen readers (VoiceOver for iOS and Google TalkBack for Android).
• Ensure keyboard accessibility by testing without touchscreen controls.
• Where possible, use real devices for testing. Mobile environment simulators may not accurately replicate features such as geolocation or accelerometers.
• Avoid taking a one-size-fits-all approach to mobile testing. Every app is unique, and testing methodologies differ between web and native apps. It’s essential to recognize that no content can be 100% accessible to all users; therefore, testing aims to minimize barriers and adhere closely to WCAG guidelines.

Common Mobile Accessibility Testing Myths

Numerous myths exist regarding mobile accessibility tests, which can cause organizations to misinterpret their benefits.

Here are some common myths about mobile accessibility testing:

• Myth: Only benefits individuals with disabilities.Reality: Enhances usability for all users, including those with temporary or situational limitations.
• Myth: It’s too expensive.

  Reality: Early integration of accessibility can reduce costs and improve long-term maintenance and updates.

• Myth: Only necessary for public-facing websites.

  Reality: Accessibility is crucial for all digital products to ensure inclusivity and compliance with legal standards.

• Myth: Considered a one-time process.Reality: Accessibility testing is an ongoing process that requires updates as new content and features are developed.
• Myth: Automated testing can replace manual testing.Reality: While automated testing is useful, manual testing is essential to catch issues that automated tools can miss.
• Myth: Primarily concerned with making content visually appealing to users with disabilities.Reality: It’s about making content accessible and functional for users with various disabilities, not just about visual appeal.

Conclusion

In this blog, we explored mobile accessibility testing and its importance. This test is one of the most crucial tests that ensure that mobile applications are accessible to all users. It should be included in the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) as it could make the software application inaccessible, leading to poor user experience, lack of inclusivity, poor user satisfaction, and low app usage.

AI in Mobile Testing isn’t just the future. It’s happening now. Discover how to get started.