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Minimum Text Size

Text should render at or above a readable minimum size so it isn't difficult to read for users with low vision.

WCAG Reference

Maps to: Best Practice (Readable Text) — no specific WCAG success criterion

What this rule checks​

The scanner examines on-screen text and reports elements rendered below the recommended minimum size (16dp on Android) that do not scale with the user's font preference.

Why it matters​

Very small text is hard to read for everyone and unreadable for users with low vision — especially when it is also sized in a fixed unit that ignores the system font scale. Minimum sizes exist because below them, no amount of squinting recovers the content.

Common failure patterns​

  • captions, timestamps, and legal text set well below the recommended minimum
  • fixed-size fonts that ignore the user's text-size preference
  • dense information UIs shrinking text to fit more on screen

Remediation guidance​

  • increase any non-scalable text (dp/px) below 16dp to at least the recommended minimum
  • prefer sp so text scales with the user's font preference (see Dynamic Type Support)

Limitations​

  • Text size can only be read from actual TextView instances. Custom views drawing text via Canvas.drawText() return no size data and are not evaluated.
  • The rendering metadata (ExtraRenderingInfo) may be unavailable even on Android 11+ for recycled views, WebView content, or views not fully laid out — such elements are not evaluated.
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