What's Left to Test?

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Learn what’s tested by axe DevTools Mobile and review examples of what's left to test manually.

What's Tested by axe DevTools Mobile?

Color Contrast

Text must have adequate contrast against its background to ensure readability for people with color blindness or low vision.

Tappable Element Size & Spacing

Elements that can be tapped must be large enough to ensure that people experiencing motor limitations can interact with them. Such elements must have proper spacing between them to ensure that an adjacent element is not accidentally tapped.

Form Labels

User input fields (text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons) must have a properly associated label for assistive technology such as TalkBack and VoiceOver.

Image Descriptions

Any image which can receive focus must have an associated description for assistive technology such as TalkBack and VoiceOver.

Text is Reachable by Assistive Technology

Any text on screen should be reachable by assistive technology such as TalkBack and VoiceOver. (Text that cannot be reached will not be available to people using assistive technology.)

Actions can be Activated by Assistive Technology

Any actions a user can take (submitting a form by tapping a button, expanding/collapsing a section of content, opening a menu, advancing an image carousel, etc), should be able to be activated by assistive technology such as TalkBack and VoiceOver. (Actions that cannot be activated will not be available to people using assistive technology.)

Nested Interactive Elements

Any interactive element that can be activated by assistive technology should not contain another interactive element within it. Each interactive element must be individually reachable so it can be activated independently.

Screen Rotation

Apps should rotate when the device is rotated to ensure that people can use the app no matter the device's screen orientation. Some people have their phone or tablet mounted to their wheelchairs in a fixed orientation. If the orientation cannot be supported, the app becomes unusable for this person.

Screen Title

Every screen within an app should provide a title to be announced by assistive technology. Screen titles allow users with visual, cognitive and motor disabilities and limited short-term memory to determine where they are in the app, identify content on a screen by its title and navigate between screens in cases where a user's mode of operation depends on audio.

What's left to test manually?

The lists below contain examples of accessibility issues that require manual testing. This is not a comprehensive checklist, but rather gives an idea of the types of issues you will want to test for manually after using axe DevTools Mobile.

Testing with Assistive Technology

Ensure users can efficiently interact with the app using assistive technology, such as a TalkBack or VoiceOver.

Reading Sequence - Does assistive technology encounter all static content, such as headings and paragraphs, in the correct reading sequence?
Order of Interactive Elements - Does assistive technology move through interactive elements, such as buttons and form fields, on the screen in a logical order?
Headings - Are headings properly announced to assistive technology?
Images - Are decorative images identified and embedded as such, so they can be ignored by assistive technologies?
Tables - Are data table cells provided with accessible names that define what column or row headers the cells relate to?
Focus Management - Does the screen contain interface components that, when activated, cause the screen to transition to a new screen state, such as opening a popup or menu? If so, is the screen still operable for assistive technology after the transition?
State Announcements - Does the screen contain elements that change state, such as expanded/collapsed or pressed? Are those states announced to assistive technology?
Gestures & Device Motion - Does the screen use gestures or device motion as input? Are there user interface components that will perform the same action without requiring gestures or device motion? Can the device motion input be disabled to prevent accidental activation?

Content Meaning

Ensure text meaningfully describes the function or purpose of the associated content or controls.

Button & Link Meaning - Does button and link text accurately describe the function that will be performed?
Form Labels - Can users understand the purpose of form controls through meaningful text labels?
Heading Meaning - Are section headings meaningfully describing the subsequent content?
Image Meaning - Does the accessible text accurately describe the image? Are complex images and charts provided with a full-text description capturing all of their content?

Content Structure

Ensure users can make sense of the structure of the content on each screen and within the app as a whole.

Headings - Is the content presented in short blocks of text separated by section headings to better organize the information? Can section headings used to title or describe sections in the app be identified as such by users?
Navigation - Does the app contain a group of navigation elements? Are the elements in the same relative order and labeled the same way on each screen?
App-wide Consistency - Are user interface components, such as forms or other controls, that appear and have the same function across screens labeled the same way on each screen?

Dynamic/Timed Content

Ensure dynamic content can be controlled by the user.

Audio/Video - Does video or auditory content have text-based alternatives for users who can’t see or hear, such as text transcripts or captions?
Automatic Behavior - Does any content automatically move, animate or scroll, such as carousels and message feeds? If so, can the user pause, stop, hide the movement and still successfully leverage all functionality?
Automatic Content Updates - Does any content automatically update? If so, can the user control the frequency, postpone or disable interruptions to content?
Interruptions on Screen Load - Does any timed media, such as video or audio, begin playing automatically? Is there a mechanism for the user to pause, stop or hide the auto-playing media?
Status Messages - Does the screen produce any status messages? If so, are the messages announced immediately by assistive technology? Do the status messages disappear by themselves, leaving the user without any remaining indication of the status?

Visual Effects - Is the app free of any components that repeatedly flash or blink more than three times in any one-second period?

Form Validation and Feedback

Ensure forms and user input elements can be easily understood and completed, and any errors can be resolved.

Form Labels - Do forms have persistent, meaningful labels and instructions for their respective controls?
Error Prevention - Do interactive controls provide users with clear instructions? If errors are returned, is the user presented with clear error states and error messages to help fix errors?
Error Messages - Are form errors returned in ways that don’t rely on vision or color perception alone?
Change of Context - Can users tell when providing input to a form control will automatically trigger a change of context, such as opening a popup when a checkbox is selected, or moving to the next field when the character maximum is reached (such as multipart SSN fields).
Legal & Financial Data - Do users submit legal or financial data in the app? If so, are users offered ways to reverse, verify or confirm legal or financial data before submitting it?

Other Considerations

Color Cue Alternatives - Can users of the application leverage other visual cues when information is primarily conveyed through color?
Focus Indicators - Is a clearly distinguishable focus indicator with sufficient color contrast made visible as active elements receive focus?
Platform Navigation & Settings - Are any elements throughout the app providing an anti-pattern experience which would result in breaking platform navigation features in iOS or Android? Are the user's device settings adhered to throughout the application?
Screen Orientation - Is screen content and functionality preserved when switching between portrait and landscape orientations? (Content does not necessarily need to be on the same screen, but must be provided somewhere within the app.)
Session Timeout - Does the app impose a session time limit on the user? Can the user extend, turn off or change the time limit? Does the app ensure users do not lose information if their session runs out and they must log in again?
Text Resizing & Zoom - Are any of the app’s features preventing users from leveraging iOS or Android’s zoom or text resizing functionality?
Text in Images - Except for logos, are screens free of images of text and visuals with text embedded in them?