WCAG2Mobile - A Step Forward, But Not Yet a Leap

On May 6, 2025, the Mobile Accessibility Task Force (MATF) of the W3C organization released a “group draft note” titled Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.2 to Mobile Applications (WCAG2Mobile). While I was initially very excited with its publishing, after reading through the WCAG2Mobile document more deeply, I was left with the feeling that the current draft is still in too early of a state for anyone working on mobile apps to benefit from. In this blog post I will outline the current state (as of the May 6, 2025 group draft note) of the WCAG2Mobile document and my hopes for its future state. I encourage anyone reading this blog post to check out the original WCAG2Mobile source material I have linked earlier in this paragraph.

Firstly, for those unaware, WCAG 2.2 are the latest set of accessibility guidelines that technological systems (mostly focused on web content) should adhere to. These guidelines help ensure all users are able to consistently interact with the content regardless of their abilities or the assistive technologies they require. Since the WCAG 2.2 document is largely focused on web content, the WCAG2Mobile document attempts to translate those guidelines in a way that will accurately convey their intent for easier implementation in mobile apps.

Unfortunately, “translating” is where the WCAG2Mobile document stops in its current state. Ignoring the fact that most of the criteria from WCAG 2.2 are still in the “Placeholder” state, awaiting discussion results from the MATF’s Github repo (see example here), the remaining criteria that do have updated mobile guidance only include semantic nomenclature changes. For example, the following is the updated mobile specific guidance for “Success Criterion 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold”.

This applies directly as written, and as described in Intent from Understanding Success Criterion 2.3.1, replacing “Web pages” with “views”, “the whole page” with “the whole view”, and “the Web page” with “the view”; and removing “See Conformance Requirement 5: Non-Interference”.

With these substitutions, it would read:

2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold: Views do not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second period, or the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.

While I do appreciate these nomenclature updates being made, I think the intent behind the guideline is clear regardless of whether “web page” or “view” is used in the description.

From the perspective of a builder of mobile applications, I enjoy the style of guidance given by Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines. Apple’s guidelines are already informed by WCAG 2.2 and effectively apply them to mobile applications. There are definitely platform differences between Android and iOS that are not accounted for in Apple’s documentation, however I think builders of mobile apps would be better served by taking guidance at the user interaction level instead of in the nitty gritty technical details of a specific platform. With this in mind, I hope that the WCAG2Mobile document evolves into a more holistic assessment of common mobile concerns (e.g. complex touch gestures, mobile design patterns like tab bars and in-app notifications) to provide solid cross platform mobile guidance instead of just a re-statement of the WCAG 2.2 criteria with updated terminology. I fear in the latter case that there may be no clear benefit to readers of the WCAG2Mobile document on top of the existing WCAG 2.2 statements. WCAG2Mobile becoming the de facto “human interface guidelines” for mobile apps generally would be an outcome that I would love to see!

With all this said, I’m very glad to see the work being put in by the MATF at W3C to ensure that mobile concerns are kept top of mind in the accessibility guidance from the organization. The statements from the W3C are truly the core of what many builders consider accessible applications and any steps toward making that clearer for everyone involved is great to see! I look forward to keeping up with the future iterations of the WCAG2Mobile document and the related Github conversations and I hope others do as well!