WCAG2Mobile: Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.2 to Mobile Applications

Reviewed 8 October 2026. Publication dates are checked against the W3C documents themselves every week. Every fact links to a source at the bottom of the page.

In plain English

There is no separate W3C accessibility standard for mobile apps, and WCAG2Mobile will not be one. It is an informative Group Note that explains how the existing WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA criteria apply to native apps, mobile web apps and hybrid apps on phones and tablets. It says itself that it does not set requirements.

It matters because laws increasingly apply WCAG to apps. The US Department of Justice ADA Title II rule applies WCAG 2.1 Level AA to state and local government apps. WCAG was written for pages, so terms like web page, set of web pages and user agent need interpreting. WCAG2Mobile is the W3C's attempt to write those interpretations down.

What is published today

Published documents for WCAG2Mobile, with status and date
Document	Status	Date	What it is
WCAG 2.2	Recommendation	12 December 2024	First published October 2023; this is the December 2024 update. Applies to app content as written. Several 2.1 and 2.2 criteria were added with touch screens in mind, such as 1.3.4 Orientation, 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures and 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum).
WCAG2ICT	Group Note	11 December 2025	Guidance on Applying WCAG 2 to Non-Web ICT. Covers software in general, including apps, for WCAG 2.0 to 2.2 at A and AA. WCAG2Mobile is modelled on it.
Mobile Accessibility mapping (2015)	Draft, never finished	26 February 2015	How WCAG 2.0 applied to mobile. Its last editor's draft was in December 2018.

In development

WCAG2Mobile

Group Draft Note, 6 May 2025

First draft published 6 May 2025 by the Mobile Accessibility Task Force, which regrouped in January 2024. A second draft, covering criteria with small and medium differences from the web reading, was presented to the AG Working Group on 15 September 2026.

Web page becomes screen or view, and the unit of conformance is a single screen.
Set of web pages becomes set of screens, rather than WCAG2ICT's set of software.
Content, user agent and closed functionality are each given mobile readings.
Examples of mobile notes: a long press is not a keyboard shortcut under 2.1.4, and 1.4.12 Text Spacing does not apply when the platform offers no way to override text style.
Still marked work in progress in the published draft: 1.3.1, 1.3.3, 1.3.5, 1.4.3, 1.4.4, 1.4.10, 1.4.11, 1.4.13, 2.1.1 and 2.1.2, among others. The criteria with the largest differences are left for a later draft.

How it connects to WCAG

WCAG 2.2

No change to the standard. WCAG2Mobile changes how an auditor reads a criterion for an app, not what the criterion says. In the AG discussion on 15 September 2026 it was noted that the DOJ web rule references WCAG2ICT but not WCAG2Mobile, which is not finished.

WCAG 3 draft

The Mobile Accessibility Task Force said on 15 September 2026 that it would review the WCAG 3 draft published on 10 September and send feedback. An open upstream proposal (PR #880, not merged) would say WCAG 3.0 focuses on web content and is not considered complete for software. Mobile-relevant provisions in the current draft include:

Orientation supported (minimum) Core requirement, developing
Path-based gesture not relied on Core requirement, developing
Simple Pointer Input Available Core requirement, developing
Pointer Pressure Not Relied On Core requirement, developing
Pointer Speed Not Relied On Core requirement, developing
Pointer Accessible Core requirement, developing

What the future holds

Each item says how firm it is: something that has happened, a plan the group has stated, a proposal not yet agreed, or this site's own reading of where things are heading.

Sep to Nov 2026

WAI lists an updated WCAG2Mobile draft for this window.
Planned by the group
29 Oct 2026

Task Force session at TPAC 2026 in Dublin covering mobile, ACT and techniques.
Planned by the group
Later draft

Guidance for the criteria with the largest deviations from the web reading, plus guidance at the principle and guideline level.
Planned by the group
When complete

Publication as a final Group Note, as WCAG2ICT was. It stays informative. After that the Task Force may turn to mobile techniques.
Planned by the group
Open question

Whether the scope widens. At the 15 September meeting one participant asked the group to consider a broader scope, and several others argued the narrow version fills a real gap for developers and auditors.
Proposed, not yet agreed

What this means for your team

Start now

Useful whatever happens next

Audit apps against WCAG 2.2 A and AA using WCAG2ICT's software readings.
That is the finished W3C guidance today, and it is the one the DOJ rule points to.
Read WCAG2Mobile's definitions section.
Screen as the unit of conformance, and set of screens, are the interpretations most likely to change how you scope an audit.

Cheap hedges

Low cost, likely to pay off

Note where your audit relies on a WCAG2Mobile reading.
It is a draft. Recording which calls depend on it makes them easy to revisit when the next draft lands.

Wait

Too early to build for

Do not cite WCAG2Mobile as a requirement in contracts or reports.
The draft itself says it is inappropriate to cite it as anything other than work in progress.

What this site watches

The next published draft and which criteria leave work-in-progress status
The large-deviation criteria, especially 1.4.4 Resize Text, 1.4.10 Reflow and 2.1.1 Keyboard
Whether the scope is widened
Any legal reference to WCAG2Mobile once it is final