Introducing the Next Generation of Mobile Accessibility Testing

Deque Systems

By Deque Systems

September 12, 2023

Introducing the Next Generation of Mobile Accessibility Testing

If you can run an app in iOS or Android, now you can test it for accessibility with us. 

Deque’s axe DevTools Mobile redefines mobile testing for digital accessibility for cross-platform apps, such as those built with React Native. It’s the easiest mobile testing solution to install and run. It also provides clear direction to eliminate “cannot reproduce” scenarios and the resulting time-consuming back and forth messaging between QA and dev teams. Simply stated, it’s the most efficient way to reproduce, research, remediate, and re-test mobile accessibility issues.

The explosive growth of mobile apps has led to a proliferation of new ways to create them in complex native and cross-platform environments. This adds multiple accessibility testing hurdles into the mobile landscape. Teams that must test and remediate apps to be accessible to everyone have more work–and more to learn–every day. The pressure is rising, but there is an answer.

Developers and accessibility testers can now run user-initiated mobile app tests whenever and wherever they want–across diverse platforms–with no access to source code and no special accessibility knowledge. They can also easily add mobile accessibility tests to automated UI tests and integrate them smoothly into your CI/CD pipelines.

Save Time and Money with Reliable Results

With more than 20 years of leadership in digital accessibility, Deque brings together the global axe community of dev teams, in-house experts, and constantly improving AI to provide the fastest and most reliable technology available for mobile testing.

Why is it the most reliable? Let’s start with the rules.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the world’s gold standard for digital accessibility. That’s where our rules start, but we don’t stop there. WCAG was created for the HTML web–not mobile. Organizations that use textbook WCAG to measure the accessibility of their native mobile applications do a disservice to their users and don’t effectively minimize their compliance risk. A careful approach is required to test native mobile apps properly and accurately.

The axe DevTools Mobile ruleset is expertly crafted and maintained by Deque’s uniquely qualified mobile accessibility team, many of whom sit in W3C, WCAG, and mobile working groups. Our rules consistently map to WCAG standards, but we take mobile into close consideration as well. We also add in platform guidelines, best practices, and rules frameworks that apply to the specific platforms–iOS and Android.

On top of these refinements, we add in automated assistance from our proven AI models to help find more issues, such as complex color contrast. Finally, we work with our clients every day to validate and improve the way we discover issues so that we report consistent, understandable, and actionable results with every scan. Unlike any other testing technology, our human-centric approach keeps false positives, confusing results, and wasted time at an absolute minimum.

For Everything Mobile

Axe DevTools Mobile is the one tool you need for all your mobile testing–native or cross-platform. Use our floating action button (FAB) anywhere in an Android app to test the screen you’re in. You can test in a real device or an emulator.Screenshot of the axe DevTools Mobile Analyzer floating action button (FAB) for Android apps on a mobile phone that says “Time to Scan. Scan results will be sent to your mobile dashboard”.For iOS, just download our XCode project, plug in your device and click “Play” in XCode–no certificates to install and no device management needed. Just run our test code wherever you want with a full view of your simulator or actual mobile screen. For automated tests, reference our SDK in your current UI tests. Add a few lines of code to automatically start a scan from any test. You can report or assert on any failures. For Android apps, we’ve even added support for UIAutomator.

Built for Collaboration

Axe DevTools Mobile doesn’t require any special skills or accessibility knowledge, either. Anyone on your team can catch real accessibility defects the first time they use it. Developers and test automation engineers get clear issue descriptions with remediation support that includes actual code snippets they can use in production. Testers and QA professionals get the information they need to pass along to dev teams for fast fixes. Central accessibility leadership and product owners can verify high quality testing results and track the health of their apps.

Results and Reports

Our dashboard combines your tests into a single, sharable view with detailed results you can drill down into for explanations and fixes with code samples you can use. Your team can tag results and keep track of accessibility test scores so they can track progress and prioritize their work.

The latest release of axe DevTools Mobile gives you a reliable and flexible mobile testing solution that’s designed to meet you and every member of your team where they are now in the fast-paced mobile development lifecycle.

Start a free trial now to see how it can work for you.  For more details, check out the release notes.

About Deque Systems

Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a digital accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality. We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web. We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 475,000 browsers and with over 5,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

Axe ® is a registered trademark of Deque Systems, Inc.

News Media Contacts

At Deque:
Ryan Bateman, +1-703-225-0380, marketing@deque.com

At Deque Europe:
Ron Beenen, +31 30 799 5009, ron.beenen@deque.com

At Deque APAC & MENA:
Abin Roy Choudhury, +91 9000189666, abin.choudhury@deque.com

 

Deque Systems

Deque Systems

Deque is the global leader in digital accessibility, helping the world’s top enterprises build inclusive products, services, and experiences and achieve lasting compliance. Recognized by leading industry analysts for its AI-powered tools, comprehensive services, and developer-trusted solutions, Deque delivers the industry’s most complete accessibility offering. The Axe platform, anchored by Axe-core, has more than 3 billion downloads and 875,000 installed extensions, making it the global standard for accessibility testing. As a pioneer of people-first accessibility, Deque applies a human-in-the-loop approach that blends expert insight with AI innovation to advance its mission of digital equality for all.

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