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Mobile Content Accessibility Guidelines (MCAG)

What is MCAG?​

Accessibility Guidelines for Mobile Apps​

The Mobile Content Accessibility Guidelines (MCAG) include the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2, but also refers to the unique differences and challenges of mobile apps that are not included in WCAG.

MCAG follows the same structure as WCAG. However, since its use is intended for development teams, its internal division relies more on Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Android's Accessibility Principles.

Since there is no specific guidance within WCAG for mobile app teams to follow, there are many accessibility considerations that often fall into a “gray area”. MCAG fills in a lot of those blanks and when used in conjunction with WCAG, there are very few gaps that remain.

WCAG vs. MCAG​

  • WCAG is designed for web technologies and practices.
    • Not all WCAG success criteria are mapped to mobile and there are issues specific to mobile that WCAG does not cover.
  • WCAG naturally refers to keyboard usage widely since it is the most essential assistance technology for the web and many mobile accessibility features are not considered.
  • WCAG 3 may include guidelines for native mobile apps, but it will likely be several years until this work is complete and an official set of guidelines are published.
    • In the first draft of WCAG 3 (released on May 16, 2024), there are multiple mentions of the guidelines covering “apps”.
      • Previously, the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) had said that they would remain web-focused since the “W” stands for “web”.
    • WCAG 3 says: “The goal of WCAG 3 and supporting documents is to make digital products including web, ePub, PDF, applications, mobile apps, and other emerging technologies more accessible and usable to people with disabilities.”