Accessibility audits for native mobile apps usually cost less than apps for websites or web apps and that’s because screens are simpler — there’s less content and less interactive elements so client quotes typically come in under the expected amount.
Our client quotes for most mobile app screens range between $75 – $125 per screen for an iOS audit using WCAG 2.1 AA as the technical standard (iOS is our default environment and WCAG 2.1 AA is our default technical standard).
Accessible.org clients can add Android environment to their audit for 30% of the price of the iOS audit.
To illustrate, let’s say your mobile app has 10 screens and we quote $1,000 for a WCAG 2.1 AA iOS audit. You can add Android environment to the audit for an additional $300 (30% of $1,000).
If you’d like to upgrade from WCAG 2.1 AA standard to WCAG 2.2 AA, the upgrade is only a 10% increase.
Technical Standards
Our default is WCAG 2.1 AA, but more clients are asking about WCAG 2.2 now.
The 10% increase for WCAG 2.2 covers the six additional success criteria we need to test for. These new criteria address things like focus appearance, dragging movements, and consistent help mechanisms.
VPATs / ACRs
If you’re investing in an audit for a mobile app, it makes a lot of sense to purchase our VPAT service along with it. It’s not that much additional—$350 for the WCAG edition—but this is a valuable standardized document you can use to demonstrate your app’s accessibility to purchasers. VPATs are required for federal contracts and increasingly requested by enterprise and educational clients.
Note: We fill in the VPAT to create an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), but many people refer to the ACR as a VPAT.
Screens
The number of screens in your mobile app will directly affect your final quote. Some screens are very simple and easy to audit while others contain more interactive elements and dynamic content which increases the amount of time we spend on the audit.
We’ll scope each individual screen that should be included and determine a quote based on the total. But we always tell clients they can multiply their screens by $100 and likely have a really good conservative estimate of their audit price.
If your app has different experiences for different user roles — like students versus teachers versus administrators — then we’ll discuss which personas and flows should be included in the audit scope.
Evaluation
Our comprehensive evaluation includes touch gesture testing, screen reader testing (VoiceOver for iOS, TalkBack for Android), visual inspection, and review of native accessibility APIs. You’ll receive a detailed Excel report showing each issue found, its WCAG success criterion, exact location, fix recommendations, and screenshots.
We audit against all applicable WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria (or WCAG 2.2 AA if requested) and evaluate based on dozens of considerations such as touch target sizes, screen reader announcements, gesture alternatives, focus order, color contrast, and interactive element labels.
Technical Support
One aspect of our services clients really like is the ability to pause the VPAT process so that they can make fixes after the audit and before we issue the ACR. In effect, they get a cleaner ACR showing fewer issues.
Whether or not a VPAT is involved, we offer technical support hours for $195 an hour and provide as many or as few hours as clients need. Most clients fall between three and seven hours of technical support.
We make our services available à la carte to keep costs low and provide exactly what clients need.
Timeline
From the time we start to when we deliver the audit report, most audits take 5-10 business days. We’re very fast, but sometimes we’ll provide a 2-3 week timeline based on the number of screens in scope and the complexity of the mobile app.
Complexity increases based on the number of interactive elements, custom controls, and whether there is dynamic content.
Quote
We can have a quote to you within 24 hours and, for most prospective clients, same day.
To get a quote, just fill out the form below or contact us.
