To test whether your website is mobile-ready now that Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test is gone, use three checks: run Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights for a mobile report, preview the site in Chrome DevTools device mode, and then walk through your key pages on a real phone with a short checklist. Google retired the standalone test tool, along with Search Console’s Mobile Usability report, in December 2023, so no single “pass” badge exists anymore. Combining these checks gives you a better picture than the old tool did.
Below, you’ll find how to use each method, what to look for and a real-phone checklist you can run in fifteen minutes.
What Happened to the Mobile-Friendly Test?
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test gave a simple yes or no on whether a page worked on phones. Google shut it down in December 2023, explaining that better tools now exist and that most sites had become mobile-friendly. The Mobile Usability report in Search Console was retired at the same time.
That doesn’t mean mobile usability stopped mattering. Google indexes the mobile version of your site, as explained in our guide to mobile-first indexing, and most of your visitors are probably on phones. You just test it differently now.
Method 1: Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights
Lighthouse is Google’s open-source auditing tool. You can run it two ways:
- PageSpeed Insights at pagespeed.web.dev: paste a URL and it runs Lighthouse on a simulated mobile device, plus shows real-user data if your site has enough traffic.
- Chrome DevTools: right-click a page, choose Inspect, open the Lighthouse tab, select Mobile and run the report.
What to look at for mobile readiness
- Performance score and metrics on the mobile tab, especially Largest Contentful Paint and layout shift. A page that’s slow or jumpy on a phone isn’t truly mobile-ready.
- Viewport configuration. Lighthouse flags pages missing a proper viewport meta tag, which is the most basic requirement for a page to scale to phone screens.
- Accessibility findings, such as low-contrast text, missing labels on form fields and buttons without accessible names. Many of these hurt phone users directly.
- The screenshot filmstrip, which shows how the page appears as it loads on a simulated phone.
Run reports on several page types, not just the homepage: a service page, a blog post, the contact page and any landing pages you use for ads. Reading the full report is its own skill; how to read a PageSpeed Insights report walks through it.
Method 2: Chrome DevTools Device Mode
Device mode lets you see your site at phone sizes on your computer.
- Open your site in Chrome and press F12 (or right-click and choose Inspect).
- Click the device toolbar icon, which looks like a phone and tablet, or press Ctrl+Shift+M (Cmd+Shift+M on Mac).
- Pick a device preset from the dropdown or drag the edges to test different widths.
- Use the throttling menu to simulate a slower network.
What to look for
- Horizontal scrolling: if you can scroll sideways, something is wider than the screen, often an image, table or embedded map.
- Overlapping elements: text running into images, buttons stacked on top of each other.
- Breakpoint jumps: drag slowly from wide to narrow and watch for widths where the layout breaks.
- Navigation: does the menu open, close and reach every important page?
Device mode is a simulation. It’s great for spotting layout problems, but it doesn’t perfectly replicate real touch, real fonts or real network conditions.
Method 3: The Real-Phone Checklist
Nothing replaces using your own site on an actual phone. Try both an iPhone and an Android device if you can, and test on cellular data, not office Wi-Fi.
Readability
- Can you read body text without zooming? Small text is one of the most common problems.
- Is there enough contrast, including outdoors in bright light?
- Are lines a comfortable length, without text running edge to edge?
Tap targets
- Can you tap buttons and links easily with your thumb without hitting the wrong one?
- Are links in paragraphs and footers spaced far enough apart?
- Is the phone number tappable, and does it start a call?
Forms
- Do fields bring up the right keyboard (number pad for phone, email keyboard for email)?
- Does autofill work for name, email and address?
- Are error messages clear and visible without scrolling?
- Can you submit the form and see a confirmation?
Popups and overlays
- Do popups cover the main content as soon as the page loads? Intrusive interstitials frustrate users and Google has long discouraged them on mobile.
- Is the close button easy to find and tap?
- Do cookie banners or chat widgets block the call button?
Media and layout
- Do images scale correctly without stretching?
- Do videos play without breaking the layout?
- Do maps, calendars and booking widgets work with touch?
- Does the page stay stable as it loads, without buttons jumping?
A useful exercise: hand your phone to someone who doesn’t know your site and ask them to find a specific service and request a quote. Watch where they hesitate. A medical spa might discover the booking button is hidden below a long image carousel; a print shop might find its upload form doesn’t accept files from a phone’s photo library.
How Often to Test
- After any site redesign, theme update or new plugin.
- When you add new page templates, forms or embedded tools.
- Quarterly as a routine check, since browser and device changes can cause new issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a replacement for Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test?
Not a direct one-click replacement. Google points to Lighthouse, available through PageSpeed Insights and Chrome DevTools, as the main tool. Combined with real-device testing, it covers more than the old test did.
Can I still check mobile issues in Search Console?
The Mobile Usability report was retired with the test. Search Console still offers the Core Web Vitals report and the URL Inspection tool, which shows how Googlebot Smartphone renders your page.
If my site scores well in Lighthouse, is it mobile-ready?
Not necessarily. Lighthouse catches technical issues but can’t judge whether your forms are easy to fill or your call button is easy to find. Always finish with a real-phone test.
Building for the Phone From the Start
Testing will show you where your site falls short on phones, but some problems come from how the site was built and can’t be patched easily. Sites designed mobile-first tend to pass these checks without heroic fixes. If your tests turn up more problems than you’d like to chase, our website design team builds sites that work cleanly on every screen size.