Buttons and Links Too Small to Tap on Mobile
Your app's buttons, links, and clickable elements are so small on a phone that users keep tapping the wrong thing or can't tap them at all. They have to zoom in just to hit the right button, and even then they might accidentally tap something else because everything is crammed together.
This is incredibly frustrating for users and is one of the main reasons people leave a website on their phone. If the "Buy Now" button, the navigation menu, or the login form requires surgical precision to use, people will give up and go somewhere else.
Google also penalizes websites with this problem. If your tap targets are too small, your site will rank lower in mobile search results, meaning fewer people will even find your app in the first place.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- Desktop-sized buttons — Buttons were designed for a mouse cursor (which is precise) and not for a finger (which covers a large area)
- Too many links close together — Navigation items, footer links, or form fields are packed too tightly for finger tapping
- Text links with no padding — Clickable text has no extra space around it, making the tap target only as big as the text itself
- Font size too small on mobile — Text shrinks to an unreadable size on small screens, and the buttons scale down with it
- No mobile-specific sizing — The same CSS sizes are used for both desktop and mobile without adjustment
How to Fix It
- Make all buttons at least 44x44 pixels — Apple and Google both recommend a minimum tap target size of 44x44 pixels (about the size of a fingertip)
- Add spacing between clickable elements — Leave at least 8 pixels of space between buttons and links so users don't accidentally tap the wrong one
- Use larger font sizes on mobile — Body text should be at least 16 pixels on mobile to be comfortably readable
- Test with your thumb — Open the app on your phone and try to use it with just your thumb. If it's hard, the targets are too small
- Run Google's mobile-friendly test — Go to search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly and enter your URL to see what Google thinks about your tap targets
Real developers can help you.
Matthew Jordan
I've been working at a large software company named Kainos for 2 years, and mainly specialise in Platform Engineering. I regularly enjoy working on software products outside of work, and I'm a huge fan of game development using Unity. I personally enjoy Python & C# in my spare time, but I also specialise in multiple different platform-related technologies from my day job.
Victor Denisov
Developer
PawelPloszaj
I'm fronted developer with 10+ years of experience with big projects. I have small backend background too
Kingsley Omage
Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs.
Krishna Sai Kuncha
Experienced Professional Full stack Developer with 8+ years of experience across react, python, js, ts, golang and react-native. Developed inhouse websearch tooling for AI before websearch was solved : )
Yovel Cohen
I got a lot of experience in building Long-horizon AI Agents in production, Backend apps that scale to millions of users and frontend knowledge as well.
legrab
I'll fill this later
Milan Surelia
Milan Surelia is a Mobile App Developer with 5+ years of experience crafting scalable, cross-platform apps at 7Span and Meticha. At 7Span, he engineers feature-rich Flutter apps with smooth performance and modern UI. As the Co-Founder of Meticha, he builds open-source tools and developer-focused products that solve real-world problems.
Expertise:
💡 Developing cross-platform apps using Flutter, Dart, and Jetpack Compose for Android, iOS, and Web.
🖋️ Sharing insights through technical writing, blogging, and open-source contributions.
🤝 Collaborating closely with designers, PMs, and developers to build seamless mobile experiences.
Notable Achievements:
🎯 Revamped the Vepaar app into Vepaar Store & CRM with a 2x performance boost and smoother UX.
🚀 Launched Compose101 — a Jetpack Compose starter kit to speed up Android development.
🌟 Open source contributions on Github & StackOverflow for Flutter & Dart
🎖️ Worked on improving app performance and user experience with smart solutions.
Milan is always happy to connect, work on new ideas, and explore the latest in technology.
Matt Butler
Software Engineer @ AWS
Jared Hasson
Full time lead founding dev at a cyber security saas startup, with 10 yoe and a bachelor's in CS. Building & debugging software products is what I've spent my time on for forever
Describe what's wrong in plain English. No technical knowledge needed.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
What's the minimum size a button should be on mobile?
Both Apple and Google recommend at least 44x44 pixels (about 11mm) for any tappable element. This matches the average size of a fingertip. Anything smaller becomes frustrating to use accurately.
Will making buttons bigger mess up the desktop version?
Not if a developer uses responsive design. They can make buttons bigger only on mobile screens while keeping the desktop design unchanged using CSS media queries.