Google shut down its Mobile-Friendly Test tool, the Mobile-Friendly Test API and the Mobile Usability report in Search Console in early December 2023. Google’s suggested replacement is Lighthouse, which is built into Chrome. To check whether a page is mobile friendly today, combine a Lighthouse mobile audit, a visual check in a mobile view, and Search Console’s URL Inspection for how Googlebot sees the page.
What happened to the Google Mobile-Friendly Test
Google announced the retirement in 2023 and removed the tools on 4 December 2023, as reported by Search Engine Land. The reasoning was that better tools for mobile usability now exist, with Lighthouse named as the main one. The old test address now sends visitors to Lighthouse.
Mobile-friendliness did not stop mattering. Google indexes the mobile version of nearly all sites (mobile-first indexing), so what a phone gets is what Google ranks. The old tool simply gave a pass/fail label; you now assemble the same picture from tools that show more detail.
What “mobile friendly” meant in the old test
The old test flagged a handful of issues, and they are still the right starting list:
- no viewport meta tag, or a fixed-width viewport
- content wider than the screen
- text too small to read
- clickable elements too close together
- plugins that mobile browsers do not support (largely gone now)
Each one maps to a check in the tools below.
The replacements, and what each one checks
| Tool | Cost | What it tells you | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lighthouse (in Chrome DevTools) | Free | Performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO audits in mobile emulation, including viewport and touch target checks | A detailed report on one page |
| PageSpeed Insights | Free | Lighthouse lab results plus real-user speed data from Chrome users, when available | Speed and Core Web Vitals for public URLs |
| Search Console URL Inspection | Free (verified sites) | Whether Google indexed the page, the rendered HTML and a screenshot from Googlebot smartphone | Confirming what Google sees |
| Search Console Core Web Vitals report | Free (verified sites) | Groups of URLs with poor or good real-user speed on mobile | Site-wide speed problems |
| A mobile view in Chrome | Free | What the page looks like at phone size with a mobile user agent | Fast visual checks of many pages |
| Real devices or emulators | Free to paid | True rendering, touch and keyboard behaviour | Final checks |
A 10-minute mobile-friendly check
Here is a replacement routine for the old one-click test:
- Look at it. Open the page in a mobile view at 360 px and 430 px. DevTools device mode works, and so does a one-click extension such as Mobile View Extension, which also reloads with a mobile user agent so you see any device-specific version. Check for sideways scrolling, tiny text and cramped buttons.
- Run Lighthouse in mobile mode. In DevTools, open the Lighthouse panel, choose Mobile, select the categories you need and analyse. Look at the viewport insight under Performance, the SEO category for indexing basics, and Accessibility for touch target and contrast issues. Walkthrough: Lighthouse mobile audit.
- Check speed with real users. Enter the URL in PageSpeed Insights and read the field data section first, if your page has enough traffic. Explained in the mobile page speed test guide.
- Ask Google. In Search Console, use URL Inspection, then Test live URL and View tested page to see the screenshot and HTML Googlebot smartphone gets.
If all four look good, the page is mobile friendly by any reasonable definition.
Third-party “mobile friendly checker” sites
Many websites now offer a “mobile friendly test” that takes a URL and returns a score. Some are useful for a quick screenshot. Keep two limits in mind:
- They load your page from their own server, so they cannot test
localhost, staging behind a login, or pages that block unfamiliar bots. - Their scores are their own rules, not Google’s. A green badge from a third-party checker does not mean Google sees the page the same way.
For anything you will act on, confirm with Lighthouse and URL Inspection.
Fixing what the checks find
The checks above tell you what is wrong. For the fixes (viewport tag, fluid layouts, font sizes, tap targets, images) follow how to make a website mobile friendly. If the site runs on WordPress, see the WordPress-specific guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Google Mobile-Friendly Test still available?
No. Google retired the tool, its API and Search Console’s Mobile Usability report in December 2023.
What does Google recommend instead of the Mobile-Friendly Test?
Google pointed to Lighthouse in Chrome. PageSpeed Insights, which runs Lighthouse and adds real-user data, and Search Console’s URL Inspection tool cover the rest.
Does mobile-friendliness still affect Google rankings?
Google indexes the mobile version of sites, and Core Web Vitals are reported separately for mobile. A page that is hard to use on a phone is at a disadvantage, even without a pass/fail label.