More than half of your visitors are on a phone, and most site owners have never seen their own site the way those visitors do. Testing on mobile is not one tool; it is a short routine. Here are the seven free ways, in the order you should use them, and the eight problems you are looking for.
1. A real-phone checker (30 seconds, no install)
Paste the URL into a mobile website checker. A good one renders the page in a real phone browser (not a resized desktop window), gives you the screenshot, and lists what it found: missing viewport tag, content wider than the screen, text under 12px, tap targets under 24px, load time, mixed content. It is the right first step because it is the same view your customer gets and it needs nothing installed.
2. Chrome DevTools device mode
Open the page in Chrome, press F12 (or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), then click the phone/tablet icon. Pick a device, reload, and interact. Best for finding the exact element that overflows and reading the CSS that caused it. It emulates screen size and touch, but not the real phone's CPU or network, so it flatters speed.
3. Safari Responsive Design Mode (for iPhone bugs)
Safari on a Mac → Develop menu → Enter Responsive Design Mode. iPhone-specific problems (the bottom bar covering buttons, inputs zooming on focus, 100vh sections cut off) show here and not in Chrome.
4. Lighthouse (performance and mobile usability score)
In Chrome DevTools, the Lighthouse tab, "Mobile" device. It throttles the network and CPU to a mid-range phone and scores performance, accessibility and best practices. Pay attention to Largest Contentful Paint and the "tap targets" and "font sizes" audits.
5. Your own phone, on mobile data
Turn off Wi-Fi and open the site. Scroll, tap every button, fill the form, try to pay. This is the only test that catches a slow host, a popup that cannot be closed with a thumb, or a WhatsApp button that opens nothing. Do it on the oldest phone in the house, not the newest.
6. Cross-device services
Services like BrowserStack or LambdaTest run real devices in the cloud; the free tiers give you a few minutes. Useful when a customer reports a bug on a specific phone you do not own. Overkill for a routine check.
7. Google Search Console
Search Console tells you which pages Google itself had trouble with on mobile (Page experience and Core Web Vitals reports). It lags by days and only covers indexed pages, so it is a monitor, not a test.
The 8 things to check
- Viewport meta tag — without it, the phone renders a tiny desktop page.
- Horizontal overflow — anything wider than the screen (tables, images, long words) makes the page scroll sideways.
- Text size — body text under about 14px is squinting; under 12px is unreadable.
- Tap targets — buttons and links under 24px, or too close together, cause mis-taps.
- Load time on 4G — over 3 seconds and people leave; images are usually the cause.
- Forms — the keyboard should match the field (number, email, phone), and the submit button must be reachable.
- Popups and bars — anything that cannot be closed with one thumb, or that covers the call button.
- Mixed content and HTTPS — a padlock warning on a phone kills trust instantly.
- Most mobile layout problems are a handful of CSS lines; the fix is quick for someone who does it daily.
- Ezy Web Pro fixes mobile problems on any platform — WordPress, Shopify, Wix, custom — from US$30, most jobs US$30–150, quoted from the checker result.
- Jamaican sites: the same, in J$, or Site Care at J$4,500 a month for updates, backups and fixes all year.
Run the check, read the list, fix what you can, and send the rest to someone who fixes it for a living. Website support, worldwide →
Not sure which step you're on? Book a growth call — fifteen minutes with Lee, no pressure, no obligation. You leave with the step, the first fix and the price.
Frequently asked
How do I check if my website is mobile friendly?
Paste the URL into a mobile website checker to see it on a phone screen and get a list of problems, then confirm on your own phone on mobile data.
Is Google's Mobile-Friendly Test still available?
Google retired its standalone Mobile-Friendly Test tool in 2023. Use a third-party checker plus Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools, and the Page experience reports in Search Console.
Why does my site look fine in Chrome device mode but slow on my phone?
Device mode emulates screen size, not the phone's processor or network. Test on a real phone on mobile data, or use Lighthouse with mobile throttling.
What is the most common mobile problem?
Content wider than the screen — a table, a wide image or a fixed-width element — followed by text that is too small to read.