---
name: Touch target size
slug: touch-target-size
category: accessibility
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: The minimum area a control must offer a finger or imprecise pointer,
  measured on the activation region rather than the painted glyph.
aliases:
  - name: tap target
  - name: hit area
  - name: target size
    source: wcag
  - name: minimum touch target
    source: material
  - name: 44pt minimum
    source: hig
  - name: 48dp minimum
    source: material
  - name: dwell target
tags:
  - touch
  - wcag
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - touch-target
    - fitts-law
    - target-spacing
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso:
    - icon-button
    - explore-by-touch
    - density
implementations:
  - system: material
    name: Touch target size (48dp)
    url: https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/7101858
sources:
  - title: "WCAG 2.2: Target Size (Minimum)"
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#target-size-minimum
  - title: "TetraLogical: Foundations, target sizes"
    url: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2022/12/20/foundations-target-size/
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: sizing something for a fingertip, not a cursor
---

A fingertip lands on an area roughly a centimetre across, and it lands there without
a cursor to aim with, because the finger covers the thing it is pointing at. Target
size is the design response: make the region that reacts big enough that an
approximate landing still counts.

The number to hold onto is that this is measured on the activation region, not on
what is drawn. A 16 px icon in a 44 px button is a 44 px target. The same icon with
no padding is a 16 px target that merely looks the same in a screenshot. Three
figures are quoted in practice, and they do not agree because they are answering
slightly different questions: WCAG 2.2 sets 24 by 24 CSS pixels as the AA floor
(with exceptions for inline links and for targets that have enough spacing around
them), Apple asks for 44 by 44 points, and Android asks for 48 by 48 density
independent pixels. Clearing the WCAG floor is not the same as being comfortable.
Anything a person will use one handed, in motion, or repeatedly deserves the
platform figure.

Spacing counts as much as size. Two 44 px targets touching each other are worse than
two 36 px targets with 12 px between them, because the failure mode people actually
hit is the neighbouring control, not empty space. WCAG says as much: a small target
can pass on spacing alone, since the offset from its neighbours is what protects it.

Size is also not only about fingers. A pointer driven by a trackpad, a head switch,
eye tracking, or a shaky hand has the same problem a thumb has, which is why the
success criterion is written about targets in general rather than about touch. If
the design cannot spare the pixels, grow the region without growing the paint: extra
padding, a pseudo-element that extends the hit area, or a larger row that carries the
click on behalf of the icon inside it.