In the realm of accessibility testing, a critical distinction exists between false positives and false promises. False positives refer to instances where a testing tool incorrectly identifies an accessibility issue that does not actually exist. This can lead to unnecessary work and misallocation of resources as teams address nonexistent problems.

On the other hand, false promises occur when a tool claims to help you drive accessibility compliance but fails to deliver on that promise. This can create a false sense of security, leading organizations to believe their products are accessible when they may not be.

Understanding the implications of both false positives and false promises is essential for effective accessibility testing. By recognizing these challenges, teams can adopt more reliable testing methodologies and ensure that their products truly meet accessibility standards.

It's a question that gets to the heart of accessibility testing: which is the lesser of two evils? On the surface, the answer seems simple. False positives—issues flagged by a tool that aren’t actually problems—are a nuisance. They waste time and resources.

But the real threat isn't the false positive. It's the false promise of a tool that claims to be perfect, only to leave you with a dangerous and incomplete picture of your website, web app, and mobile app's accessibility. Let’s analyze the true cost associated with each aspect.

The Cost of False Positives

A false positive issue can be seen as a speed bump—yes, it's an inconvenience. Your team spends a few minutes reviewing an issue, realizes it's not a real problem, and moves on. The time spent might seem to be frustrating, but it's a known cost of doing business. It’s a tangible, manageable issue.

The Cost of False Promises

A false promise presents a significant risk. Here’s how this works: when an accessibility tool claims to provide "zero false positives" but achieves that by having limited coverage and completeness, it is misleading you. It creates a false impression that everything is fine when it is not.

This false sense can have far more serious consequences:

  • You miss real-world barriers. The greatest danger is not what the tool finds, but what it doesn’t detect. If the tool focuses on a narrow subset of issues to ensure correctness, it may leave critical accessibility barriers unaddressed on your site. These are the issues that frustrate users, make your product unusable for people with disabilities, and damage your brand.
  • You risk non-compliance. A tool with a narrow focus might give you a "clean" report or a 100% accessibility score, but it’s not the full story. If a legal team or an external auditor performed a thorough manual review, they would find the issues your tool missed, leaving you exposed to lawsuits and fines. The false promise of a clean report sets you up for a catastrophic failure down the line.
  • You create more work for yourself. Please keep in mind that your team will still need to identify the issues that your tool fails to detect. Instead of spending a small amount of time on a few false positives, you're forced to perform extensive, time-consuming manual audits. The "zero false positive" tool hasn't saved you time; it's simply shifted the burden from automated review to a much more costly and inefficient manual process of issue detection.

In the end, a few false positives are a small, manageable cost of finding a comprehensive view of your accessibility issues. But a false promise is a ticking time bomb. False positives can be a nuisance. But false promises are a threat to your users, your reputation, and your bottom line.

At BrowserStack, we are building a tool that gives you a complete and honest view of your web and mobile app accessibility. That's why our solution focuses on the 3 Cs: coverage, completeness, and correctness—ensuring you detect more real-world issues automatically, while keeping false positives to a minimum. Learn more about 3Cs here

If you are looking for best-in-class accessibility issue detection, look no further. Sign up for a free trial today and uncover critical issues that your current tools have missed.