Is your homepage broken on someone else's phone?

Key takeaways

A homepage broken on iPhone, older Android phones or small laptops is common and invisible to owners who only check on their own device. Use GA4 to list your visitors' real devices and browsers, then test the homepage and enquiry route on the top ones each month. Most faults are layout, forms or widgets that fail on one browser.

• Owners usually test on one device; visitors use dozens.
• List your top devices and browsers from GA4.
• Test the hero, menu, button and form on each.
• Safari on iPhone and small Android screens catch most faults.

Why do homepages break on other people's phones?

Homepages break on other devices because browsers, screen sizes and settings differ. A layout that looks fine on the designer's large monitor can overflow on a small Android phone; a booking widget may fail in Safari; larger text settings can push buttons off screen. Owners rarely see these faults because they use one device.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• Make your small business website work on mobile

Which devices should you test?

Use GA4's tech details report to list the devices, browsers and screen sizes your visitors actually use. Test the top five, plus one older or cheaper Android phone and Safari on an iPhone. GOV.UK's service manual takes the same approach: test on what your users really use.

• Mobile and desktop in GA4: find where phones lose enquiries
• Check your homepage's performance in GA4

What should you check on each device?

Spend a few minutes per device on the parts that cost enquiries.

• Does the headline and button appear in the first screen?
• Does anything scroll sideways or overlap?
• Does the menu open and close properly?
• Can you tap the phone number and does it dial?
• Can you complete the form or booking and see a confirmation?

• Website scrolls sideways on mobile? Causes and fixes
• Mobile menus that hide your homepage's next step
• Click-to-call: turn mobile visitors into phone calls

Can you test without owning lots of phones?

Chrome DevTools' device mode simulates screen sizes quickly, which catches most layout problems. It does not catch browser-specific bugs, so also borrow real phones from staff and family, or use a cloud testing service for the occasional deeper check.

• Homepage accessibility problems that cost customers

When is device testing most important?

After any change to the theme, plugins, booking tool or chat widget, and after browser updates. Many homepage faults arrive silently with an automatic update. A monthly check catches them before weeks of enquiries are lost.

• Homepage conversions dropped after a change? Check these
• How often should you update your homepage?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: enquiries from mobile drop to almost nothing after a plugin update, and nobody notices for weeks because the owner's laptop works fine. A five-minute test on an iPhone would have shown the form's submit button hidden behind a chat bubble.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Device check checklist

• List your top devices and browsers in GA4.
• Test on those plus an older Android and an iPhone.
• Check the first screen, menu, phone link and form.
• Look for sideways scrolling and overlapping elements.
• Repeat after every plugin, theme or widget update.

• Homepage accessibility problems that cost customers
• Should the mobile homepage show less than desktop?

Next step

Borrow two phones that are not yours this week, one iPhone and one Android, and try to enquire through your homepage on each.