What’s the ideal button size for mobile?
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You're testing a mobile email on your phone and you can't hit that button without hitting it twice. That's a sign your button's too small. Apple sets the standard at 44x44 pixels minimum, and that's the golden rule for touch targets everywhere. But here's the thing: most thumb angles and hand sizes need more than the minimum to feel natural.
Go bigger whenever you can. 48 pixels high, or even 56 pixels, works better on mobile-heavy audiences. The magic is in padding: use 12 to 16 pixels of top and bottom padding on your button text, and you'll get a natural size without forcing a specific pixel count. Full-width buttons (100% of your container width) eliminate tap-target worries entirely. Leave 16 to 20 pixels of breathing room between stacked buttons so people don't mis-tap.
Want to see how your button renders across devices? Use the Review My Emails Accessibility Checker to test button sizing across email clients. Check out mobile email rendering best practices to understand why Outlook constrains buttons differently than Apple Mail.
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