Onfido's Software Development Kit earns WCAG 2.1 AA accreditation

 I am thrilled to announce that we have earned our WCAG 2.1 AA accreditation for our Smart Capture Software Development Kit (SDK). 

This important milestone means that our SDK meets or exceeds industry standards for accessibility and demonstrates our commitment to our vision to simplify identity for everyone.

Digital products and services greatly benefit people with disabilities, allowing them to shop, communicate, learn, and participate in society in ways that might otherwise be difficult or unavailable. Where they exclude users, these services create barriers that can exclude people from full social and economic participation. 49% of disabled people feel excluded from society, and we can play a meaningful role in providing access to products and services.

Making our products and services accessible is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense. By some estimates, failure to build accessible products risks alienating up to 18.7% of our Total Addressable Market (TAM). We are now in a market-leading position regarding the accessibility of our SDK, and this work positions us well to win in the fintech and enterprise space.

Our Journey

This process started over 18 months ago with an initial audit conducted by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC). In partnership with our product, design and engineering, they tested our SDK using various techniques, including automated tools, expert heuristic review, visual inspection, manual operation, and testing by both disabled and non-disabled users. These testers gave us specific feedback on how our SDK worked (and didn’t work) across a range of disabilities, including blindness, low vision, dyslexia, colour blindness, mobility impairments, learning difficulties, deafness, Aspergers and anxiety and panic disorders.

Our goal was not just to meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standard but to build a genuinely usable product for those with disabilities. As you can imagine, this was no easy task for a product that relies heavily on cameras and required many rounds of iteration and testing to get right.