URL: /rules/links/tel-mailto

---
title: "Tel & Mailto Links"
description: "Validates tel: and mailto: link formats"
---

Validates tel: and mailto: link formats

| | |
|---|---|
| **Rule ID** | `links/tel-mailto` |
| **Category** | [Links](/rules/links) |
| **Scope** | Per-page |
| **Severity** | info |
| **Weight** | 2/10 |

## What it detects

- **Invalid tel: links**, phone numbers missing digits or too short
- **Invalid mailto: links**, email addresses missing `@` or `.`
- **Tel href/text mismatch**: the phone number in the `href` doesn't match the displayed text (e.g. `<a href="tel:+15551234567">+15559876543</a>`). Comparison is formatting-insensitive, allows omitted country codes, and treats an E.164 `href` (e.g. `+61414007351`) paired with national-format display text carrying a trunk prefix (e.g. `0414 007 351`) as the same number, which is the recommended markup pattern.
- **Mailto href/text mismatch**: the email in the `href` doesn't match the displayed text (e.g. `<a href="mailto:sales@example.com">support@example.com</a>`). Comparison is case-insensitive and ignores query parameters.

## Solution

Tel links should use format: tel:+1234567890 (E.164 format preferred, no spaces/dashes). Mailto links should have valid email format: mailto:user@example.com. You can add subject and body parameters: mailto:user@example.com?subject=Hi&body=Hello. Invalid formats may not work on all devices. Ensure the displayed text matches the href: a mismatched phone number or email misleads users and may dial/email the wrong contact.

## Enable / Disable

### Disable this rule

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
disable = ["links/tel-mailto"]
```

### Disable all Links rules

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
disable = ["links/*"]
```

### Enable only this rule

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
enable = ["links/tel-mailto"]
disable = ["*"]
```