Before the button
Terms box.
Leave it under the button.
An empty tick box holds the button. The terms can sit in a sentence under it.
The short answer
Leave the terms as the sentence under the button. Don't make a required terms box the thing that blocks it. A marketing opt-in stays optional and unticked.
Walk your signup
Why the tick slows the signup
The email is filled. The button is the next thing on the screen. Then there is an empty box: I agree to the terms. The button waits on that tick. You have not tried the product, and you are not going to read the terms on this screen. The tick is a pause, and the signup loses people in that pause.
Put the terms in a sentence under the button. By signing up, you agree to the terms. Stumblet does not tell you to replace that sentence with a tick box. The fix on the sentence is “Leave the terms as the sentence under the button.”
A separate consent is a different box. Stumblet does not decide whether you need one. A marketing opt-in has to stay optional, and it has to start unticked. The walker does not treat that box as the terms finding, even when the page marks it required, and it does not tick it. If the same box also says terms, conditions, privacy, or eula, it is the terms box.
What Stumblet flags
1Terms box starts unticked
An unticked tick box on a page that has an email or password field. The title is “Terms box starts unticked.” The fix is “Don't make a required terms box the thing that blocks the button.” The line is “The terms box is required, and it starts empty.” The rank is 36. The step's saw line names it: Required tick, then the label, as in Required tick: I accept the terms. An empty label becomes Terms.
The words are read from the type, the label, the name, the placeholder, and the autocomplete. Capitals do not matter. Terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, and consent are matched inside those words, so agreement still counts as agree. Eula is matched as its own word.
The required property is the HTML required attribute, or aria-required set to true. With that property, the finding fires, unless the box is a marketing opt-in. Without it, the finding still fires when the box says terms, conditions, privacy, or eula, and the label, placeholder, and hint do not say optional. Agree, accept, or consent on their own wait for the required property. The word optional, as its own word, clears a box that lacks the required property. A box that says optional and also has the required property is still this finding, unless it is a marketing opt-in.
The first matching box is the one used. A box that already starts ticked is not this finding. A marketing opt-in is not this finding. When this finding is the one drawn, the after side drops the tick box whose label matches terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent, and keeps the email field.
On a walk that is allowed to submit, Stumblet ticks this box and says so. The title becomes “Terms box started unticked.” The line becomes “The terms box is required, and it started empty, so I ticked it.” The fix does not change. The rank drops to 22, so it sits lower in the list. A walk that does not submit leaves the box empty, and the line stays “it starts empty.”
If this box is still unticked after the fields are filled, a button that stays disabled does not get its own finding. The terms box is the finding. A disabled button with no such box is on signup button.
2I accept the terms starts ticked
A tick box that starts ticked, on a page with an email or password field, whose words match terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent. The title is the label, then starts ticked. For “I accept the terms”, the title is “I accept the terms starts ticked.” The fix is “Leave “I accept the terms” unticked.” The line is “I accept the terms” is already ticked. The rank is 48, above the unticked box.
The label is those words, with a trailing colon or asterisk dropped, and the first letter capitalised. The title shortens it past 42 characters. The fix shortens it past 60. The line shortens it past 80. An empty label is Terms, so the title is “Terms starts ticked.” Eula on its own does not raise this finding. A marketing box raises it only when it also matches those words. “I agree” does. “Email me product updates” does not.
3Terms are agreed by continuing
A sentence on the page, and no tick box whose words match terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent. The title is “Terms are agreed by continuing.” The fix is “Leave the terms as the sentence under the button.” The line is This says, then the sentence in quotes. A usual one is This says “By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy”. The quote shortens that sentence past 120 characters. The rank is 8, and the note is sorted behind every other finding. The fix does not say to add a tick box, and it does not say to tick the terms.
The sentence starts with by signing up, by signing in, by registering, by creating, by creating an account, by continuing, or by clicking. By clicking may include up to 40 characters in that opening. After the opening, and before the next full stop, the line reaches terms, privacy, or conditions within 140 characters. The matched line runs up to the next full stop, or to the end of the block when there is none, and it has to be 12 to 180 characters. “By signing up you agree”, with none of those three words, is not this note.
When the page has text blocks, the sentence is taken from one block, so the next card is not pulled in. With no blocks, it is taken from one line. The first match is the one quoted. A heading is enough when the page has no email or password field. The two tick-box findings need one of those fields. Any tick box that matches terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent suppresses this sentence, even when that box is not itself a finding. An eula box does not, so the sentence can sit beside it.
The report keeps five fixes, so this note is the one that drops off first. If it is the only note, the report says “Clean signup. Nothing on these screens is specific enough to fix.” and does not list the sentence. There is no mockup of this sentence.
Questions
Does the box have to use the required attribute?
No. The required property is the HTML required attribute, or aria-required set to true. A word that only says required on the label is not that property. With the property set, an unticked box is “Terms box starts unticked”, unless it is a marketing opt-in. Without the property, the same finding still fires when the box says terms, conditions, privacy, or eula, and the label, placeholder, and hint do not say optional. Agree, accept, or consent on their own do not, until the required property is set. The page has to have an email or password field. The title is “Terms box starts unticked.” The fix is “Don't make a required terms box the thing that blocks the button.” The line is “The terms box is required, and it starts empty.” The rank is 36.
What if the box already starts ticked?
That is a different finding, on a page with an email or password field. The box has to match terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent. Eula on its own does not. For a box labelled “I accept the terms”, the title is “I accept the terms starts ticked.” The fix is “Leave “I accept the terms” unticked.” The line is “I accept the terms” is already ticked. The label is shortened past 42 characters in the title, 60 in the fix, and 80 in the line. A trailing colon or asterisk is dropped, and the first letter is capitalised. An empty label becomes Terms. The rank is 48, so a ticked box sits above an unticked one. A ticked box is not also “Terms box starts unticked.”
What if the page says By signing up you agree?
With no consent tick box, a sentence that reaches terms, privacy, or conditions is “Terms are agreed by continuing.” The fix is “Leave the terms as the sentence under the button.” The line quotes the sentence, as in This says “By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy”. The fix does not say to add a tick box, and it does not say to tick the terms. The rank is 8, and this note is sorted behind every other finding. The report keeps five fixes. If this sentence is the only note, the report says “Clean signup. Nothing on these screens is specific enough to fix.” and does not list it. Any tick box whose words match terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent suppresses the sentence, ticked or not.
What about a marketing opt-in?
Keep it optional and unticked. A newsletter or product-news box is not the terms finding, even when the page marks it required, and the walker does not tick it. The words are newsletter, marketing, promotion, product updates, special offers, email me, keep me posted, keep me updated, subscribe, news and offers, send me, receive emails, receive updates, receive news, receive offers, hear from us, and product news. If that same box also says terms, conditions, privacy, or eula, it is the terms box. A marketing box that starts ticked is flagged only when it also matches terms, conditions, privacy, agree, accept, or consent. “I agree” does. “Email me product updates” does not.
Does Stumblet tick the box?
Only on a walk that is allowed to submit, and only the required terms box. Marketing opt-ins stay empty. Every other walk leaves every tick box alone. The step says Ticked, then the label. After that tick, the title becomes “Terms box started unticked.” The line becomes “The terms box is required, and it started empty, so I ticked it.” The fix stays “Don't make a required terms box the thing that blocks the button.” The rank drops to 22. If that box is still unticked after the fields are filled, a button that stays disabled does not get its own finding. That check is on the signup button page.
Which fields to cut, including the terms box in that shorter list, is on signup fields. A button that stays disabled is on signup button. Asking for the password twice is on confirm password. What the first screen should say is on signup page copy. Showing the rules before anyone types is on password rules. Asking for a work email is on work email. A provider button above the email is on social login. A password with no show control is on show password. Running it yourself, and keeping the top five, is the new-user signup test. The short list is the onboarding checklist. The AI onboarding audit is the walk, and the signup prompt is the job it runs.
The walk is free. It starts on the home page.
Walk your signup