Mobile app design transcends just punching in the alphabet, digits, and writing an algorithm to create an app for mobile devices. The duty of mobile
app designers is to take the end-users needs and add them to the technical specifications. This allows the programmer to design and produce apps that are acceptable to many people because the apps have the appropriate functionalities and features that cater for most, if not all of the users demands properly spruced up into one app.
And speaking of features that a mobile app design should incorporate during the mobile app development stage, this article takes you deep into the heart of the programming successful apps and explore top 5 must-know features of mobile app design you should know. So outlined in this post are some features almost every app should have. With this in mind, it is time to delve into it.
1. Social network icon(s) incorporated
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are a part of hundreds of millions of people’s day-to-day lives, globally. This is why there are almost 1.5 billion active users on Facebook alone. So it is very important for your app to incorporated social media icon(s). In fact, it is the de facto means of communicating among different age demographics in this digital age. And while you are at it, incorporate email sharing as well. This will give users the capability to use this feature to share emails. You can do that through effective mobile app development tools by
app development companies.
2. Search feature added
Many developers fail to clearly define the search input field where their users can easily input texts. This is a huge mistake. Your app needs to add a search bar. This will make it very easy for users to get access to contents. With it, you will encourage your users to engage with and stay within your app. Also, it will give your users a robust search experience in your mobile app. This will make your users feel great, which will generate loyalty to your brand. But if you did not include it on the mobile app development stage, your users may not be able to find the answers they need. This is very bad because they will go elsewhere, which leads to a loss of conversion rate in click-throughs.
3. Responsive design
You may know that responsive design is great for websites. But it is not only for a website but for mobile apps as well. With responsive design, you can resize, show, hide, and format UI for the screen of varying sizes and more.
But what exactly is responsive design? Simply put, refers to the
graphical interface design (GUI) that enables your websites and app to adjust to different screen sizes. With it, you do not have to develop different websites and apps – one for desktops and another for mobile devices. You just need one responsive designed app.
From what was written above, you can clearly see that you need to build a responsive app which will cater for both desktops and mobile device users simultaneously through a responsive mobile app development design. This option is way better because it is cost effective and quicker to design than deciding to do two apps individually.
4. More touch features
Currently, there are more than 8.98 billion mobile connections globally. And it is also interesting to know that among this huge number of people who use these devices, a far greater percentage use smartphones and other modern digital devices that uses touch screen technology. This clearly shows that your app cannot compete if more touchscreen features are not incorporated into the app. So make as much of the user experience as possible touchscreen based. Design the app in your mobile app development stage for minimal use of the keyboard.
5. Offline functionalities
Apps are not the website, obviously. For websites, you will have to connect to the internet to gain access. This should NEVER be the case for your mobile apps that will always be downloaded and installed on mobile devices. Enabling the app to run when there is no internet connection offers extra comfort and usability for everyone. People will be able to get access to important content within your app without connecting to the internet.
If your app cannot be used when users are offline, it literally means that the app is practically useless, which would make many users to uninstall it and opt-in for better-built
apps that have offline functionalities. With this said, if you have built an app and this feature is not included, you should go back to the mobile app development stage and fix it immediately. This will make your app very intuitive, practical, useful and outright fun to use.
In all, apps are built to cater to specific needs. And those needs will go unmet if the appropriate functions and features are not included in the app. In addition to this, there are some features that must be included for the apps to function optimally, which will increase its competitiveness. But this does not mean that the app should be jam-packed with all kinds of features. Most users do not like unnecessarily complicated things. So it is important to include only the features that are needed, some of which are discussed above. (These are 5 must-know features of mobile app design every app developers should consider.)