Category: Mobile App Marketing

Thinking of a unique mobile app idea can be challenging. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get your brain working.

That’s why we created this guide.

Based on current business trends and technology movements, we’ve identified the best new app ideas of the year. These money-making app ideas are poised for growth and success in 2023 and beyond. 

Innovative Mobile App Ideas For 2023

Coming up with the right idea is the first step of any mobile app development project. These ideas are great starting points for any entrepreneur or investor that wants to get involved in app development.

Parking Space Finder App

Parking is a big commodity in major cities and tourist destinations. Creating an app that allows users to find a parking space using their mobile devices can be a huge winner.

There are lots of different ways you can make this work.

One creative idea is a parking space marketplace, where people who own parking spaces can rent them out by the hour, day, week, or month. Alternatively, you can direct app users to both free and paid parking lots in the area.

You can make money by taking a commission on each transaction or charging a fee to list a parking space on the platform.

Food Donation App

The pandemic showed us the importance of food donations. According to Feeding America, more than 60 million Americans turned to food banks in 2020. That number is up 50% from the previous year. 

Such a high demand for food donations requires modern technology to facilitate the process.

Your mobile app development project can focus on this trend and look for ways to improve the way donated foods are collected and distributed. You can partner with existing non-profits and food banks to get started or create one of your own. 

Employee Communication App

Internal communication is the key to success in any organization. 

Employee apps help businesses with human resources initiatives, safety and compliance, employee training, benefits administration, and more. You can even use an employee self-service app for your staff to check pay stubs on their phones. 

Push notifications make it easy for organizations to notify employees about upcoming events and urgent scheduling changes. These such apps even work for crisis and emergency communication.

Check out our guide on the top benefits of an employee communication app to learn more. Then you can use BuildFire’s workforce app builder to get started. 

Grocery Delivery App

More than 60 million people will have a food delivery app installed on their smartphones by 2023. 

They’re already used to the idea of having food delivered to their doors. Coming up with new mobile app ideas in a space that’s already trending upward will help you succeed. 

Rather than partnering with restaurants, you can use that same concept of food delivery apps for groceries. People can use your app to order produce, baked goods, household items, eggs, cheese, frozen foods, and anything else offered at local grocery stores. 

If you’re interested in this idea, you can follow our step-by-step guide on how to make a food delivery app.

Voice Translation App

There are about 430 languages spoken in the United States alone. This has created a significant demand for voice translators.

You can create an app that records someone speaking, then automatically transcribes that recording in the user’s desired language. 

This type of app can help break down language barriers in the workplace, for tourism and international travel, and even teach people how to speak a new language.

A voice translation app can help users travel abroad and feel comfortable enough to communicate with others in a language that they’ve never spoken before. There are countless ways to market this idea.

Content and Media App

Content creators that already have a presence on YouTube, social media, and other platforms can scale to create a standalone mobile app for their brands. 

This is an excellent way to produce and distribute exclusive blogs, videos, and podcasts.

You can either repurpose your existing content from all channels into a single app for your fans. Or you can use your app to promote premium content that isn’t available anywhere else. A combination of these two methods is also a viable business model.

This is a great way to turn your content into revenue by charging a subscription fee for your app users to access exclusive content. 

Click here to learn more about BuildFire’s solutions for content, media, and entertainment apps.

Supermarket Checkout App

Here’s another innovative app idea that users will love. A grocery store checkout app that lets you avoid the line.

As users are shopping, they can use a barcode scanner feature on the app to scan items and add them to their cart. When they’re done, they can simply checkout through the app and get charged to a credit card stored on file. 

They never need to take out their wallets or wait in line at the store again. 

Travel Planner App

If you love to travel, this app is a must-have. It allows users to plan every aspect of their trip from start to finish, including booking flights, finding accommodation, and creating a personalized itinerary.

Users can also access reviews from other travelers, as well as recommendations for local restaurants, attractions, and activities.

Virtual Personal Assistant App

This app concept is perfect for busy individuals who need help managing their daily tasks. Users can input their schedule and to-do list, and the app will suggest reminders and alerts to help them stay on track.

The app can also handle things like managing appointments and automating mundane workflows.

Criminal Alert App

We’re living in a crazy world these days. Having an app that lets citizens monitor police activity or suspicious behavior in their neighborhood will help people feel safer.

Users can be notified whenever a new incident takes place within their geofenced location.

You can also set up a feature for users to report suspicious behavior in their area and create a community space within the app—like a virtual neighborhood watch program. 

Wedding Planner Mobile App Idea

Planning a wedding is a full-time job. This great mobile app idea can be marketed toward wedding planners and engaged couples alike. 

Wedding planners can create an app to manage events and simplify everything from a single source of truth. They can use it to create schedules, connect with vendors, share information with their clients, and handle all communication. You can even use this app to manage, sign, and distribute contracts. 

Someone getting married can take advantage of wedding planning mobile apps to manage guest lists, discover local vendors, and create a checklist of tasks to complete. 

Church and Religious App

Even churches and religious organizations are going mobile. 

You can create a church app to deliver daily inspiration to your community, collect donations, manage upcoming events, and share your schedule. These apps are great for anyone that wants to upload videos of previous sermons so people can virtually attend church from anywhere. 

Check out our guide on how to build a church app and click here to learn more about BuildFire’s church app builder. 

Video Editing App

Good app ideas look at existing trends, habits, and consumer behavior.

People are using their smartphones for everything, and they’re constantly taking videos seemingly everywhere they go. What are they doing with these videos? Most people are sharing them on social media.

But the problem with social media is that it’s tough to stand out from the crowd. Everyone is using the same built-in video editing tools, filters, and features—so everyone’s content looks the same.

You can come up with your own unique video editing toolkit and offer it in the form of a standalone mobile app. From there, users can connect with their favorite social channels and upload the edits directly from your platform. 

Random Chat App

A random chat app connects strangers. 

Every time someone opens the app, they’ll be connected with a new person. Think of this like a virtual pen pal. 

You can use it to connect people from around the world or use it for people to make new friends in their local area. 

Mental Health Therapy App

Mental health is just as important as physical health, yet many people struggle to access therapy due to scheduling or location constraints. This app allows users to connect with licensed therapists for virtual sessions, eliminating the need to travel to an office.

Users can also use the app to track their mood and progress, and to access self-care resources and exercises.

Weather Alert App

This app goes beyond just providing weather forecasts. It can be used to alert users of potential weather hazards in their area. This can include things like thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, as well as air quality alerts for people with respiratory issues.

App users can even set up personalized alerts for specific weather conditions and access emergency resources and evacuation plans.

Gym and Fitness App

This is one of the best mobile app ideas of the year. 

Personal trainers, gym owners, dietitians, nutritionists, yoga instructors—the opportunities are endless. 

It’s a great way for anyone in the health and fitness industry to scale their business. Mobile apps can be used to share custom workout videos or meal plans. They’re also great for managing class schedules and letting people manage their memberships. 

Personal trainers can earn recurring revenue on a subscription basis through virtual training. You can infinitely scale your client base by offering in-app training lessons without ever meeting them in person. 

Learn more about BuildFire’s solutions for fitness and wellness apps here. 

Home Security App

Innovative app ideas are always in high demand. 

Smart home technology paired with mobile apps is definitely something that users will be interested in. 

You can create an app that lets people lock their doors, put their lights on timers, and monitor security cameras from anywhere. Apps can even notify homeowners and renters about motion sensors that were tripped on the property.

These apps can connect with local police, fire, and medical services for fast responses to an incident. 

Virtual Fashion Assistant

This app allows users to have a personal stylist at their fingertips. Users can input their style preferences and budget, and the app suggests clothing and accessory options for them to purchase.

The app also offers features like personalized recommendations on what to wear based on the user’s current wardrobe. 

Home Maintenance App

This is a must-have app for homeowners and landlords looking to keep track of home maintenance tasks. Users can input the details of their home, including the age and type of appliances, and the app will suggest a personalized maintenance schedule.

Users can also access home maintenance resources and tips, and track their progress as they complete tasks.

Augmented Reality App

Augmented reality apps have been trending upward for quite some time. In fact, augmented reality made our list of the top app development trends of the year. 

That’s because the use cases are so versatile.

We’ve seen augmented reality used in gaming apps like Pokemon Go. They’ve also been used in home furniture apps, letting users see how a couch, desk, or table looks or fits in a space before it’s ordered and delivered. 

You can apply these same concepts to nearly any type of business and create an app that leverages AR technology.

Music Streaming App

If you have a band or make music, you can make your own app to showcase your portfolio. This app allows users to stream their favorite music from a library of songs. Users can create personalized playlists, discover new artists, and listen to curated radio stations.

The app can also offer features like offline listening and the ability to create and share playlists with friends.

Dating App

A modern dating app can help users find potential romantic matches in their area. Users create a profile, input their preferences, and the app suggests compatible matches. 

To stand out from other popular dating apps on the market, consider going after a smaller niche market.

The app also offers messaging and video chat features to allow users to get to know each other before meeting in person.

Digital Receipt App

Here’s an innovative app idea that can benefit business users and general consumers alike.

Help your target audience get better control over their finances with digital receipts. They can simply take a picture of a physical receipt or download copies of digital receipts and store everything within the app. 

It’s a great way for people to track spending, separate personal spending from business purchases, create an expense report, and stay organized if they’re audited. 

Tourist Helper App

This is one of my favorite app ideas for startups. 

You can create a completely new business from scratch by targeting tourism in different areas. The app can serve as a digital itinerary for travelers both domestically and overseas. 

People can use it for something simple like finding a restaurant or museum on a weekend getaway. Or they can use it to map out a backpacking trip across Europe. 

Pet Sitting App

This app allows users to find and book trusted pet sitters in their area. Users can add their pet’s details, including breed, age, and any special needs, and the app will suggest compatible sitters.

You can even include features like messaging, scheduling, and payment through the app, as well as the ability to rate and review sitters.

Virtual Party Planning App

You can create a mobile app for planning and hosting virtual parties, including birthdays, baby showers, and holiday gatherings. Users can invite guests, set a theme, and access a range of party resources, including games, activities, and recipes.

Access and add features like virtual backgrounds and the ability to record and share the event.

Education App

There are dozens of use cases for educational apps.

You can create an app for schools and universities, language learning app, or use apps to teach users new skills. 

E-learning is trending upward. Apps can be used to facilitate tests, share video instructions, access documents and learning materials, and create a digital community for learners. 

Disaster Management App

Disasters often happen unexpectedly. 

You can create a mobile app that helps people prepare for disasters, so they’re not scrambling when an unexpected event occurs. 

This is definitely one of the more brilliant app ideas for commercial use. We’ve seen these types of apps built first-hand here at BuildFire. You can read our Disaster Hawk case study to get inspiration and see how one app was used to help small businesses prepare for emergencies in the workplace. 

eBook Reader App

This app allows users to access a library of ebooks and audiobooks from their smartphone or tablet. Users can purchase books or rent them for a limited time and can customize the font, size, and theme of the app to their preferences.

The app also offers features like bookmarking, highlighting, and note-taking to help users engage with the material.

Job Search App

This intuitive mobile app makes it easy for people to find job opportunities in their field or location. Users can input their skills, experience, and desired salary, and the app suggests relevant job openings.

It should also include mobile resources like resume templates, interview tips, and salary negotiation guidance to help users land their dream job.

Social Networking App

You don’t need to be the next Facebook or Instagram to create a social media app.

Instead, you can focus on a niche community or group to target a more specific audience. For example, maybe you want to create a social networking app that’s specifically for bird watchers. Or maybe you have an awesome app idea for gardening that you can turn into a social network. 

Check out this story of Daylyy—a new type of social media concept that was created with BuildFire. 

Motivation App

Everyone needs a little motivation from time to time.

You can use an app to deliver daily words of inspiration or inspiration on-demand for your user base. 

This is another example of an app that we’ve seen succeed in the past. 

See how a solo entrepreneur used BuildFire to create PepTalks—a mobile app that reaches thousands of people around the world and earns recurring revenue by providing motivation. 

Interior Design App

This app is perfect for those looking to redecorate or redesign their home. It offers a range of interior design templates and tools, including a 3D design feature to visualize changes.

Users can also access a library of design ideas and inspiration, and connect with professional designers for personalized advice.

It’s also worth noting that this made our list of the best business ideas for women entrepreneurs.

Virtual Tour App

You can create an app that offers virtual tours of museums, landmarks, and other tourist attractions from the comfort of home. Users can access high-quality 360-degree imagery and detailed information about the sites they are visiting.

The app also offers features like guided tours and the ability to save and share favorite tours.

Virtual Shopping App

Mobile shopping has become the new normal.

If you currently have a retail store or ecommerce site, you need to create a mobile app to improve the user experience. This will help you increase sales and reduce cart abandonment rates. 

Check out our in-depth guide on the top reasons why you need an ecommerce app. You can also click here to learn more about the BuildFire ecommerce app builder. 

Anti Smartphone Addiction App

The average smartphone user checks their phone 150 times per day. 75% of people even admit to using their phones while driving. A whopping 47% of parents say their kids are addicted to their smartphones. 

You can create an app that monitors smartphone activity, helping people track how much time they’re spending on their devices and preventing people from overusing them.

The app can be used to set time restrictions and send users alerts when they’ve used their phone too frequently or have the screen on for an extended period of time. 

Mood Monitoring App

Mental health is a priority for millions of people worldwide. 

You can create a simple mood monitoring app for people to check in on themselves. They can record their feelings, take notes, and see how their mood progresses over the course of days, weeks, months, and even years.

This type of app can also offer tips, best practices, and methods for improving your mood. With a no code development platform, you can build and launch a mood monitoring app in weeks.

Virtual Art Gallery App

Provide mobile access to a range of virtual art exhibits and exhibitions from around the world. Users can browse artwork by artist, style, or location, and can save and share their favorites.

The app also offers features like guided tours and the ability to purchase artwork directly through the app.

Eco-Friendly Lifestyle App

This app helps users make more eco-friendly choices in their daily lives. It offers tips and resources on how to reduce waste, conserve energy, and live sustainably.

Users can also track their progress and set goals to help them stay on track.

Gift Delivery App

There are countless occasions where giving gifts is appropriate.

From birthdays to holidays, Mother’s Day, engagements, weddings, graduations, special achievements—the list goes on and on. People even like to give “get well” gifts and send gifts randomly to family and friends. 

But if you don’t live within a reasonable driving distance of the person you’re gifting, this can be a challenge. You have to rely on regular online shopping, which just isn’t quite the same as having a gift delivered in person.

A gift delivery app would operate similarly to a food delivery app. App users can simply select gifts from local stores and get them sent to the recipient in person. Regardless of each party’s location, a courier will hand a gift to the recipient. 

Charity Donation App

Collecting donations for a charity is easier if people can pay using their smartphones. 

Most people aren’t carrying much cash with them anymore. Even fewer people are carrying checkbooks. 

So charity collections outside of local grocery stores and events aren’t keeping up with modern technology trends. 

But a charity donation app solves this problem. You can collect donations by letting people scan a QR code in person to give money. Apps can also facilitate recurring donations from your users—automatically. 

Goal Tracking App

People are 42% more likely to achieve their goals if they’re written down. 

But what’s better than writing goals down? Using a mobile app to track and manage everything.

You can create an app that lets people track both short-term and long-term goals. They can add a goal in the app and monitor progress along the way. Each goal can even contain a checklist or milestone achievements that users can check off in real-time as they’re accomplished.

This can be used for personal goals, professional goals, education goals, fitness goals, and more. The possibilities here are endless. 

Meditation and Mindfulness App

Offer guided meditation and mindfulness exercises to help users reduce stress and improve their mental health. Users can choose from a variety of themes and durations, and can track their progress over time.

You can add features like daily reminders and a journaling function to help users incorporate mindfulness into their daily routines.

Gardening App

This app is perfect for green thumbs or those looking to get into gardening. It offers tips and advice on how to care for a variety of plants, including information on watering, fertilizing, and pruning.

Users can also create a virtual garden and track the progress of their real-life plants, as well as access a library of plant-specific care guides.

Meal Prep and Cooking App

Calling all chefs! This is your chance to share your recipes with the world.

You can create videos and upload instructions for all of your recipes. Categorize your recipes into folders like breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, vegan, gluten-free, pescatarian, keto, and more.

Use this as an opportunity to sell meal plans or create a digital recipe book. You can sell recipes for a one-time fee or offer collections of recipes on-demand for a monthly subscription. 

Real Estate App

You can create a mobile app to manage your real estate business.

Use your real estate agent app to schedule appointments, upload new listings, and add photos and videos of properties. The app can also serve as a contact management solution—a place where all communication is handled.

For property managers, the app can serve as a place to collect rent, manage applications, gather feedback, and handle all maintenance requests. 

If you’re in this industry and on the fence about building an app, you can refer to our guide on the top reasons why you need a real estate app for more information.

Pet Care Mobile Apps

This is a must-have mobile app for pet owners. It offers tips on how to care for a variety of pets, including information on feeding, grooming, and training.

You can provide quick access to a library of pet-specific care guides and let users create a profile for their own pets, including information on their breed, age, and medical history.

Virtual Event App

With the rise of remote work, virtual events have become more popular than ever. This app allows users to host and attend virtual events, including conferences, workshops, and networking events.

The app can display a calendar of upcoming events, event registration, and the ability to participate in live sessions and breakout rooms.

Tip Calculator App

Create an app that lets users calculate tips automatically. People can scan a receipt, and the tip calculator can take care of the rest.

This is also great for situations when you’re dining with a large group of people, since everyone has their mobile phones with them when they’re out to eat.

The app can calculate what everyone owes based on what they ordered and automatically include the tip amount for each person or group at the table. 

Final Thoughts

Great mobile app ideas may seem hard to come by. But there are tons of trending app ideas that you can use to make money.

Use this guide as inspiration and motivation for the next great mobile app idea.

Once you’ve narrowed down an idea, you still need to validate it. Check out our guide on how to validate your app idea and turn it into a reality. 

From there, you can follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to create an app. 

Sign up for a 14-day free trial to get started with BuildFire—the world’s most powerful app builder for iOS and Android.

With over 6.3 billion smartphone users across the world, it’s no surprise that the mobile app industry is thriving. App usage and smartphone penetration are still growing at a steady rate, without any signs of slowing down in the foreseeable future.

Now factor in the 1.14 billion tablet users worldwide, which a number that’s grown about 36% over the past six years.

If you take a second to look up from your phone during the day, I’m sure you’ll notice that everyone else has their eyes glued to a mobile device as well.

In fact, studies show that the average American checks their phone 262 times per day! That’s once every 5.5 minutes.

We use our phones at work, at home, on the street, while we’re eating, in bed, and even in our cars. You might be reading this from a mobile device right now.

What’s everyone doing on their phones? Well, 88% of mobile time is spent on apps.

This is encouraging news for app developers, app publishers, and anyone who plans on developing an app. But in order to be successful in this space, two things need to happen.

1. Users need to download your app.
2. Users need to use your app.

These two seemingly simple actions are what inspired me to write this guide. Sure, we know that people are using apps more than ever before. But that’s just barely scratching the surface in terms of the available data on this usage. You can’t develop an app based on this information alone.

That’s like saying, “People like to eat, so I’m going to open a restaurant.”

If you want to compete and claim your share of this multi-billion dollar industry, you need to have a better understanding of exactly how people are downloading and using mobile apps.

Use the research that I’ve identified in this guide to help you develop or improve your mobile app.

Continue reading “Mobile App Download Statistics & Usage Statistics (2023)”

In today’s highly competitive mobile app market, creating a user-friendly app that stands out is crucial for success. One of the most important aspects of any app’s success is its user onboarding process. 

User onboarding helps new users understand the app, along with its features and how the app can benefit them. Onboarding sets the foundation for a lasting relationship between the user and the app—which is essential for achieving long-term success. 

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of user onboarding for mobile apps, best practices for creating an effective onboarding experience, collecting and analyzing user feedback, measuring success, common onboarding mistakes to avoid, and more. 

Whether you currently have a mobile app or you’re in the process of creating one, this comprehensive guide will provide you with valuable insights and actionable tips to improve your app’s user onboarding process. This will ultimately help enhance user satisfaction and boost retention rates.

Understanding User Onboarding

Before we delve into the best practices for creating a smooth onboarding experience, it’s essential to understand what user onboarding is and why it’s vital for your mobile app’s success. In this section, we’ll explore the definition of user onboarding, its goals, and its importance in the world of mobile apps.

What is User Onboarding?

User onboarding is the process of guiding new users through your app while helping them understand its value, features, and functionality. This process typically begins the moment a user downloads and installs your app, and it continues until they’ve become comfortable navigating the app and utilizing its core features. 

The onboarding experience varies depending on the app’s complexity and the user’s familiarity with similar apps. However, the primary aim remains the same—to provide a seamless introduction and pave the way for users to achieve their desired outcomes with minimal friction.

Goals of User Onboarding

The main goal of user onboarding is to help new users feel confident in using your app, so they continue coming back to it over and over again in the future. But there are several other objectives to keep in mind when designing the onboarding experience. 

A successful onboarding process should:

• Educate users about the app’s core features and benefits
• Demonstrate the value your app provides
• Foster user engagement from the beginning
• Reduce the learning curve for new users
• Encourage user retention and long-term loyalty
• Motivate users to sign up and create an account or profile

Certain apps may have use-case-specific goals based on the app type or business model. Some of you may want users to complete a desired action during the onboarding process. 

For example, an ecommerce mobile app may want new users to activate a promo code or complete a checkout process from where they started shopping elsewhere. 

Importance of User Onboarding For Mobile App Success

User onboarding is a critical component in the success of any mobile app. A well-executed onboarding process can lead to higher user engagement, increased satisfaction, and improved retention rates. Conversely, a poor onboarding experience can result in users abandoning the app and opting for a competitor’s solution.

Onboarding is the first impression users have of your app, and it sets the tone for their entire experience. By investing time and resources in crafting an effective onboarding process, you’ll ensure that users can quickly understand and appreciate your app’s value. This helps increase the likelihood that they’ll become loyal, long-term users. 

Furthermore, a positive onboarding experience can lead to user referrals, further expanding your app’s user base and overall success.

Best Practices for User Onboarding

Now that we understand the importance of user onboarding for mobile app success, let’s dive into some best practices to ensure your app provides an exceptional onboarding experience for your users. By following these guidelines, you’ll create a smooth, user-friendly process that encourages engagement, satisfaction, and long-term loyalty.

Simplify the sign-up process

An intuitive sign-up process is crucial for user onboarding. You can streamline the process by incorporating these elements:

• Social media login options — Enable users to sign up using their social media accounts, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter. This reduces friction and makes it quicker for users to get started.
• Minimal required information — Request only the most essential information during sign-up. Too many fields can overwhelm users and lead to abandonment.
• Quick and easy verification process — Keep the verification process simple and quick, such as sending a confirmation email or text message with a one-time code.

Personalize the user experience

A tailored experience can significantly enhance user engagement and satisfaction. Here are some quick ways you can personalize the experience for app users:

• User preferences — Allow users to set their preferences during the onboarding process. This can include language, notification settings, or content preferences.
• Tailored content — Display content relevant to individual users based on their preferences, location, or previous interactions with the app.
• In-app messaging and notifications — Send personalized messages and notifications to users that are relevant to their interests or app usage patterns.

Utilize progressive onboarding

Progressive onboarding is an approach that introduces features and functionality to users as they become relevant during app usage. You can achieve this by:

• Introducing features in context — Instead of overwhelming users with all features at once, introduce them when they’re relevant to the user’s actions or when the user encounters the feature for the first time.
• Breaking down complex tasks — Divide complicated tasks into smaller, manageable steps. This approach makes it easier for users to understand and complete the task at hand.
• Encouraging exploration —  Allow users to discover additional features and functionality as they navigate your app. This can create a sense of accomplishment and deepen their engagement with your app.

Provide a clear and concise app tour

An effective app tour can quickly familiarize users with your app’s features and functionality. Keep these points in mind when designing your tour:

• Highlight key features — Focus on showcasing the most important and useful features of your app. Avoid overloading users with too much information.
• Use visual aids — Utilize images, animations, or short videos to demonstrate how your app works. Visual aids can make it easier for users to understand and remember key features.
• Offer an option to skip the tour — Some users may prefer to explore your app independently. Provide an option to skip the tour for those who want to dive right in.

How to Measure the Success of Mobile App User Onboarding

After implementing the best practices for user onboarding, it’s essential to evaluate the effectiveness of your approach. In this section, we’ll discuss how to measure the success of your mobile app’s onboarding process and make data-driven improvements for an even better user experience.

Collect user feedback

Gathering user feedback is essential for identifying areas of improvement in your onboarding process. You can collect feedback through various channels, including:

• In-app surveys — Integrate short surveys or questionnaires within your app to gather feedback on specific features or the overall onboarding experience.
• App store reviews — Monitor user reviews on app stores, as they often provide valuable insights into user experiences and pain points.
• Social media and forums — Keep an eye on social media platforms and online forums to identify user concerns, feedback, and suggestions for improvement.

Review user feedback

Once you’ve collected user feedback, it’s crucial to analyze the information and use it to enhance your onboarding process:

• Identify patterns and trends — Look for recurring themes or common issues mentioned by users to pinpoint areas that need improvement.
• Prioritize improvements — Rank potential improvements based on their impact on the overall user experience and allocate resources accordingly.
• Implement changes — Make necessary changes to your onboarding process based on the insights gained from user feedback, and monitor the results.

Establish KPIs to track

To measure the effectiveness of your onboarding process, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect your goals. Some important KPIs for user onboarding success include:

• Activation rate — Percentage of users who complete the onboarding process and engage with your app’s core features.
• Time to first key action — Time it takes for users to perform their first meaningful action within your app, such as making a purchase or completing a task.
• Retention rate —  Percentage of users who continue using your app after a specific period, typically 7, 30, or 90 days.

Analyze KPIs

Monitoring and analyzing your KPIs is crucial for evaluating the success of your onboarding process and identifying areas for improvement:

• Establish benchmarks — Set targets or industry benchmarks for your KPIs to help gauge the effectiveness of your onboarding process.
• Monitor progress — Regularly track your KPIs to identify trends, areas of success, and opportunities for improvement.
• Compare to industry standards — Compare your KPIs to industry standards or competitor data to understand how your onboarding process performs relative to others in your market.

Common User Onboarding Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Creating an effective onboarding process is not without its challenges. There are some common pitfalls that app developers may encounter when designing their onboarding experience. 

We’ll discuss some of these mistakes and how to avoid them in greater detail below. This will help you ensure a seamless and engaging user onboarding journey.

Overloading users with information

One common mistake is inundating users with too much information during the onboarding process. While it’s crucial to educate users about your app’s features and benefits, overwhelming them can lead to confusion and frustration. To avoid this, focus on introducing the most important features first and gradually introduce additional functionality as the user becomes more comfortable with the app.

Utilize progressive onboarding to help users learn about your app at their own pace. By breaking down complex tasks into smaller steps and introducing features when they’re relevant, you can reduce the cognitive load on users and provide a more enjoyable onboarding experience.

You should also make use of visual aids such as images, animations, or videos to demonstrate how your app works. Visuals can make complex concepts easier to understand and remember—ultimately reducing the amount of text users need to read.

Ignoring user feedback

User feedback is invaluable for identifying areas of improvement, as it provides insights into the real-world experiences and pain points of your users. Ignoring feedback can lead to missed opportunities for enhancing your onboarding process and overall user experience.

Implement various channels to collect user feedback. Try a mix of in-app surveys, app store reviews, and social media monitoring tactics. You should regularly analyze the feedback you receive to identify trends, patterns, and areas where users are encountering difficulties.

Prioritize improvements based on the impact they’ll have on the user experience and allocate resources accordingly. By continually refining your onboarding process based on user feedback, you’ll ensure that your app evolves with the needs and expectations of its users.

Neglecting personalization

Failing to personalize the onboarding experience is another mistake that can hinder user engagement and satisfaction. A one-size-fits-all approach may not resonate with all users—as their preferences, needs, and familiarity with your app can vary significantly. Personalization can help users feel more connected to your app and increase the likelihood that they’ll continue to engage with it over time.

To combat this problem, try to incorporate personalization into your onboarding process. Allow users to set preferences, so you can tailor content based on their interests or previous interactions. You can also send personalized in-app messages and notifications to new users. 

Remember that personalization doesn’t need to be overly complex. Even simple adjustments, like addressing users by their first name or offering customized content suggestions, can make a significant difference in how users perceive and interact with your app. This will help you create a more engaging and enjoyable onboarding experience that caters to the unique needs and preferences of your users.

Final Thoughts

Creating an effective user onboarding experience is vital for the success of your mobile app. By focusing on simplifying the sign-up process, providing a concise app tour, personalizing the user experience, and utilizing progressive onboarding, you can significantly enhance user engagement and satisfaction. 

Pay close attention to user feedback and monitor your KPIs. This will allow you to make data-driven improvements to your onboarding process, ensuring that it remains relevant and effective as your app and user base evolve.

Remember that a great user onboarding experience is not just about educating users about your app’s features. It should also make them feel welcomed, valued, and connected to your brand. By prioritizing the needs and preferences of your users, you can create an onboarding journey that encourages long-term loyalty and contributes to the overall success of your mobile app.

With the ever-increasing demand for mobile apps, creating your own app has become easier than ever before. But with so many app building websites out there, it can be difficult to know which one to choose—and that’s why we’ve created this guide.

Based on our knowledge of the app development industry, our team scoured the internet and gathered reviews from experts and real users alike to bring you our top picks for the best app building sites. 

Whether you’re an individual looking to create a simple app, or a business in need of a full-scale mobile solution, we’ve got you covered. So let’s dive in and find the perfect app building site for you.

1. BuildFire

BuildFire is the best app building site on the market today—and for good reason. It comes with a wide range of features and functions to help users create mobile apps for their businesses without any coding experience or technical knowledge.

What sets BuildFire apart from other app building sites is its ease of use and flexibility. You’ll never outgrow the platform, and the possibilities for what you can build are virtually limitless. 

More than 10,000+ mobile apps for iOS and Android have been created with BuildFire.

Getting started is a breeze. Just select a professionally-designed template in your app category, and start customizing it from there. You can add features to your app with a single click. There are over 150+ plugins to choose from in the BuildFire Marketplace, and those options are constantly expanding.  

You can easily integrate third-party services like social media, e-commerce, and messaging. You’ll also have access to user management features, app analytics, and push notifications. Plus, with its scalable cloud infrastructure, BuildFire can handle apps of any size or complexity—ensuring that your app will perform well even as your business grows.

Beyond its core app building tool, BuildFire offers something you won’t find from other app building sites on the market. You’ll also have access to app developers, designers, and professional expertise. 

So if you want help getting the app off the ground, BuildFire’s setup and design team can handle that for you. Once the app is built and live, they’ll hand you the keys to the kingdom so you can make any minor tweaks or adjustments on your own. 

BuildFire is unlike any other app building website out there. If you’re building an app for your business, it’s a no-brainer choice. Start your 14-day free trial today.

2. Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is a popular app building site that’s best known for its low-code development capabilities. 

One of the key benefits of Zoho Creator is its ability to integrate with other Zoho applications, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Books. This allows businesses to create seamless workflows between tools they’re already using—streamlining their processes and increasing their efficiency. 

It’s worth noting that as a low-code platform, Zoho Creator requires some level of technical experience to use effectively. While the interface makes app building accessible to a wider audience, some level of coding and technical knowledge is still necessary to create apps with this tool. This means that businesses without a dedicated technical team may struggle to fully leverage the platform’s capabilities.

If you’re already using lots of Zoho products, this can help extend the functionality of those tools. Just make sure you carefully evaluate your in-house technical capabilities before committing to the platform, as it may not be the right fit for everyone.

3. AppMaster

AppMaster is a versatile app building site that is well-suited for creating both mobile and web applications. While the platform offers the ability to create mobile apps, its web app building capabilities are where it really shines. 

With its drag-and-drop interface and comprehensive toolset, AppMaster provides users with everything they need to create fully-functional web apps quickly and easily.

One of the standout features of AppMaster is its responsive design capabilities. It ensures that web apps are optimized for any device, regardless of screen size. This can be a huge advantage for businesses looking to create a seamless user experience across multiple platforms.

AppMaster also has a wide range of pre-built templates and design elements to help users get started quickly. From customizable forms and templates to advanced integrations with third-party services, the platform makes it easy to create a professional-looking web app that meets your specific needs.

It’s worth noting that AppMaster.io may not be the best fit for businesses with complex app development needs. While the platform offers a range of features and tools, its capabilities are not as extensive as other app building sites on the market. 

4. AppsGeyser

AppsGeyser is an app building site that focuses exclusively on the creation of Android apps. While this can be a good option for individuals looking to create a simple app for personal use, the platform is not well-suited for businesses,

The platform is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, which is great for beginners. But it also means that the platform can be quite limited in terms of what it can do. 

While the platform may be suitable for hobbyists looking to create simple apps, it is not well-suited for businesses looking to create a large-scale application with complex features and integrations. This may limit the platform’s potential for businesses that are looking to expand their app offerings in the future.

Despite these limitations, AppsGeyser can still be a good option for individuals looking to create a simple Android app for personal use. With its easy-to-use interface and a range of pre-built templates, the platform provides a straightforward way to create basic apps without the need for extensive technical knowledge. 

It’s worth noting that AppsGeyser does offer some options for monetization. One way to monetize your app is through ads, which can be integrated into your app using AppsGeyser’s ad network. However, it’s important to keep in mind that AppsGeyser takes a 50% cut of any ad revenue generated through their network, which is significantly higher than you’ll find almost anywhere else.

5. SellMyApp

SellMyApp is unique compared to other app building sites on the market. 

You can use it to access app templates and gaming templates to create your own app. But as the name implies, it also acts as a marketplace for selling your apps and source code.

Beginners can use it to access game templates. But developers can also use this site to earn some cash. Just be aware that you can earn up to 70% commissions for selling through this marketplace—meaning SellMyApp is going to take a hefty fee for its role in the transaction. 

SellMyApp is primarily geared towards creating gaming apps, and may not be the best choice for businesses or individuals looking to create apps for other purposes. It’s also worth noting that while the templates can be easily customized, they may not provide the flexibility required to create truly unique and innovative apps.

6. Appsmakerstore

AppsMakerStore is a UK-based app building site that allows users to create apps without needing extensive technical knowledge or experience. With its user-friendly platform, the site is a great option for businesses and individuals looking to create CMS apps quickly and easily.

One of the standout features of AppsMakerStore is its user interface, which is intuitive and easy to use. The platform offers a drag-and-drop builder, allowing users to easily create and edit app content without needing any coding experience. 

The app building site also offers a wide range of customization options, including the ability to add multimedia content, such as images, videos, and audio files.

7. Alpha Software

Alpha Software is a company that offers a range of low-code development solutions, including the popular Alpha Anywhere product. With Alpha Anywhere, developers can create web and mobile applications using low-code technology.

It combines low-code skills with no-code features to streamline the development process. 

While Alpha Anywhere is a powerful tool, it may not be the best choice for those with no technical experience. 

The platform is designed for developers and may require some level of coding knowledge to fully utilize its capabilities. It essentially offers developers a way to create web apps faster than they would if they were coding from scratch. 

8. AppQuantum

AppQuantum is an app building site that empowers developers interested in building gaming apps. 

If you already have a game, they can help you scale and provide feedback. If you have a studio, AppQuantum helps you create a new game from scratch using its co-development model. 

The co-development brings you through game design documentation, prototype testing, and MVPs before a soft launch. 

This site is designed to help game developers beyond the app development process through creative production, ASO, performance marketing, ad monetization, and more. 

It’s a really use-case-specific solution. So if you’re not a developer building games, you’ll need to look at other app building sites on the market. 

9. URL Genius

URL Genius is not a full-scale app development solution. Instead, it’s an app building site that’s focused on helping marketers with sales and installations.

The site specializes in app linking and deep linking. You can use it to create unique web URLs for links that can open either directly in an app installed or without an app installed. 

You can set these links to open apps like Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and more. 

Think of this like an advanced UTM tracking feature, but within apps. They also help create QR codes for marketing purposes. 

10. Linx

Linx enables developers to build and host APIs. It’s a low-code development solution that helps you create apps without the need for frameworks and infrastructure. 

You can use it to build backend web apps, backend processors, Webhooks endpoints, microservices, and more. 

Linx ranks tenth on our list due to its complexity. It’s more of a low-code IDE instead of a traditional app building site. 

While you’re not necessarily coding everything from scratch, you still need development skills. Furthermore, the use cases for what you’re building on Linx are definitely geared toward developers. You’ll be using it to extend the functionality of another software or solve problems for other web apps. 

How to Find the Best App Building Site For You

As you can see from the options reviewed above, app building sites come in all different shapes and sizes. So as you’re shopping around and comparing different options, make sure to keep the following considerations in mind:

Mobile vs. Web

Right off the bat, the first thing you should do is decide whether you’re building a mobile app or a web app. The best app building sites focus on one or the other.

While it’s possible to find solutions that offer both, it’s better to go with a site that specializes in what you’re building. 

If you’re creating a mobile app, make sure you find a site that lets you build for iOS and Android. Some of the tools on our list are only compatible with Android apps, which will limit what you can do post-launch. 

No-Code vs. Low-Code Development

While they might sound similar, no code and low code are not interchangeable. Your technical expertise will determine whether a no-code builder or low-code builder is right for you.

As the name implies, no-code app sites don’t require any coding. This means that you don’t need any technical knowledge to create your app.

Conversely, low-code solutions require development skills. You won’t be coding from scratch. But you still need to have basic programming skills to get the most out of those tools. 

Additional Reading: Low-Code/No-Code App Development: What’s the Difference?

Business vs. Personal

Some app building sites are great for people who just want to build apps for fun. If you’re building an app for yourself or as a hobby, those will be fine.

But the hobbyist app builders won’t work for business users. 

Most of those tools won’t offer the features you need to succeed with your customers. The features will be limited, and the final product likely won’t be as user-friendly. App performance is also something you need to evaluate here. So if you’re a business user, make sure the site you choose can truly accommodate what you need. 

App Development Services

Most app building sites are DIY tools. They enable you to create an app on your own, exactly as described.

But the best app building sites also offer professional services. BuildFire is the best example for this consideration.

With BuildFire, you have full control if you want to create an app on your own. But if you want a head start, you can reach out to BuildFire’s setup and design team to simplify your development process. They’ll build your app’s core features, and then you can make minor content tweaks as needed post-launch. 

This is perfect for business users who don’t have the time to sit and tinker with an app builder on their own. It’s also ideal if you want to get to market quickly and for a fraction of the cost compared to traditional development. 

Additional Reading: The Value of App Development Services vs. App Builders

Scalability

Look beyond what you need an app for today. Think about when your app scales from 1,000 to 10,000 or 100,000 users. Can the app building site keep up?

You should also consider any features that your app might need down the road. Does the site have those capabilities?

Too many people overlook this when they’re evaluating app building sites. Just because a site has what you need right now, it doesn’t mean it’ll be able to accommodate your needs in a year or two. 

Choosing a platform with limitless scalability and functionality options is crucial for business users. 

Final Thoughts on the Top App Building Sites

BuildFire is the best app building site for the vast majority of users. The platform makes it easy for anyone to create iOS and Android apps without writing a single line of code.

The platform is built to scale, and you’ll never outgrow it.

What really makes BuildFire stand out from the crowd is its app building services paired with the platform. Other solutions on the market offer app development services or DIY builders—but BuildFire offers both. 

Easy enough for beginners but powerful enough for technical users and businesses, BuildFire is truly one of a kind in this space. Start your 14-day free trial today to bring your app idea to life. 

As the app industry grows in popularity, the demand for mobile app development and app-related services has never been higher. 

Mobile apps dominate our day-to-day lives. With the average smartphone owner using 30 different apps per month and millions of apps available for download, the use cases for apps are constantly expanding. 

With a white-label app builder, any agency or business-minded entrepreneur can offer app development services to their clients. 

If you don’t know how app reseller programs work or you’ve never used a white-label app builder, this guide is perfect for you. We’ll answer all of your questions about white-labeling apps. You’ll even learn more about the benefits of white-label app builders and discover the best white-label app builder for your specific needs. 

What is a White Label App?

A white-label mobile app is built by one app development company or developer and then rebranded and resold to others. The app reseller has the ability to brand the white-label app as their own in a way that the final client or end-user doesn’t know the app actually came from somewhere else. 

For example, most restaurant apps and food delivery apps have the same core features. It’s just a matter of updating small changes like the restaurant’s name, menu, hours, and similar details.

Rather than creating a unique app from scratch for every restaurant, a white-label app can be used as an alternative. This is just a generic mobile app that can be completely customized and rebranded for each restaurant that wants an app. 

You can think of a white-label app the same way as a blank t-shirt with a brand’s logo on it. 

Instead of manufacturing their own shirts from scratch, any clothing company can just print their logo on a generic shirt and then resell that shirt to customers. So three different shirts, each with three different brand logos, can all come from the same factory. It’s the exact same shirt. The only difference is the branding.

White labeling, in any industry, lowers the barrier to entry for sellers. You don’t actually need to have a manufacturing facility to sell shirts, nor do you need an app development company to sell apps. White labeling bridges the gap.

What is an App Builder?

An app builder gives anyone the ability to create their own app without any coding skills or technical knowledge. It’s the fastest, easiest, and most-efficient way to build mobile apps without hiring a developer or learning to code. 

App builders use intuitive editors and drag-and-drop software to customize the look and feel of an app without having to worry about the backend technology or code behind it.

All of the technical requirements are handled for you behind the scenes. You can simply use a front-end builder to customize text, add menus, add videos, change the colors, and do everything else that’s required to design and build an app.

Mobile app builders are user-friendly and can be used by anyone with basic computer skills for app development. There’s no specialized training or learning curve required to use an app builder.

Most of the best app builders don’t require any software downloads either. They’re entirely web-based, so you can create an app from scratch directly from your web browser.

What is a White Label App Builder?

A white label app builder is app maker software that’s been rebranded and resold to a third party.

A mobile app reseller can use this technology to offer application development services to clients without actually running the technology. 

For example, let’s say you’re running a marketing agency. Your marketing clients want mobile apps, and you want to provide them with a DIY solution to develop apps on their own.

Instead of creating a new app builder from scratch, you can sign up for a white-label app builder program to rebrand existing software as your own. 

So when your clients log into the app builder to create their app, they’ll only see your logos and branding information. They’ll never know that the software is actually being maintained by a third party. 

You pay a subscription fee to join the white-label program, and your clients pay you a subscription fee to use your app builder. This gives you complete control of your profit margins, making it easy to generate a fast return on your investment. 

White Label App vs. White Label App Builder

White-label apps and white-label app builders might sound like interchangeable terms. But they’re actually different. Let’s take a moment to quickly clarify these differences to ensure you have a complete understanding of how this works.

White-label apps are the final product. They’re mobile applications that can be rebranded and resold to multiple companies or users. 

A white-label app builder is an actual platform. It’s just used to create mobile apps, but it’s not actually a mobile app.

For example, let’s say you want an app for your real estate business. Rather than creating an app on your own, you can just purchase a generic real estate app and rebrand it as your own. That’s a white-label app.

Now let’s say that same real estate company wants to use DIY software to create an app. They do some research and find an online platform—EZ App Maker—that has an online DIY app builder. But EZ App Maker doesn’t actually run or maintain the platform. They get that software from a third party, then rebrand the software as EZ App Maker. The real estate company can still sign up for EZ App Maker and use it to create an app. That’s a white-label app builder. 

Alternatively, we’ll say the real estate company turns to an agency for app development. Rather than employing in-house developers, that agency uses an app maker to create apps for their clients. That’s a white-label app created using a white-label app builder. 

Who Are White Label App Builders For?

There are so many different use cases for white-label apps and white-label app builders. White-label app builders are trusted by agencies, entrepreneurs, high-volume business users, and more.

Below we’ll take a closer look at the top scenarios that white-label app builders are used for. If you fall into one of these scenarios, there’s a good chance that a white-label mobile app builder is right for you.

Scenario #1 — You have an agency and want to offer app development services to your clients

Any existing agency can expand its existing service offerings with a white-label app builder.

Maybe you’re currently offering marketing consulting services, social media management, or SEO services to your clients. But your existing and prospective clients also need mobile apps.

Rather than referring them elsewhere, you can become a white-label app reseller. You’ll use a third-party app builder to create apps for your clients and then deliver completed apps as a final deliverable to those businesses. 

Scenario #2 — Your agency wants to sell DIY app maker subscriptions

Similar to the first scenario, any agency can use a mobile app reseller program to give their clients an app development solution. 

But rather than creating those apps internally with a third-party tool, you’re rebranding and reselling that third-party tool for your clients to use.

Your current and prospective clients can sign up and start using the app builder directly from your website. They’ll only see your logos and pricing information. But the software is actually being maintained by a third party, and you’re acting as the mobile app reseller. 

Scenario #3 — You want to start your own mobile app business

The demand for mobile apps is at an all-time high. Starting a mobile app business is an excellent way to profit in a world where so many organizations have mobile app development needs. 

With a white-label app builder, you don’t need any development skills to launch your company. In fact, you don’t even need to hire any skilled developers. 

You can simply join a white-label reseller program and use that software to create apps for your clients. This is an excellent way for any tech-savvy entrepreneur to earn money as a side hustle or full-blown business. 

Scenario #4 — You need to create lots of mobile apps for your business

Historically, this scenario hasn’t been too common. But there’s definitely an uptick in demand for businesses in this category, especially with more and more organizations relying on citizen developers for mobile app development. 

If your business needs to create multiple mobile apps, a white-label app builder will likely be cheaper than using a regular app maker.

For example, let’s say your team needs to create 12 new mobile apps for different business workflows. A white-label subscription will likely be more cost-effective than 12 different app maker subscriptions. Even though you may not necessarily be rebranding or reselling the apps, you can use some white-label programs to take advantage of bulk discounts on an app maker. 

This option also makes it much easier to manage all of your apps from a single dashboard.

Benefits of Using a White Label App Builder

Let’s take a closer look at the top advantages of white labeling an app builder platform. Regardless of your unique use case or scenario, the benefits below still apply to you.

Cost

Traditional app development has a reputation for being expensive. But app builders make it possible to create an app for a fraction of the cost. 

When you white label an app builder, you’re paying a low monthly fee for the rights to use and resell the service. This makes it really easy for you to offer low development costs to your customers while still turning a substantial profit.

You can usually break even on your investment in a white-label app builder by selling just one or two subscriptions to customers. Plus, offering your white-label app builder as a subscription to your clients is an excellent way to earn recurring revenue for the lifetime of the app.

Speed

White-label app builders help you and your clients get apps to market significantly faster than coding an app from scratch. Some apps can be built in just a couple of weeks as opposed to six months or even a year with traditional development. 

If you’re planning to use a white-label app builder to create apps for your clients, the development process is even faster if you’re landing clients in the same industry.

All you need to do is create one generic app. From there, you can just copy and customize the app based on each client’s branding and specific content requests. But all of the same core features will remain the same. 

Value

App development is in high demand. 

By offering app development services and solutions to your clients, you’re providing tremendous value for real business needs. 

For example, if one of your agency clients is using you for SEO services or marketing consulting, there’s a good chance that app development is on their radar. Rather than having to do more research and get acquainted with a completely new agency, they can get everything they need from you under one roof. 

Low Barrier to Entry to Develop Mobile Apps

White-label app builders are the easiest way for entrepreneurs and agencies to create client apps. 

If you’ve always wanted to build apps for clients but never learned the technical requirements, a white-label app builder is the clear solution. 

Once you find the right app reseller program, it’s just a matter of signing up for the service. From there, all you need to do is handle the marketing side of the equation. All of the technology is handled for you. Just drive clients to your onboarding page, and they’ll be able to create apps on their own using your white-label app builder. It truly doesn’t get much easier.

Scale Revenue Streams

Selling apps does more than meet market demands. It also helps generate new revenue for your business. 

Agencies are built on retention. So the more services that you can provide, the greater chance you have of retaining your clients. 

The great part about a white-label app builder is that you can continue charging a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription for the service even after the app launches. The app builder still maintains the app post-launch, so you can generate recurring revenue for the lifetime of your customer apps. 

Best White Label App Builder

BuildFire Reseller is the best white-label app builder on the market today. 

It gives you and your clients access to the exact same platform that’s been used to create over 10,000+ mobile apps for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 

Unlike cookie-cutter app builders on the market, BuildFire’s white-label app maker offers limitless functionality. 

In addition to 150+ plugins in our feature marketplace, BuildFire Reseller is also developer-friendly. So if your client has a unique request that can’t be accommodated with a plugin, the BuildFire SDK can be used to create custom features. 

As a white-label reseller, you’ll also have complete access to the BuildFire development team. We can create custom plugins and features for your clients, so you don’t have to worry about the technical side of things. We even offer turnkey app build-outs, so you can focus on sales and marketing instead of building apps. 

With BuildFire Reseller, you’re getting a white-label app builder and white-label development service under one roof. Creating custom plans and configurations for your clients is easy, and they’ll never see the BuildFire logos on anything. All they’ll see is your branding, and they’ll never know the platform is being managed by a third party. 

BuildFire also provides training for white labelers and dedicated white label support. We’ll even handle the publishing process when your client apps are complete and ready for launch. 

Ready to get started? Book a reseller demo today!

When you submit an iOS app to the Apple App Store, you’ll see a “keywords” field in your App Store Connect account. 

App store keywords explain what your app is all about. These terms help Apple’s search algorithm display relevant search results to people on the app store.

App store keywords are private and won’t be displayed publicly anywhere on the Apple App Store. But they’re still crucial for your mobile app marketing and app store optimization (ASO) strategies. 

Understanding how to optimize your keywords properly will give you an edge over other apps, help you rank higher for related searches, and ultimately get more app downloads.

This in-depth guide will explain everything you need to know about optimizing app store keywords for the Apple App Store.

What is App Store Optimization?

App store optimization (ASO) is the process of enhancing a mobile app’s organic visibility on app stores. It involves strategies and tactics, including keyword optimization, to help your app rank higher for keywords and related searches.

Elements like your app description, app store icon, screenshots, keywords, app title, metadata, and other factors all have an impact on app store searches. 

If you’re familiar with SEO (search engine optimization), then you already understand the core concepts of ASO. But instead of applying strategies to rank organically for Google searches (like you do with SEO), you’re leveraging different tactics that are specific to app store searches.

Refer to our complete guide to app store optimization for a deeper explanation of the topic.

App Store Optimization vs. Apple Search Ads

ASO is commonly confused with Apple Search Ads. While both mobile app marketing tactics help boost your app downloads, they’re very different from each other.

App store optimization primarily focuses on organic reach. You’re setting up the app store listing to rank high for searches.

Apple Search Ads are paid promotions. They appear at the top of the search results, marked and highlighted as an ad.

Running search ads is a shortcut to the top, and it’s good for fast results. 

But ads don’t guarantee downloads. You still need to optimize your app store listing. Users who click on your listing from a search ad will still look at your description and screenshots before they download it. 

The best app download strategies focus on a mix of both organic and paid tactics. But prioritizing ASO and keyword optimization is crucial for each approach.

15 Tips to Optimize Keywords for App Stores

Below you’ll find proven strategies and best practices for app store keyword optimization. Keep these in mind as you’re submitting your app and adjusting your ASO strategies.

1. Split Terms Into Separate Keywords

You do not need to enter complete search terms when you’re submitting keywords. The algorithm will automatically create combinations for you based on your keywords.

For example, the term “buy hats” can be split into “buy” and “hats.” So you would only have to enter the keyword “buy” once instead of including it for every product you’re selling through the app. 

This is a great way to get the most out of your character count and add as many keywords as possible without being redundant. 

2. Eliminate Spaces

Remember, app store keywords are not public. So you don’t have to worry about the list being aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. 

This means you can eliminate all spaces between your keywords. As long as you’re using a comma to separate one keyword from another, Apple will automatically recognize them as different words. 

3. Avoid Plurals

It should come as no surprise to learn that Apple has a highly sophisticated algorithm. 

The system is smart enough to recognize the plural form of words without you adding extra characters to your keywords. 

It might sound like a simple fix, but pluralizing words can really eat into your character count.

Hats, shoes, sneakers, belts, socks, and shirts. You can get back six characters just by eliminating the “s” on each of these keywords. 

4. Remove Stop and Connector Keywords

Apple automatically filters out basic keywords that are too generic. These are commonly known as “stop” or “connector” words.

Examples include:

• a
• the
• of
• by
• but
• this
• with
• you
• all
• an
• any
• app
• if
• is
• no
• here
• do
• to
• who
• why
• would
• me
• i

You get the idea. Do not include these in your keywords, as Apple will just ignore them. 

5. Keep it Simple

Think about how people search for apps on the Apple App Store. 

Remember, they’re searching from a smartphone or tablet. So they won’t be typing out long or complicated phrases. 

App store searches are short and simple. 

For example, most people probably won’t search for words like “purchase” or “obtain.” They’d just search for “buy.”

Take a glance at your list and look at words that jump out as being too long or complicated. Look for ways to shorten those keywords and put them into the simplest, shortest, and most casual phrasing possible.

6. Don’t Use Your Brand Name or App Name

Branded and generic keywords don’t perform well either when you’re adding app store keywords.

That’s because the algorithm will automatically look at other parts of your app, in addition to the keywords. This includes your app name, developer name, and app category.

So adding these to your keyword list is just a waste. 

7. Start With Your Best Keywords

The order of your keywords is important. 

Apple’s search algorithm puts a stronger priority on words at the beginning of your list compared to the end of it. 

Once you’ve come up with a list, make sure you organize your keyword rankings before you submit everything. Always put your most important keywords at the front of the list. 

8. Maximize All 100 Characters

Apple gives you 100 characters of keywords to use. Make sure you’re taking full advantage of every character. 

This gives you the chance to get as many related keywords into your app store listing as possible.

Simple tips like avoiding plurals and eliminating spaces are easy ways to maximize the limits.

If you’ve done this already and you’re still at 97/100 characters used, see if you can get rid of a character somewhere else and add another four-letter word to the end of your list. 

9. Avoid Duplicates

Surprisingly, we see lots of people use the same keywords multiple times. This is definitely a mistake that you want to avoid. 

It typically happens when brands are targeting two different keywords that share a term.

For example, let’s say you’re selling jewelry through your app. You’re likely targeting words like gold necklace, gold earrings, and gold bracelet. 

But don’t repeat “gold” more than once.

Instead, keep the list as gold, necklace, earrings, and bracelet.

10. Eliminate Special Characters

Do not use special characters, like # or @. 

Apple specifically says that these do not carry any weight in your search ranking. So don’t waste space on them.

11. Use Digits Instead of Writing Out Numbers

If you need to include numbers in your app store keywords, be sure to use the digit form instead of writing them out.

• 9 vs. nine
• 15 vs. fifteen
• 23 vs. twenty-three

Apple will recognize your digits as numbers, even if someone spells them out in their search (which would be rare).

If you have only one or two characters left to use and don’t have anything else to include, you could always put a digit in there. It’s a good placeholder and can’t hurt. 

12. Update Your Search Terms Regularly

Your app store search terms shouldn’t be left alone and forgotten. 

As your brand changes or you release new products or services, make sure you update the keywords to appropriately reflect those changes. 

Check your keyword rankings to see which terms are driving the best performance. If some keywords aren’t performing, you can always eliminate them or replace them with synonyms. 

13. Only Use Relevant Keywords

Make sure that you’re only using keywords that are directly related to your app and brand.

Some developers think that using popular app store keywords will help them appear for a broader range of searches. But this can actually backfire on you.

For example, let’s say you have an ecommerce app or banking app. You can’t use words like “game” or “social media” as a way to get more eyeballs on your app.

This will give you unwanted traffic that could lead to uninstalls—which can hurt your rankings.

14. Target Keywords With Less Competition

You can use app store optimization tools to search for popular keywords and compare them against your competitor apps.

Contrary to popular belief, going after highly competitive terms isn’t the best option for most apps. 

Instead, go for the low-hanging fruit. It’s better to target words that are highly specific to your target audience and have a lower search volume compared to terms with 20,000 daily searches that you’ll never rank for. 

Your end goal is always to get more app downloads. So be smart with your decisions and don’t try to compete for keywords that won’t move the needle. 

15. Monitor Your Keyword Performance

Statistics don’t lie.

You might think that some keywords will increase your visibility and drive app downloads, but keyword performance will tell you the truth. 

Just make sure you’re giving your keywords enough time to work. Adding new app store keywords and expecting an influx of downloads today, tomorrow, or next week isn’t realistic. 

But if it’s been three or six months and you see that certain terms aren’t performing, it’s probably a good time to reevaluate your strategy. 

Final Thoughts

Learning how to optimize app store keywords will increase your organic app store exposure and boost app installations.

Every mobile app with a presence on the app store needs to prioritize keyword optimization and ASO. 

Whether you’re in the process of launching an app or you’re just trying to improve the performance of an existing app, the tips in this guide will steer you in the right direction. So keep this saved or bookmarked so you can quickly reference the strategies whenever you’re working on keyword optimization. 

Mobile app development is exciting. New entrepreneurs and established businesses alike are always eager to bring their app ideas to life.

But before you rush into development, there are a few things you need to do first.

Mobile app market research is arguably the most important step for any project. It helps validate your ideas and lays the foundation for every other stage of mobile app development. No matter what type of app you’re building, mobile app research cannot be overlooked.

Continue below to learn more about mobile app research, the importance of market research, and the best market research strategies for mobile app development. 

What is Mobile App Market Research?

Mobile app research is the process of understanding your target market, competitors, industry, and current market trends. Market research is the first step of every mobile app development project. 

Mobile app market research helps validate your app idea and ensures your app is addressing existing market needs. 

Conducting mobile app research requires data collection and analysis. In some cases, you can pull data from existing sources. Other times, you’ll need to conduct unique research on your own. Most of the time, market research is a combination of these two approaches. 

Mobile app research aims to answer the following questions:

• Is there a market need for your application?
• Who is your target market, and what are their preferences?
• What competitors and obstacles are you faced with?
• Does your mobile app have a unique differentiator from the competition?
• Do you have a viable mobile app business model?
• How can you create an optimized marketing strategy?

When you’re sourcing information from existing sources, you’ll want to stick with trustworthy and authoritative references like Statista, Pew Research Center, Gallup, Google Trends, and similar sources. 

You can also refer to our Mobile App Statistics Guide for general information about smartphone users, industry trends, and other data related to mobile technologies.

Original research is typically conducted through focus groups, interviews, customer surveys, and observation.

Why is Mobile App Market Research Important for Mobile App Development?

Every successful mobile app starts with quality market research. 

Without thorough mobile app research, you’re essentially just guessing whether or not people actually want your app. This could prove to be a very expensive guess if you go through the entire mobile app development process only to discover there’s no market need for your product.

You can save a ton of time and money by simply validating the idea first—before you start writing code or hiring a development team. 

Market research also helps you identify competitors and obstacles on your path to success. 

For example, let’s say you have an app idea for a free video sharing platform, making it easy for anyone to share and watch videos from their smartphones. Users can create their own profiles, like videos, follow content creators, and write comments on videos. 

Great idea, right? Well, this idea basically just described YouTube.

Market research would help you identify this, and you’d likely decide not to directly compete with the largest video hosting platform on the planet. 

Instead, your market research could help you pivot your original app idea to target a different market niche. Maybe you still want to create a video hosting application, but you want it to be specifically for online education. 

Market research helps you better understand your customers. You’ll find out who they are, along with their wants and needs. You might think that your target audience wants to use your mobile app. But market research will help validate or disprove your hypothesis. 

Then you can lay the foundation for your mobile app features, brand positioning, and app marketing strategies based on your findings. 

Types of Mobile App Research

It’s much easier to perform market research when you break everything down into categories. 

Market research for mobile app development can be segmented into two phases—primary research and secondary research. We’ll take a closer look at each of these stages below.

Primary Research

The first thing you need to do is conduct in-depth market research on your users. 

Define your target market and find as much information as you can about them. Start with generic information, habits, likes, dislikes, wants, and needs. Then narrow that research even more, specifically related to their behavior with mobile applications.

Your primary research should also consider the latest technology trends and how the current market landscape works with your business model. 

These initial steps are crucial, as this early market research ultimately guides you through the entire mobile app development process.

Your findings here will help you determine whether or not to target certain users. You can also frame certain components of your mobile app based on this early market research.

For example, let’s say you want to create a real estate app. The initial idea might be focused on prospective home buyers. 

But after conducting your primary research, you could discover a lack of market need for this type of product. Maybe the market is too saturated, or maybe the app’s goal didn’t meet the needs of your target audience.

If you’re an expert in the real estate industry, you still might proceed with the app creation. Only you’ll pivot to an app that addresses the needs of real estate agents instead. 

Then the app’s features will be based on meeting the needs of your new target audience.

Secondary Research

The second step is your sales and marketing strategy research. 

By now, you’ve already validated your idea and decided it’s worth moving forward. You just need to take your existing research and get more information on how you’re going to reach your target audience.

You’ll use this information to create a marketing plan, optimize social media accounts, prepare ad copy, and other things that will ultimately speak to and attract your target market. 

What does your target user base respond to? How can you market your mobile app accordingly to pull on those strings?

Your secondary research will help shape your branding and market positioning within your niche.

For example, let’s say you’re creating a B2B smartphone app designed for other businesses. Rather than simply branding yourself as a project management tool, your secondary research can help define your market positioning as an application for productivity improvement.

This type of positioning would likely be more aligned with the problems your target audience is trying to solve. 

Best Strategies for Mobile App Research

Everyone’s market research will look a little bit different. But there are some proven strategies specific to mobile app development that will help steer you in the right direction:

Mobile App Idea Validation

The first thing you need to do is validate your mobile application idea. 

If there’s not a market need for your app, then there’s no reason to proceed with the remaining steps for market research. You might need to head back to the drawing board and rethink your idea.

Discovering that there is not a market need for your app isn’t a bad thing. Lots of people are disappointed when they hear this news. But you should be happy that you didn’t pour money into a project that wouldn’t deliver a return on your investment. 

Instead, you can take what you’ve learned during the validation stages and use that to frame new ideas. 

To validate a mobile app idea, you need to get out there and start talking to people.

Run customer focus groups. Conduct interviews. Send out surveys. 

Do everything you can to get as much information as possible about your idea and how it does or doesn’t meet the needs of prospective users. 

Identify Your Target Audience

Narrowing down your app’s target market must be another primary area of focus for your market research.

All too often, we hear things like, “my app is for everyone” or “my app is great for women of all ages.” That’s not specific enough.

You need to define more specific characteristics, like:

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Occupation
• Background
• Income
• Highest level of education
• Personality traits
• Values
• Hobbies
• Lifestyle choices
• Behavior

With mobile app development, you also need to see if your target audience prefers some mobile devices over others. 

For example, if you discover that 90% of your target market uses iPhones, you may not necessarily create an Android app for the Google Play Store right now. You could focus your efforts specifically on Apple devices and make an iOS app.

When you’re doing market research on your target audience, it’s important to remember that you’re not excluding other users or other people who might be interested in your app. But your primary focus and efforts will be surrounding your target market. 

Conducting Competitor Analysis for Mobile Apps

Researching the competition is an absolute must for mobile app development.

It’s rare to see mobile apps today that are 100% unique. There’s a good chance that at least a few other apps on the market do something similar to yours.

Your job is to identify those competitors. Find out what they’re doing well, and find out where their apps fall short.

You can use this information to your advantage and create an app that fills the gap with your competitor’s shortcomings.

Even if you think those players have a head start because they already have apps available for download, you have a faster path to development by avoiding the same mistakes that they did.

Eventually, you need to figure out how you’re going to stand out from the competition. 

What’s your differentiation factor? Why should someone download your app over another app that does the same thing?

This could be related to your marketing strategy, feature differences, different target users, or all three. 

SWOT Analysis

Many of you might already be familiar with a SWOT analysis. It’s an acronym that stands for:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

There are dozens of great use cases for running a SWOT analysis in different business situations, and market research is definitely one of them. 

Get together with your team and assess all of your findings from both the primary and secondary research. Now write out everything that comes to mind for each of these categories.

• What is your advantage?
• Where are you vulnerable?
• Are there specific niches, users, or features that are open for a new market need?
• What competitors or external market factors could hurt your app?

At the end of the day, a SWOT analysis helps prepare you for mobile app development and your mobile marketing strategies. By becoming more aware of yourself and the market as a whole, it also helps you stay ahead of the competition.

Final Thoughts

Mobile app research is key to the success of mobile apps.

If you need help with market research, schedule a free consultation with BuildFire. 

As part of our full-service app development solution, we assist with this part of the process. We’ll help you run a competitive analysis, so you have a better understanding of your market. Our team will also provide expert guidance with app strategy sessions to ensure your app is meeting your business goals.

Most mobile apps available on the app stores are made for mass consumption by general audiences. But there’s a growing need for other apps that target businesses and business users—B2B apps.

Whether you have an existing company that sells to other businesses or you’re an entrepreneur that wants to set up a B2B business model, creating a B2B app is an excellent opportunity.

This in-depth guide will cover everything you need to know about B2B apps, including how they work, key features, and top benefits. You’ll also learn more about some crucial differences between B2B and B2C mobile applications.  

What is a B2B App?

Business-to-business (B2B) apps connect businesses with other businesses, partners, and stakeholders. Some B2B apps are available for public download, while others are intended only for internal use cases.

Many B2B apps simplify business workflows or fulfill industry-specific needs. In almost all cases, they streamline operations and make life easier for business users and big-picture organizational goals. 

It’s worth noting that there are many different types of B2B apps.

For example, popular apps like Asana, LinkedIn Pulse, Salesforce Mobile App, and Google Analytics are all B2B apps that solve business issues or address pain points for different users. 

But you can also create B2B ecommerce apps designed specifically for wholesale buyers. Or you can build stand-alone apps for internal business processes, like workflow automation or employee communication. 

As long as the mobile application is built for companies or business users instead of general consumers, it falls in the B2B app category. 

What’s the Difference Between B2B Apps and B2C Apps?

There are several key differences between B2B apps and B2C (business-to-consumer) apps. 

The biggest difference is the target user. Every mobile app development project starts with the same question—who is going to use the app?

This is a question that everyone needs to answer before they start building. Apps built for mass audiences and customers fall into the B2C category. But apps designed for other businesses are B2B apps. 

Other differences include:

• B2B apps solve business problems, while many B2C apps are made for entertainment or brand awareness.
• B2B apps typically have fewer users, as they’re designed for a niche audience. 
• User interface and user experience are important for every app, but the app’s UI is more important for B2C apps, and creating a user-friendly platform must be a top priority.
• Some B2B apps are strictly for in-house use.
• B2B apps and B2C apps have different user acquisition methods. 
• Many B2B apps use a subscription business model. B2C apps are typically free and are monetized through in-app purchases or advertising. 

There’s also a higher level of competition for B2C apps since you’re competing with so many other businesses targeting the same customers. But there’s less competition in the B2B app space, and the target audience has more buying power. 

10 Advantages of B2B Mobile Apps

There are dozens of advantages to creating, implementing, selling, and using B2B apps. But we’ve narrowed down the top ten benefits for most businesses.

1. Scalability

Creating a B2B app makes it easier for your organization to grow. This holds true whether you’re using the app internally or externally.

Internal B2B apps can make it easier for you to streamline, automate, and otherwise improve tedious business processes. For example, let’s say you’re planning to hire 50 new employees in the next 18 months. Having an employee app for onboarding, internal training, and HR resources will make this process so much easier. 

For B2B apps geared toward your business customers, a mobile application can help you generate more revenue. Let’s say your company sells wholesale goods to other organizations. The app can simplify the ordering process and allow your customers to buy with just a few clicks. This reduces the need for phone calls or faxing purchase orders. 

2. Loyalty

B2B apps help you build long-term relationships with your customers. 

For starters, your business is always just a click away from their pocket at any time. You don’t have this type of accessibility through other channels. 

Loyalty apps are great for encouraging your customers to spend more money to reach milestones or save money. Having a B2B app can be an excellent way for them to track orders and progress towards rewards. 

If you’re creating a SaaS product designed to solve a particular business need, a mobile app can become invaluable to those business users. They’ll rely on that app for certain processes, ensuring they’ll need to use your app for the long term.

3. Analytics

B2B apps give you fast access to real-time data. This information makes it easier for you to make more informed business decisions and improvements. 

You’ll learn more about your users, their behavior, and what they’re using the app for. Based on this information, you can adjust the app accordingly to optimize it for conversions.

It’s always interesting when you compare your app analytics to Google Analytics for your website. Sometimes you find lots of parallels between the users, but you’ll typically find some variances from mobile devices. This information is crucial for improving your overall business goals and ensuring you’re reaching the right audience with all of your strategies. 

4. Improved Efficiency

Efficiency is one of the most important aspects of any business initiative. This holds true across every industry and category. 

Custom business apps can fix inefficient processes and solve problems to make your entire operation more efficient. In some cases, you could be using an app to replace manual tasks, allowing your staff to spend more time on business processes that need a human touch.

Efficiency improvements typically come with higher profit margins. It costs you less money to do things when you make them more efficient. Even if these improvements are associated with an investment in technology, the investment often translates to a higher ROI in the long run. 

We have a complete guide on the ROI of internal communications apps, which falls in the B2B category. 

5. Enhanced Communication

Good communication is the lifeblood of any business. With a business app, you can improve communication internally amongst your staff, externally with partners and stakeholders, and even change the way you communicate with business customers. 

Apps can help connect in-office messaging, file sharing, and collaboration. Teams can easily work on projects together from anywhere—supporting remote work and multiple offices. 

Creating a business app can also give you a more direct communication channel with your business customers.

You can send targeted messages straight to their phones with push notifications. If you have more information about the user, like their role within the company, you can take that one step further and really customize those messages.

For example, it wouldn’t make sense to send the CTO of a company a notification about an upcoming delivery. But giving a warehouse manager a head’s up that an order is on the way would make that person’s life much easier. 

6. Technical Support

Mobile apps make it easy for business users to reach your support team. Rather than having to send an email or call a support line, they can submit a problem directly from the app.

This also makes it easier for your support reps to manage tickets and collect user feedback. 

Overall, tech support via mobile apps is a more affordable way for you to serve your customers.

7. Collaboration

Apps are ideal for collaboration, ensuring every team member is on the same page. 

Let’s say you’re creating a business app for project management. You can set up a feature to assign tasks automatically when certain steps of the project are completed. 

Externally, you can use apps to get aligned with vendors and partners. Maybe you set up a scheduling-sharing feature, so vendors don’t overwhelm loading docks with deliveries at the same time. Or maybe you use the app as a way to collaborate with managers at other franchise locations. The examples and use cases are seemingly endless. 

8. Streamline Business Operations

This benefit is actually the culmination of several other benefits on this list. But it’s definitely worth mentioning on its own. 

Refer back to some of the advantages we covered related to communication, analytics, support, collaboration, and efficiency. All of these help streamline your business operations. 

The idea here is to simplify or eliminate any unnecessary tasks in a particular process or initiative. Mobile apps give you a more modern approach to operations, and the sky’s the limit.

If you reach out to BuildFire for help building an app, we can customize any aspect to meet the needs of your specific operations and initiatives. Our team can build custom functionality that’s 100% unique to whatever operations you’re trying to improve. 

9. Inbound Marketing

Believe it or not, a business can actually help your marketing initiatives as well. This is a benefit that’s commonly associated with B2C apps, but some of these concepts still apply in the B2B space.

Here’s why.

Business buyers spend a lot of time and research on products and services before they spend any money. So if you offer something that they’re looking for, they’ll stack you up against your competition to see which brand shines.

Everyone wants to conduct business from a mobile device. So if you have an app and your competitors don’t, you’ll immediately stand out from the crowd. This is a significant competitive advantage in the B2B space, which can really give you an opportunity to corner the market. 

10. Support Business Goals

You can customize a business app to align with specific business goals and initiatives. Depending on the scenario, you can even create multiple business apps for different use cases.

For example, one of your big-picture business goals can be related to employee happiness and well-being. This is obviously an internal initiative, separate from your business model and customers.

To support this goal, you can create an app specifically for your workforce. 

Another goal could be related to targeting a different market segment within the B2B category. So you could create a separate app that’s customer-facing and built to help you land bigger fish. 

Key Features for B2B Mobile App Development

Now that you have a firm grasp on the benefits of B2B mobile apps, it’s time to take a look at some features to include. Here’s a look at some common features used in existing apps for business audiences:

• Integrations with other apps (like Google Docs, Zapier, etc.)
• Team collaboration
• Custom dashboards
• Data analytics
• Content showcasing
• Share videos
• Create B2B lead pipelines
• Login with social media accounts
• Connect and network with other industry professionals
• Offline connectivity
• Task lists
• Notes
• Alerts 

This bullet list above is just a guide.

You don’t need to include all of these in your app and might even decide to create some custom functionality that addresses your goals. It all depends on the type of B2B app you’re building and why you’re doing it.

Final Thoughts

The demand for B2B apps is growing. To stay ahead of the curve, you should definitely consider building a mobile app if your organization falls in the B2B category. 

Instead of building an app on your own, reach out to BuildFire and let us help.

Our team of professional developers and designers has decades of combined experience creating apps specifically for business users. We can create whatever type of functionality you need based on your business goals and initiatives. 

We’ll also help get your app to market fast, so you can see a quicker return on your investment. Schedule a free consultation to learn more. 

An effective design concept is the foundation of a mobile app and its goals. Creating a design concept requires a firm grasp of the problems your app aims to solve, your target audience, and the ideal aesthetics of the final project. 

Starting the mobile app design process with a clear design concept is crucial for success.

As a designer, entrepreneur, or business user with an app idea, our minds automatically create a concept when we’re brainstorming an idea. But creating a conceptual design helps ensure everyone’s goals are aligned and puts you on the path to creating a good UX/UI design for your app.

This in-depth guide explains everything you need to know about design concepts and why they’re so important. We’ll also walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a design concept and cover the key principles of concept design. 

What is a Design Concept?

A design concept is a general idea and perception of a product that drives its development explained through sketches, images, written statements, and other visuals. 

Conceptual designs help developers, designers, and stakeholders stay on track during the design stages and creative process—ultimately ensuring that the final product delivers value to its target audience when it’s brought to market. 

The best design concepts showcase the core objectives of a product with precision. It requires a clear understanding of the target users, problems that need solving, preferred aesthetic styles, and visions of all stakeholders. 

Why You Need a Solid Design Concept For Your Mobile App

Conceptual design is vitally important during the early stages of a mobile app development project. It provides the foundation to visually shape an idea and concept.

Investing in a design concept reduces the chances of running into problems, confusion, or setbacks down the road. Everyone on the team will have a clear understanding of the concept, which makes it less likely that they’ll take the project in the wrong direction.

Starting a project without a clear purpose is dangerous, especially when you’re putting real money into the product. Re-designs and big changes once development has started can be expensive and will likely extend your development timeline as well.

The final product also suffers if a design concept hasn’t been clearly established from the beginning. This results in a sub-par user experience, which can ultimately impact your brand image and revenue.

Conversely, a solid design concept speeds up the design process, development stages, and helps deliver a visually stunning final product. Users will experience a great UX/UI design that keeps them coming back to the app for more. 

Concept design establishes the moods, emotions, and gut feelings of artistic methods. It’s about creating something that’s aesthetically pleasing while describing your brand image and conveying information about the app.

At its core, a design concept is essentially a thought or an idea. But putting that idea on paper bridges the gap between abstract perceptions and attainable visuals. 

You can use design concepts to establish a design language that clearly communicates with UI/UX designers. A design concept does not actually dive into the stylistic details of the app—it simply lays the groundwork for the design features. 

5 Steps to Design Concept Development for Apps

Here are the five steps for creating a design concept. Make sure you start with these steps before you dive into other parts of the mobile app design process. 

Step 1: Get Organized for the Creative Process

The first step of this process is all about gathering your thoughts. You can’t communicate the concept in the next stage until you have a clear understanding of everything first.

Depending on your role in the project, you must have a firm grasp of the app’s purpose, goals, and business objectives. If you’re a business owner or an executive-level decision-maker that’s leading the charge for this project, you probably already know the answer here.

But if you’re a designer or project lead, you’ll likely need to obtain a lot more information from the clients or stakeholders before you can continue. 

Take some time to research the competition. How are other apps in your category designed? Do these apps have a good UX/UI design? Or are they missing some essential features?

Then you need to decide whether or not you’re going to mimic certain concepts or you’re going to create a concept that’s 100% original. It’s worth the investment to conduct internal tests with real users to see how they react to competitor apps.

Gather all the data from your tests and use that information to guide your concept design.

Step 2: Verbalize Your Design Concepts

Again, a concept starts as just a thought. But you need to draw these thoughts out before you can formalize them. Verbalization is the first step of this process.

Many creative individuals struggle to put their thoughts into words. It all depends on the project.

For example, an app designer will likely have a very different background than an architecture student. A UX/UI designer won’t necessarily have interior design skills. Yet all of these roles require creativity and precision when it comes to completing their respective projects. 

If you’re struggling to put your thoughts into words, try going through the mind mapping process.

Start with just a word or phrase related to the brand or other designs. Then use that word to come up with similar words or phrases that come to mind. This will help you establish a unique sequence for your thoughts and the characteristics associated with that concept. 

Establish a time limit on this process. You should give yourself enough time to let the creative juices flow, but you don’t want to spend all day on it. 

It’s vitally important that you schedule your brainstorming sessions at a time when your mind is free from distractions. Everyone is different. Some of us are more creative in the mornings. Others are more creative on nights and weekends. 

Try to limit distractions from phones, computers, TVs, and other technology. Going for a walk or spending time in nature will also help with the creative process. 

The final step of verbal ideation should be a complete phrase or single sentence that illustrates the concept with precision. This will help you focus your efforts on that specific concept throughout the entire design process.

For more inspiration and examples, check out our app design resources. 

Step 3: Sketch Your Design Ideas

Now that you’ve verbalized your ideas, it’s time to put those words on paper. You must have a firm grasp of the core goals of the app to complete this step of the project. 

Even if you’re not super creative, that’s ok. Get out a pen, paper, colored pencils, and markers. There’s no right or wrong way to sketch your concept.

Starting with informal low-fi sketches is your best bet. Don’t worry about the details or intricacies just yet. You’re just putting your thoughts on paper. 

You might experiment with different app layout ideas or templates. Or maybe you just want to get some of your core principles displayed. Your sketches might look completely different from someone else going through the same creative process, and that’s 100% ok.

In fact, your sketches don’t even need to be related to mobile apps just yet. They can be any creative concept or inspiration for the next steps. 

Step 4: Narrow Down Your Design Concept Choices

You can eventually take your sketches and use them with other visuals as creative inspiration. But you ultimately need to narrow your design decision to just one design. 

If you’re a designer, you can take each concept directly to your clients and get their input. If you’re a stakeholder, you can also run additional tests and focus groups to see if certain concepts resonate with your target audience compared to others. 

Having lots of different ideas, sketches, and visuals is great during the brainstorming process. But you don’t want to overwhelm the design team and developers. 

Giving them too much is just as bad as giving them nothing at all, especially if the different concepts are unrelated.

Finalizing a direction to take your design concept is arguably the most important stage in this process. The final choice will act as your north star for the duration of the design and development stages. 

Step 5: Develop Your Mobile App’s Design Concept

Actually developing the final concept is the final step of this process. This means passing off the concept to the people who will be turning your thoughts into reality. 

It’s important that the final concept has been reviewed and approved before development begins. 

This often involves taking a concept and using it to wireframe your app or create a prototype. Sketches aren’t usually professional enough if you’re presenting a concept to clients, stakeholders, or investors. But creating a wireframe and prototype will showcase your concept and get everyone on the same page. 

If you need some assistance with this step, you can consult with our professional team here at BuildFire. We can handle all of the designs, prototyping, and wireframes on your behalf. Our strategists will even run a competitive analysis to see how your design stacks up against other apps on the market. 

Once the design concepts have been finalized and approved, we can take that concept and use it to develop an app for you. So there’s no need to hire an in-house team or work with freelancers to bring our idea to life.

BuildFire handles all of your design and development needs under one roof. Learn more about BuildFire Plus here.

Key Principles for Design Concepts

As you’re going through this process and finalizing your design decisions, you must consider the following design concept principles. This will help steer you in the right direction at each stage.

Color Scheme

Defining your color palette will really help drive the rest of your concept. Colors are a powerful way to convey a feeling, emotion, or brand message. 

It’s also worth noting that different tones convey different messages to end-users. For example, yellow conveys youth, optimism, and happiness. Blue exudes trust, professionalism, and formality—which is why so many banks have blue in their logos.

Choosing a color scheme early can help pave the way for other design choices in your project. 

UI Elements

You won’t actually be finalizing any user interface elements in the early stages of the project. That’s ultimately for a UI designer to implement.

But with that said, you should still have UI in the back of your mind as you’re creating a concept design. 

This will ultimately translate better to the design team when you’re passing deliverables to the next stage. Rather than having to come up with the UI concepts from scratch, they’ll have at least some direction of what you’re thinking. 

Understand the Users

So many people fall in love with their app idea, but they don’t actually validate it. You might think your design concept is amazing, but that alone isn’t enough to bring it to market. 

Figuring out if real users will accept your design choices is an absolute must for app development. 

Waiting until the app has been fully developed to conduct these types of tests is a mistake. What if the users reject your idea? It’s easier and much less expensive to make changes while those concepts are still on paper before any code has been committed. 

Familiarity

People have a certain expectation whenever they’re using a specific product. This includes mobile apps.

So while it’s important to let your creative juices flow, you don’t want to step too far outside of the box when you’re creating a design concept. 

You should mirror familiar choices that have been used for similar apps on the market. This will drastically reduce the learning curve of users, as the design concept ultimately shapes the user interface.

Typography

Look through different fonts and typography templates to see which ones resonate the most with your concept. 

Your brand message and app perception can easily be conveyed through the right typography.

For example, certain text choices look very professional. Others are a bit more fun or silly. 

Creativity

Be unique and showcase your style in the design concept. The best concepts invoke emotions and have a personality of their own.

At worst, the design concept gets rejected before it goes into development. That’s ok. You can still take some creative chances and express your ideas at each step. Just don’t try to reinvent the wheel with every decision. 

Final Thoughts

Creating a design concept is an important step in the overall app development process. It gets everyone on the same page before development begins, ultimately saving time and money for your project.

If you need some help creating a design concept, schedule a free consultation with an expert strategist at BuildFire. 

We can handle all of your design, development, and post-launch needs—getting your app to market faster than traditional development. This allows you to focus more on your business and customers while we take care of all the technical requirements. 

There are lots of different ways to create mobile apps.

Most businesses and entrepreneurs are torn between two options—using an app builder or leveraging mobile app development services. 

But what if I told you that you didn’t have to choose? The vast majority of people building mobile apps fall somewhere between these two paths. An app builder alone isn’t flexible enough to accommodate their needs, but they don’t quite want to outsource the entire project.

This guide is a must-read for anyone that wants to develop a mobile app. You’ll learn the advantages of each method and discover an alternative option that’s the best of both worlds.

Comparing Mobile App Development Services and App Builders

First, let’s make sure you have a clear understanding of these two options for mobile application development. Side-by-side, app development services and app builders are very different.

Mobile App Development Services

Traditionally, these services come from a mobile app development company or agency. You’re essentially outsourcing the entire mobile app design and development process. 

The exact services vary slightly from company to company, but most offer some version of a total package to build native apps. These agencies have a team of in-house mobile app developers that can create a custom mobile application based on your specific requests. 

Depending on the company, iOS app development and Android app development might be two different services. So if you want an app built for multiple platforms, it’s usually in your best interest to work with an agency that offers both in a single solution. 

The best mobile application development services focus strictly on mobile apps. You’ll find some agencies on the market that offer app development alongside other agency services like web design, SEO, social media marketing, PPC, and more. It’s generally in your best interest to avoid these. App development shouldn’t be a side project or an afterthought—it should be the company’s core service.

It’s also worth noting that not every app development service falls into the same category. 

Some agencies simply build what you ask them, and that’s the end of it. But if you’re using a service like BuildFire Plus, you’ll benefit from services that go above and beyond basic app development.

For example, BuildFire offers more consultancy and assistance during the pre-development stages to align your business goals with your app vision. We’ll also handle wireframes, prototyping, designs, a competitive analysis, and everything else to ensure your app is a success.

Our team continues to be a partner in your success even after your app launches. We’ll run reports on user engagement and app store performance to ensure your app is optimized for growth. 

If you have ideas for new features down the road, we’ll handle that too.

Not every app development service on the market offers this level of white-glove support. So it’s definitely something to consider as you’re shopping around and comparing different options. 

App Builders

App builders are designed for non-technical users that want to create a mobile app. Anyone can use an app builder to make an app without hiring a mobile app developer or learning programming languages. 

Some of you might have some experience with website builders like Wix or Squarespace. Most app builders fall into this same category. All of the backend technology and infrastructure are built for you—all you need to do is add your content and customize the app based on your needs.

App builders are great for DIY users with lower budgets. But like most software on the market, there are significant differences when you’re comparing platforms. 

We have a complete Buyer’s Guide to Mobile App Development Platforms that can help you narrow down the best option based on your needs. 

In short, some app builders are more flexible than others. Many plug-and-play app builders are fairly rigid and not scalable. You’re bound by the restrictions of the platform, and customization is limited. Basically, if the app builder doesn’t have a feature or function you want, then you’re out of luck.

That’s where BuildFire stands out from the crowd, and it’s really in a league of its own when you look at this category as a whole.

First and foremost, BuildFire’s app maker is really easy to use. It’s a web-based platform that gives you full control over your app design, features, and content. Just start with a template and start customizing everything from there.

BuildFire also offers limitless functionality. You can take advantage of the 150+ pre-built plugins in our feature marketplace. But if there’s a feature you want that doesn’t currently exist as a plugin, we can build it for you.

You can create an app for iOS and Android without writing a single line of code and for a fraction of the price compared to traditional development. 

But you’re not completely on your own during this process. If you need some help or have a custom feature request, BuildFire’s team of experts is just a click or call away.

Pros and Cons of Mobile App Development Services

Let’s take a closer look at the advantages and potential drawbacks of working with an app development company. This can help you determine whether or not this path makes sense for your mobile app development projects.

Benefits of Mobile Development Services

• You don’t have to hire an in-house team or freelance mobile app developers.

• The best companies offer more than high-quality native apps. You’ll also get a project manager, quality assurance agent, management services, and other related services that focus on business growth.

• App development services can create iOS apps, Android apps, and sometimes build a web app for your business. 

• You’ll be working with a team of experts that know what it takes to create a successful mobile app. So you’re not alone during the process and always have someone that can answer your questions and guide you through each step.

• The best app development companies offer everything from strategic consulting to UX/UI design, app development, and post-launch support. 

Potential Drawbacks

• Not every agency that creates mobile apps specializes in development. Some offer services that are unrelated to app development (SEO, PPC, etc.) that often take away from the quality of your final product. 

• Compared side-by-side with an app builder alone, development services are a bit more expensive. 

Pros and Cons of App Builders

Not all app makers are created equally. But generally speaking, these are some of the pros and cons to consider if you want to build mobile apps using this method.

Benefits of App Makers

• App builders make it possible to create cross-platform apps without hiring mobile app developers.

• They use mobile technology that bridges the gap between software development and non-technical users. This makes mobile app development more accessible to the masses.

• Using an app maker simplifies the mobile app development process. It shortens the development timeline and gets apps to market quicker than traditional cross-platform app development. 

• You can use a template to get started, build momentum, and get inspired with your design and ideas. 

• App makers save time and money when you’re building cross-platform mobile applications.

• All of the backend infrastructure is handled for you. You won’t have to worry about servers, databases, backups, push notifications, and everything else your app needs to be successful.

Potential Drawbacks

• Some app makers use development frameworks that create hybrid mobile apps. These aren’t ideal for certain types of apps, like gaming apps, augmented reality apps, or graphics-intensive mobile apps. 

• Many app builders are rigid and can’t be customized beyond the plug-and-play features (although this is not the case for all of them).

The Best of Both Worlds — Mobile App Development Services and App Platform Under One Roof

BuildFire is the ultimate solution for cross-platform app development. Between our robust platform and pro services, we’ve created over 10,000+ mobile apps in every category that you can imagine. 

Whether you’re a solo user that prefers the DIY approach to mobile app development or an enterprise organization that wants a full-service solution, BuildFire has you covered. 

That’s what makes our software and service so unique compared to other players in this industry. BuildFire is truly in a league of its own. 

Our app development platform and custom development services are both industry leaders.

First, we have the only app maker on the market that offers truly limitless functionality. For most DIY users, there’s a good chance you can find whatever feature you need in our plugin marketplace. If not, no problem—we’ll create that feature for you.  

Most app development solutions offer just one solution—app builders or development services. But BuildFire has both.

Even when you compare BuildFire side-by-side with other development services, our offerings blow the competition out of the water. That’s because BuildFire is a dedicated partner in your success. BuildFire Plus offers:

• Competitive analysis
• System architecture
• App strategy sessions and planning
• Wireframes
• UX/UI app design
• Prototyping
• User engagement reports
• App store performance reports
• Content updates
• Post-launch maintenance and support

The list goes on and on. Most app development services end the engagement when the app is complete. But with BuildFire, we’ll be there for the lifetime of your app.

App Platform + Development Services vs. Standalone App Builders

Not everyone needs or wants full development service. That’s ok.

If you’re a smaller business or operating on a tighter budget, an app builder might be fine to accommodate your needs. But if you fall into this category, it’s crucial that you find an app development platform that can truly support your needs and growth.

That’s why it’s so important to find a robust app platform that also offers custom development services—and this is where BuildFire shines.

With standalone app builders, you’ll eventually run into growth restrictions. It may not be today or tomorrow, but at some point you’ll want something that the platform doesn’t offer. Now what? You can’t just move your app to another platform. You’d have to start the project over from scratch, which would likely crush your initial budget. 

BuildFire is different. DIY users can take full advantage of the app development platform and use it to create 90% of the app. But if you run into that small 10% that requires some white-glove support, we can handle this for you in-house. 

You’ll still be able to build your app for a fraction of the cost and at a fraction of the time compared to traditional development. But you’ll also benefit from having development services at your disposal. 

Even if you can build 100% of the app using the platform alone, BuildFire still shines over other mobile application development companies for several reasons. 

Once you finish building the app, we’ll get it published on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for you. As new Apple and Android mobile devices get released and OS changes over time, we’ll make sure your app is compatible by handling all of the updates on your behalf.

If you want to add new features down the road, we can take care of that as well—even custom features that aren’t offered in the plugin marketplace.

BuildFire is a dedicated partner in your success, even if you’re not using the full-service development option. We’ll survey your users, provide you with in-depth analytics, and be there every step of the way as your app scales and evolves over time. 

Other mobile app platforms on the market might seem cheaper at first glance. But they don’t offer these additional services. So the end product is more rigid and less creative. 

Final Thoughts — Which One is Right For You?

Now that you’ve seen the difference between mobile app development services and mobile app development platforms, it’s time to figure out what’s best for you and your unique needs.

If you’re on a tighter budget and just need a basic mobile app, an app builder will likely be fine for you. 

For midsize businesses and other business use cases, app development services can really help take your idea to the next level. It’s still easier and most cost-effective than assembling a team on your own or hiring in-house developers to create a mobile app.

Fortunately, you don’t have to choose between these options. With BuildFire, you have a robust mobile app platform with all the benefits of a full-service solution. 

Schedule a free consultation today to get started and see how BuildFire can be a partner in your success.

Wireframing is a crucial step in the mobile app development process. It helps provide a clear vision for stakeholders, development teams, designers, and everyone else associated with the project.

An app wireframe is the backbone for creating a successful design and building an app that users will love.

This in-depth guide explains everything you need to know about app wireframes, including how to make an app wireframe and best practices to follow.

What is a Mobile App Wireframe?

An app wireframe is a two-dimensional blueprint and visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a mobile application. 

The wireframe stage takes place early on in the product life cycle before any actual development or design begins. This initial stage of an app project helps demonstrate how the app will work and what it will look like.

Wireframes should visually illustrate different steps in the user journey as a way to identify potential pain points before the dev team starts building. It should include all of your page elements, navigation screens, content, and main objectives. 

An app wireframe gets everyone on the same page, so the team knows what they’re building, and stakeholders know what to expect as the final product. 

Wireframes do not include any colors, stylized graphics, images, logos, fonts, or mobile app design elements. They’re simply early sketches that show how the app will be used.

You can think of a wireframe like the blueprint of a house. It contains all of the rooms, doors, windows, electrical infrastructure, and plumbing but does not include any furniture or decorations.

Why Are Mobile App Wireframes Important?

App wireframes are a crucial part of the mobile app development and design process.

Wireframing helps provide a clear picture of how end-users will interact with your app. If you can’t explain how your app idea solves the problems of your customers, then you might need to go back to the drawing board. 

Let’s take a closer look at the reasons why it’s so important to create an app wireframe.

Visual Blueprint of the App

Having an idea is great, and having a good idea is even better. But even the best ideas are useless if you don’t have a clear plan and vision.

Verbally conveying your idea to a development team and assuming they’re going to deliver what you want is unrealistic. 

But a wireframe gets your point across and makes it easier to share your vision with project teams, investors, and stakeholders.

You can’t think about funding, user testing, or other business-related decisions without a wireframe. Putting these ideas into a wireframe first will make your life much easier. 

Faster Iterations

An app wireframe helps simplify an otherwise large or intimidating development process. Breaking your project into smaller, attainable tasks is a much easier way to achieve success. 

The great part about building a wireframe is that it doesn’t take a ton of time. This helps you build momentum and get the ball rolling as you’re assembling your team, giving presentations, and pitching investors. 

Executing these iterations in the early stages of development is much easier, and you can continue building on these steps. 

Avoid Mistakes

Your app wireframe should lay out the different screen functions. 

It helps you determine where certain app features should be placed and if there’s enough room on the screen to accommodate those functions. 

An app wireframe helps you establish a hierarchy of elements before you implement the design. It’s much easier to do this on paper than after you’ve committed any code. 

Mistakes here are really easy to fix. But fixing mistakes post-development is much more challenging. 

Saves Time and Money

As previously mentioned, an app wireframe helps you identify potential flaws and pain points before anything has been coded. This saves you a ton of time and money on development costs. 

Wireframes also provide your developers and designers with a clear picture of what they’re building. So starting with a wireframe can actually speed up the development process and shorten your overall timeline. 

Even things like content creation will be streamlined since the structure of your app’s screens have already been organized. Content creators and designers won’t have to ask any questions about where certain elements should be placed.

An app wireframe makes it easier to estimate costs as well. For example, if you’re outsourcing a UX/UI design team, they’ll likely provide you with a more accurate estimate since they know exactly what you’re looking for. So the chances of running over budget are reduced. 

How to Wireframe Mobile Apps in 5 Simple Steps

Creating a wireframe is easy when you follow the step-by-step guide below:

1. Map Out the App’s User Flow
2. Organize the Mobile App Content
3. Determine the Layout
4. Create a Detailed Wireframe
5. Integrate the Design Elements

Step #1 — Map Out the App’s User Flow

User flows are the backbone of wireframes for mobile applications. 

A user flow is a visual guide that showcases the series of actions a user must take to reach a specific goal. Not all user flows are linear—meaning there might be multiple paths to achieve a goal within your app.  

You can start creating a user flow by sketching your idea on a piece of paper. Eventually, you can take this sketch to the next level with a digital version of the flow.

Remember, an app wireframe does not contain design elements just yet. So you can use simple rectangle boxes as image placeholders with arrows to showcase the flow. 

You can start to think about dropdown menus or the bottom tab bar of each screen, but these won’t necessarily be included in the early sketches of UX flows. 

After you’ve visualized the flow, you can share your early concepts with others. This allows you to get feedback from your team and other people. It forces you to create each screen with a clear purpose for achieving the end goal.

If a screen does not help a user do something related to the app’s purpose, then it can be removed from the flow. 

For example, let’s say you’re designing a food delivery app. The app’s goal is to get food in the hands of users who can order from different restaurants. 

After selecting a restaurant, should the user be brought to an “Our Story” screen for that particular establishment? No. That would disrupt the flow of ordering. 

These are the types of things you need to take into consideration when you’re going through this process. 

Step #2 — Organize the Mobile App Content

Now that you have a clear vision of your wireframe design, you can start to think about the actual copy and content that you’ll use in the app. 

What is going to appear on different mobile screens? How will that content integrate with the user flow?

Using a simple spreadsheet or reusable content blocks is an effective way to organize your content. You can start to list out things like headers, images, links, and anything else that will appear in your mobile frame.

For example, let’s say you’re creating a fitness app to expand your personal training business. You could put together a spreadsheet with your main app content that includes training videos, meal prep instructions, and fitness guides. 

Then you could organize that content even further by segmenting cardio exercises from weight lifting. Within a weight lifting category, you can have sub-segments for arms, legs, back, etc. 

It’s much easier to organize your content now, as opposed to later on when you’re mapping out the screen layouts. You can refer to your content list as you plug things in during the next steps.

Step #3 — Determine the Layout

Next, you can establish the visual hierarchy and interface elements of your key screens. This will eventually set up the interaction design. 

Your app layout is essentially a combination of the first two steps we’ve already gone through. You’re going to take the content from step two and integrate it with the user flows in step one. 

You can still use basic shapes and tab bar placeholders instead of using any actual copy. But you can eliminate at least some of the placeholder text or screens with headers.

For example, your home screen layout might initially include Lorem ipsum placeholder text. Now you can get rid of those placeholder headers and add the main headers from your content list. 

You can establish the hierarchy of screen elements using size as a point of reference. 

Larger buttons, text, and CTAs are more important than smaller text located at the bottom of the screen. You can play around with different variations of the screen layouts as you’re going through this process. 

I strongly recommend using easily recognizable design patterns when you’re thinking about the screen layouts. 

For example, let’s say you’re going to include a bottom tab bar navigation on each screen of your app that includes the app’s most important screens. Having a house icon for a home screen makes more sense than a random shape or icon. This is something that users are already familiar with, and they understand exactly where that button is going to take them. A smiley face icon is not appropriate for your settings page. 

Look at the example above. You know exactly where the home button and settings button are, even without any text on the page.

Similarly, these icons would not fit in the middle of the screen, but they make sense placed at the bottom navigation. 

These are the types of things you’ll have to consider when you’re mapping out the screen layouts. 

Step #4 — Create a Detailed Wireframe

Detailed wireframes go beyond a basic sketch or hand-written notes. They are often high-fidelity versions of what your app will look like, including ready-made templates for your screens. 

You don’t have to put in real images, videos, or anything like that just yet. But the wireframes should be digitalized and include the real spacing between buttons and content. 

A detailed wireframe does not need to include any logos, custom fonts, or specialty UI elements. But they are a bit more formal for sharing with stakeholders and other team members. To make something stand out, you can use bold text, sizing, or spacing. 

For example, here’s an example of a wireframe for a reading mobile app. 

As you can see, there is still some Lorem ipsum placeholder text in the author bio section of that particular screen. But the sign-up screen has been replaced with actual text.

The screen in the middle of this example shows how different book topics will be displayed on the screen, but it doesn’t actually go into detail of the genres. 

Step #5 — Integrate the Design Elements

Technically, design elements are not part of the actual process for wireframing. Design is a completely different stage in the development process. 

However, wireframing and design are so closely related that it makes sense to start thinking about it now. 

If design isn’t your strength, you can consult with multiple designers to show you different design patterns and ideas. 

The responsive design development stages and other design elements will be implemented later on, but you can still add some of them now, depending on your goals. 

For example, let’s say you need to raise money to fund your app. Pitching the app to investors is probably better if the wireframe includes more than just black and white placeholder text. Even some design elements can make the wireframe a bit more visually appealing. 

Additional Resources: The Definitive Guide to Mobile App Design — Free Ebook Download

Wireframes vs. Mockups vs. Prototypes: What’s the Difference?

Sometimes the term “wireframe” gets used interchangeably with other design concepts during the initial stages of a project. But an app wireframe is not the same as a mockup or prototype. 

While all of these terms describe different types of app blueprints, there are distinct differences that you need to understand during the wireframing process. 

Wireframes

Your idea might start with a simple sketch of a mobile or web app. These could be hand-drawn interfaces of screens. But an app wireframe takes this step to the next level. It should include a more detailed illustration of the app’s functionality and structure. 

Mockups

Mockups are more advanced versions of wireframes that include UI elements. You’re bringing in everything that was intentionally left out of the initial wireframe, like colors, logos, fonts, and other visuals. Mockups are a much closer version to your final project in terms of design and can even be used in pitch presentations to investors or other stakeholders. 

Prototypes

A working prototype is an interactive blueprint of your mobile app. It should include clickable functions that allow you to move between screens, the same way your end-users would be navigating and using the app. 

Mobile App Wireframe Best Practices

Now that you understand the basics of wireframing and how to wireframe an app, it’s time to share some of our secrets for success. Keep these tips and best practices in mind for your wireframe app:

• Start your wireframe in the early stages of development to help visualize the idea.
• Think about how your wireframe will change on different mobile devices and screen sizes (iOS vs. Android or smartphone vs. tablet).
• Use a wireframe template and UI kit for mobile design as inspiration. 
• The UI/UX flow must be a top priority for your mobile app wireframe. 
• User flows should be synonymous between devices and platforms (Example: if a user switches from your iOS app to Android app, they shouldn’t have to re-learn how the app works).
• Start with a basic sketch before creating a digital or high fidelity version of the wireframe.
• Don’t add any actual content or design elements until the very end. 
• Test all of your design decisions before you start building. 
• Make sure your entire team is on the same page before any coding or design work gets completed. 

Final Thoughts on Mobile App Wireframes

Creating a mobile app wireframe is one of the first things you should do to visualize your app idea before it goes into development. 

You can make a wireframe on your own by following the steps in this guide. If this sounds too intimidating for you, our team at BuildFire can help.

BuildFire Plus, our all-inclusive app development and design service, includes everything you need to hit the ground running. Not only will we create an app on your behalf, but we’ll also create wireframes to bring your vision to life. 

In addition to wireframes, this service includes prototyping, system architecture, design, and so much more. We’ll even handle your content updates and post-launch maintenance. 

Schedule a free consultation if you’re ready to discuss your app idea and get the ball rolling on a wireframe.

If you’re tasked with creating a mobile app, one of the first things you need to do is answer a simple question—who will build it?

There are lots of different options to consider for mobile app development. But most businesses find themselves between one of two options—hiring a mobile app development company or hiring a freelancer.

This is a crucial decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Your mobile app development method will have a significant impact on your project timeline, budget, and the quality of your final product.

There are pros and cons to each mobile app development path. We created this guide to help you decide whether a custom software development company or freelance developer is right for you. Let’s dive in!

Types of Mobile App Developers

Before we compare mobile app development companies side-by-side with freelance app developers, it’s important that you understand the different categories for mobile app development. 

This will make it easier for you to weigh your options, as each type of app developer and development company is better for different types of mobile apps. 

Mobile App Development Company

The best app development companies offer full-service solutions for custom mobile apps. These are typically enterprise-grade services that include everything from mobile app design to project management, UX/UI design, and everything you need to build successful apps.

For enterprise clients, a mobile app development company provides all of your mobile development needs under one roof. You can outsource the entire project to a highly qualified team of developers and designers and feel confident in knowing you’re getting the highest quality product in return. 

The top mobile app development companies provide cross platform mobile apps, meaning you’ll benefit from Android app development and iOS app development simultaneously.  

Some mobile app development companies even offer services beyond basic app development. They provide your backend infrastructure, assist with app publishing, provide post-launch support, and even help with refining your mobile app idea to ensure there’s a viable market need.

Read More: Resources for Outsourcing App Development

Boutique Mobile App Development Companies

A boutique mobile app development agency is a bit smaller than a traditional app development company. They still provide many of the services of a full mobile app agency, but they do so on a smaller scale.

These solutions are typically better for smaller businesses in niche categories. For example, you might find a boutique app developer that specializes in building a certain type of app, such as a gaming app. But they don’t do anything outside of that highly specific category. 

Boutique app developers have fewer resources than larger app agencies, meaning they may only be able to take on a handful of app development projects per year. They might be a bit more limited in what they provide with infrastructure, publishing, and post-launch support. 

In-House Mobile App Developers

Some larger organizations employ a team of in-house app developers. But this is really only a viable option for businesses that continuously create, launch, and maintain mobile and web apps. Otherwise, hiring full-time employees specifically for app development isn’t really worth it.

For example, let’s say you want to create a dozen mobile and web apps over the next three years—strictly for internal use. Business productivity apps or extensions of web apps commonly fall into this category.

Then it might make sense to go with in-house developers over an app development company.

But even the top app developers may not have the same experience as an app development company. Plus, hiring full-time employees comes with extra costs and obligations. You’ll have to factor in added costs like health insurance, payroll taxes, PTO, and everything else associated with maintaining your staff. In most cases, outsourcing is a much easier path to app development.

Freelance App Developer

A freelance mobile app developer works for themself. You can find them on freelance job boards like Upwork, Fiverr, Flexjobs, and similar alternatives.

Companies are typically drawn to freelance developers for the lower cost. But these low price points can end up costing you more time and money in the long run—so it’s best to tread cautiously if you’re considering this path to app development. 

Some freelancers might charge lower hourly rates, but they take two or three times longer to create an app compared to an app development company. It’s also rare for the same freelancer to build both an Android and iOS app. Since Android platforms and iOS platforms require different tools, skills, and development languages, you’ll likely need a minimum of two freelancers to get the job done.

With that said, freelancers do have some benefits for smaller projects and non-business apps. But they’re never a good idea for enterprise app development.

Benefits of Hiring App Development Company

Finding a top mobile app development company will make your life much easier compared to in-house app development or hiring a freelancer. Below we’ll take a closer look at some of the top advantages provided by software development companies. 

More Experience

All of the top app development companies employ multiple developers. The best mobile app developers are versatile and have lots of experience working on a wide range of different mobile and web apps. 

A mobile app development company will also produce significantly more apps in a given year compared to a solo freelancer. 

Even the best mobile app developers probably can’t create more than four to six apps in a year. But an app development company can produce hundreds.

If anything comes up during the development process, there’s a good chance that someone in the app development company has seen it before. But if a freelancer runs into an issue or stumbling block during development, they don’t always have someone to lean on. 

Multiple Mobile App Development Services and Pricing Options

Custom software application development is not a one-size-fits-all offering. You can expect an app agency to provide several different software solutions and development services to accommodate your needs. 

A freelancer typically won’t be able to match these service offerings, and they’ll likely be priced at a fixed hourly rate for the duration of your project. 

But with a mobile app development company, the pricing is much more straightforward and transparent. Rather than paying an hourly rate, you’ll often pay a fixed monthly rate for app development services or be quoted on the entire project. 

For example, here’s a look at some of the BuildFire Plus development services and pricing. 

BuildFire also offers an app development platform with multiple pricing tiers and a white label app development solution. In total, that’s six different plans between three unique development services to choose from.

There’s something for everyone, regardless of your project scope or budget. 

Simple Communication

Effective communication is crucial for creating successful apps. 

Mobile applications are complex, and any miscommunication or discrepancy between the client and the developer can be disastrous. So it’s really important to make sure you’re on the same page as the development team before the build and throughout the development process.

This is much easier when you’re working with a mobile app development company. The best app development companies will take you through strategy sessions, build out wireframes, handle prototyping, and ensure you’re getting exactly what you ask for before any code gets written. 

You’ll also have multiple points of contact whenever you need to ask a question or make changes, which is not a luxury when you’re working with a freelancer.

It’s also common for freelancers to be working in different countries, making it more difficult to sync up with calls. In some cases, you might even be dealing with a language barrier if you’re working with a freelance app developer. 

More Resources

A top mobile app development company has significantly more resources than a freelancer. 

For example, it’s rare to find a freelancer that handles native app development and UI/UX design. Those are typically two different roles. 

But an agency has both of those roles, and more, all under a single roof. They also have the capacity to get your app to market faster compared to a freelancer, as multiple people will be working on your project simultaneously. 

Agencies also have the funds to provide their team with the highest quality software and equipment, which ultimately translates to a better final product. Whereas a freelancer could just be working from a single laptop using outdated software. 

All-in-One Solution

A custom software development company has everything you need under one roof. 

This typically includes a project manager, cross platform app development for iOS and Android platforms, UI/UX design for web and mobile, quality assurance agents, mobile app testing, and more. 

With BuildFire Plus, we’ll even help you run a competitive analysis to ensure there’s a viable market need for your app. We’ll also assist with app strategy sessions and post-launch support.

A freelance developer just can’t compete with these types of services. You’ll ultimately need to hire multiple freelancers to truly complete projects. The hiring process is a challenge in itself, and it’s even more difficult when you’re assembling a development team that’s never worked together before. 

Fortunately, a mobile app development company has everything you need under one roof. 

Scalability

Look for a mobile app development that goes beyond basic app development services. The job isn’t complete when the development process is over. 

You also need to consider post-launch maintenance, app updates, bug fixes, and everything else required to get your app to the next level, even after it’s been installed on thousands of mobile phones.

What happens when you want to add a new feature in a year or two? A freelance developer may not be around or available at this time. But an agency is always there to help guide you through the process of scaling your app and business. 

Support

Building an app is just one aspect of development services. 

You also need to think about software testing and getting your app published on the app stores. This isn’t always a simple process. For example, the Apple App Store has strict publishing requirements. 

A top mobile app development company will help you navigate these requirements and publish the app on your behalf. On the other hand, a freelancer will likely just deliver the app and leave the rest up to you—without offering that extra level of support.

Potential Drawbacks of Hiring an App Development Company

As you’re comparing different mobile app development companies, you should also be aware of some potential downsides of going this route. 

Choosing the Right Mobile App Development Company

If you run a quick Google search for mobile app development solutions, you’ll likely find hundreds if not thousands of options. Finding the right mobile app development company for you and your specific needs might feel a bit overwhelming. 

You can quickly start to eliminate some options based on their location or your budget. For example, if you’re located in North America, you may decide to eliminate any app development companies located overseas. 

Once you come up with a shortlist of options, you’ll have to request a consultation with all of your top considerations. Based on those consultations, you can move forward with who you feel the most comfortable with. 

You can read our guide on how to hire a mobile app developer for more information.

Identifying Core App Development Services

Many agencies offer a wide range of different services. The key here is deciding what they’re best at to ensure it aligns with your goals.

For example, you might run into a web development company that also offers UI/UX design in addition to mobile and web development. Or maybe you find a graphic design agency that also dabbles in mobile design.

Neither of those situations is ideal for mobile app development. 

The best app development companies focus strictly on mobile app development. If they’re also offering SEO services and web design, they’re likely spread too thin. 

Benefits of Hiring Freelance App Developers

There are some situations when hiring a freelance developer does make sense. Here’s a look at the advantages of working with a freelancer.

Lots of Options

Some of the best mobile app developers started as freelancers. So there are definitely plenty of quality developers out there. You just need to find them.

If you browse through freelance networks like Fiverr and Upwork, you’ll find thousands of options to consider. In some cases, you can filter these developers by specialty, location, category, or budget.

So if you’re on a tight budget, you can just adjust the filter for an hourly rate within your budget to only show options that meet your criteria. 

Good for Quick Projects

Freelancers are great for mobile solutions and web app development projects that have a specific start date and end date. If you just need something built without any extra support or post-launch maintenance, a freelancer is probably better than hiring an in-house employee.

But it’s rare for most mobile applications to be defined as a quick project. There’s often a lot more that goes into this compared to web development or other software.

Lower Upfront Costs

Most freelance developers charge a fixed hourly rate for their time. If you compare this side-by-side with an app development company, the upfront costs will probably be cheaper. 

But it’s also worth noting that the development process and timeline will vary based on your project. For example, it might take a freelancer longer to build Android apps than iOS apps. React native app development won’t have the same timeline as other frameworks. 

If cash is scarce, a freelancer might be a better option for you. Just be aware that lower upfront costs don’t always translate to lower total project costs (which we’ll discuss in greater detail shortly).

Potential Drawbacks of Hiring Freelance App Developers

There are definitely some downsides to hiring a freelancer compared to working with a mobile app development company. We’ll discuss those pitfalls in greater detail below.

Less Dependable

A freelance developer is a single source of failure, which is always something you want to avoid in business. What happens if that developer gets sick, goes on vacation, or gets hit by a car? Your mobile app development project just stalled.

Freelance developers don’t have as much accountability as developers working for an agency either. It’s not like they’ll get fired or reprimanded if they’re working slowly or pushing out sub-par code. Nobody is monitoring them or their work. 

Less Security

Freelancers typically don’t have the same security protocols as a leading global technology company. In fact, they might not have any security standards in place beyond basic antivirus installed on their personal devices.

This can be a big problem for mobile apps that contain sensitive company data, sensitive user data, or payment details.

If there’s a breach and that data gets compromised, who is at fault? Your company is on the hook for the software you own—not the developer who built it.

Limited Bandwidth

Your mobile app development project might not be the only thing a freelancer is working on. They’re likely working on multiple projects simultaneously, which leads to a longer mobile app development process.

What happens if they get another project that pays double or triple what you’re paying them? Chances are, they’re going to prioritize that app over yours.

Some freelancers might even work a full-time job and just create apps as a side hustle. 

They just can’t compete with an agency that has a team of developers all working 40-60+ hours per week. 

Quality Concerns

Experience is crucial for mobile app development. If a freelancer has bandwidth restrictions, isn’t using the latest and greatest software, and doesn’t have anyone holding them accountable, there’s a good chance the quality will slip.

It will ultimately be on you to hire quality assurance agents and testers to find bugs or flaws in the code. 

If you’re unable to fix quality problems prior to launch, it’s going to have a direct impact on the user experience. Poor UX is disastrous for apps, as users won’t come back to use them in the future. 

Additional Costs

Earlier, we talked about the low upfront costs of hiring a freelancer. But this often leads to larger expenses that get pushed to the backend of your mobile app development project.

For example, let’s say you hire a freelancer to handle Android app development. Even the top mobile app developers in the world don’t build Android and iOS apps simultaneously. So you’ll eventually need to hire another developer to handle the iOS version.

You also need to consider project management, UI/UX development services, web development services, server maintenance, quality assurance, testing—the list goes on and on.  

Check out our complete guide to building an expert app development team. This breaks down more information about the roles required and the costs associated with those positions. 

How to Find the Top Mobile App Development Companies

Now that you’ve seen the pros and cons of development companies and freelancers, it’s time to find the best mobile app development solution for your specific needs.

As you’re going through this process, there are certain factors you need to keep in mind. This will ultimately help you narrow down your options so you can feel confident with your decision. 

Timeline

How soon do you need to get your app to market? 

An exact deadline isn’t always realistic. But a top mobile development company should be able to offer an estimated timeline. They might even establish some milestones and deliverables to meet along the way to ensure the project gets completed on time.

Team Resources

Who exactly will be working on your mobile app development project?

Find out if the agency is assigning the project to a single developer or if a team of developers will be working on the project together. How much time will they be spending on your app? Are they going to be working on other projects at the same time?

These are all reasonable questions that you can ask during a consultation.