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Mobile App Design: 10+ Best Tools For App Designers

Written by Kanika | Apr 1, 2022 5:03:02 AM

In 2021, revenue from Android and iOS apps total reached $133 billion, a 19% year-on-year increase

The number of iOS and Android mobile applications has increased, which has increased mobile development tools. The mobile app design is the first thing a user sees when they search for it in the app store.

A user evaluates whether the app is worth installing based on the screens and their descriptions. One should get the user interface (UI) of a mobile app perfect with the help of product design companies as it can make or break the app. UI/ UX of any app should be your top concern because it has a direct and powerful impact on user engagement, conversion rates, and total app revenues.

Creating a valuable mobile app needs exceptional ability, imagination, and, of course, the appropriate resources.

A growing number of businesses are investing in user-friendly smartphone designs. Various high-quality iOS and Android mobile app design software are making it easier for app designers and developers to complete their projects.

Many mobile app design tools are available to assist you in sketching mobile app wireframes, creating prototypes, and bringing them to life.

We've compiled a list of the best mobile app design tools to help you take your app to the next level during the development process.

Here is the list of 10 Best Mobile Design Tools

What we've come up with is a list of 10 of the most essential tools for mobile app design that we also use in our software development company, allowing you to quickly generate attractive pitches, screens, and workflows.

1. Sketch

The Sketch mobile app design tool is a lightweight, vector graphics-based UI/UX design tool for modern app designers, focusing on the capacity to do interface design. The sketch is similar to Adobe Photoshop, but it's designed specifically for app prototyping and has a sizable market share in the wireframing and prototype area.

  • Sketch files are saved with their extension (.sketch).format of a sketch file. 
  • You can save these photographs in a variety of formats, including PNG, JPG, TIFF, WebP, and others.
  • Sketch makes it simple to collaborate with other designers and members of the project team.
  • Users can create, update, and share a single source for a specific design component using its libraries. 
  • Sync Cloud makes it simple to share styles and symbols across several documents. 
  • Sketch also comes with several useful plugins. 
  • Jira Cloud, Zeplin, Avocode, WeTransfer, and others are among the integrations available.

Users: Apple, Facebook, Google, Stripe, Nintendo, and others. 

Platforms: macOS

2. InVision

InVision is a cutting-edge mobile app design tool created by and for designers. InVision is a digital product design platform that powers user experiences around the world, elevating interactive UI/UX prototypes to new heights. A workflow, collaboration, and prototyping tool, that can turn your static application designs into fully functional prototypes with interactive elements.

  • InVision is simple to use and understand. 
  • InVision allows you to test not only aesthetics but also wireframe flows more practically. 
  • This app design tool allows your clients to get a firsthand look at how to navigate through designs. 
  • This tool is excellent for making interactive clickable prototypes and mockups. 
  • Within the app, you can share your InVision files with your team for simple and seamless collaboration. 
  • Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari are all supported by InVision.

Users: Netflix, Spotify, HBO, and many more.

Platforms: Android and macOS.

3. Illustrator (Adobe)

Adobe Illustrator allows you to manipulate 2D or 3D visuals to speed up your design process. Illustrator can be used by both professional graphic designers and digital artists to create a wide range of digital products.

  • It has variable fonts, faster document generation, easier image cropping, stylist sets to texts, and stability advancements. 
  • You can use this software to create something extraordinary by drawing, mixing, and refining designs.
  • Adobe Illustrator Draw, a mobile version of Adobe Illustrator, is one of the greatest graphic design apps available.
  • Adobe provides professionally created templates for novices to save time.
  • Its user interface is nice, but being excellent at illustrator requires a steep learning curve.

Platforms: Windows and macOS.

4. Adobe Experience Design (XD)

Sketch's direct competitor is Adobe XD. If you're a PC user who's been wanting to use Sketch but hasn't been able to because it's only available for Mac, this design tool is great news. This is Adobe's vector-based tool, which is created and released.

  • XD has almost all of the same tools as Sketch, including wireframing, prototyping, and more.
  • Adobe Experience Design is unrivaled in its ability to develop basic interactive prototypes.
  • XD is incredibly quick and simple to use. 
  • Allows you to use various Adobe tools and products consistently.
  • It features a simple UI and limited capabilities.
  • When you fill the UI with content, it's straightforward to use.
  • Although, like any other new product, it is currently in preview mode and missing some functionality.

It's catching up to Sketch's dominance, with over 12 million Creative Cloud subscribers.

Platforms: Android and macOS.

5. Photoshop

Photoshop has become an indispensable tool for designers. Imagine a tool that allows you to confidently bring your artistic flair into the digital realm and complements your artistic style. Photoshop is a strong designing tool for making prints and patterns that will help you be the best designer you can be.

  • It includes a plethora of options, tools, and settings for graphic designers to open up new possibilities and produce more authentic designs with the right guidance.
  • Boost your self-assurance in your design abilities.
  • Take pleasure in the new information.
  • Create digital art based on your sketches.
  • Step-by-step instructions will teach you everything you need to know.
  • A wonderful way to learn and remember and speed up your design process.

6. Marvel

Marvel is a platform and app designing tool for creating mobile apps that is all-in-one. It's designed for everyone, not just mobile app designers to make user-friendly app designs. 

  • It's a simple and intuitive mobile app design tool that allows anyone to quickly produce high-quality materials and mockups.
  • When it comes to mobile app creation, this software's flexibility and usability are both impressive.
  • Designing an app page is simple.
  • The prototype is strikingly similar to the live page.
  • Has several great plugins that allow you to effortlessly synchronize your designs from other tools like Sketch or Photoshop, illustrator, and even online storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive.
  • The interface of this app design tool is extremely user-friendly.

Users: IBM, Stripe, Buzzfeed, Deliveroo, and many more.

Platform: Web

7. Figma

Figma is the first collaborative interface mobile app design tool in the world. This tool enables you to collaborate on the design and prototyping of your digital experiences in real-time and in one location. 

  • Figma allows you to turn your concepts into products more quickly.
  • In terms of functionality and capabilities, Figma is a cloud-based design application that is very similar to Sketch. 
  • Figma, on the other hand, is far superior to Sketch when it comes to team collaboration.
  • Figma is a design program that works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

Users: Microsoft, Slack, Uber, Braintree, etc. 

Platform: Web

8. Origami Design- Studio 3 

Origami is a standalone user interface mobile app design tool created by Facebook developers that have been used to design Facebook apps such as Facebook Messenger and Instagram

  • Origami Studio, which is available for free, is a complicated design tool that never fails to impress with its diverse variety of features.
  • You may use Origami to examine your app prototype, copy and paste layers from Sketch, and make them work in Origami.
  • There is no actual coding because it is based on a visual programming language.
  • There's no need to save and construct, one can work in preview mode. 60fps interactive editing is available in Figma. 
  • Furthermore, there is a user-friendly pen tool. 
  • Sharing styles and components with your team is a breeze using team libraries.
  • Support for a variety of mobile OS features such as the camera, microphone, vibration, accelerometer, and gyroscope is outstanding.

Platform: Android and iOS. 

9. Axure

For professional designers, Axure RP is a complete mobile app design tool. It strives to provide you with all of the features you'll need to create an app from beginning to end, with a focus on user experience.

  • It lets you make custom controls by combining existing widgets and attaching actions to events or touch motions like pinch and swipe.
  • This design tool also lets you create wireframes, mockups, flowcharts, personas, concept boards, user journeys, UI design, diagramming, and graphical documentation, among other things.
  • The intriguing part is that if you're a code nerd who wants to do some coding, it allows you to do so while also allowing you to integrate ready-to-use components and libraries to help you create even better designs.
  • It also makes it easier for teams to cooperate by allowing numerous people to work on the same project at the same time.

Users: Amazon, IBM, Apple, eBay, Microsoft, and many more.

Platform: Windows, macOS

10. Proto.io

Proto.io makes your work easier by providing a large number of design and prototype templates. It was created to prototype apps for mobile devices, but it has now been expanded to allow users to prototype apps for anything with a screen interface, such as Smart TVs, digital camera interfaces, vehicles, airplanes, and game consoles.

  • It's simple to use because it doesn't require any coding. 
  • More importantly, you can import your UI components from Sketch or Photoshop without any issues.
  • It enables you to create fully interactive build simulations and prototypes.
  • Touch gestures, orientation adjustments, and screen transitions are all supported on the iPad, iPhone, Android Wear, iOS Wear, vehicles, alarm clocks, refrigerators, and other Internet-connected devices.
  • Dropbox, Photoshop, Sketch, and Lookback are all integrated.

Users: Disney, PayPal, ESPN, Amazon, and more.

Platform: Web

11. Omnigraffle

OmniGraffle is a diagram mobile app design tool that lets you prototype screen flows, strategy maps, wireframes, and several other diagrams. OmniGraffle is a diagramming and graphic design application that is used to create wireframes for mobile apps.

  • Omnigraffle design tool is a drag-and-drop interface, as well as canvases, templates, stencils, vector drawing, and grid guides, as well as notes, and functions for annotating and creating specification documentation for prototypes and mockups.
  • For a more efficient procedure, there are additional possibilities for reusing components and importing bespoke libraries.
  • A leading wireframing and diagramming application that aids in the creation of large wireframes and multi-page decks.

Platform: macOS, iOS

A Quick Tip:  Always save work after every edit! You never Know when devil will come to crash it down.

Final Thoughts:

The number of mobile UI design tools available nowadays is staggering. It's exciting for designers because there are so many possibilities for developing the perfect UI.

Designing a mobile app is a project that is always changing. 

However, regardless of which tool you use, there are still advantages and disadvantages to consider. There isn't a perfect tool for all of the duties at once, but there is a good instrument for each one.

Before you choose a tool, make sure it meets the project's specifications as well as your professional talents and requirements.

We know about UI and UX mobile app designing and what's going on on the planet to configure stunning versatile applications to determine the issues and prepare tech for tomorrow.

Contact us to build your idea of an app into a beautiful reality.