If you’re facing issues in prototyping your mobile applications, this post will help you out. We have explored 5 of the best tools (in no particular order) for prototyping mobile apps, each of which offers a unique set of features.
SEE ALSO: The 7 Best Prototyping Tools for UI and UX Designers in 2016
Tools for Mobile Apps Design and Prototyping
Wireframing is a good way to be used to set the layout of your mobile apps before you go into the design itself. Balsamiq Mockups is an easy-to-use wireframe tool that helps you prototype faster. It reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard, but using a computer. The handwritten design is unique which lets designer focus on the design. Balsamiq is very easy to use and understand as they make use of a basic drag and drop function. It comes with some pre-designed widgets allowing the non-designers to build wireframes easily. This tool do provide a simple solution to build low-fidelity wireframes, but it is not robust enough to some extent — particularly the interaction design. If you would like to create mockups that are lightweight, quick to put together, this is the application for you.
Mockplus, a fast growing alternative for rapid prototyping. It is a desktop-based mockup tool allows you to create interactive moblie mockups with just a few clicks, and test them on actual devices instantly. In terms of prototyping tool, I believe most of the designers know Axure. It is a robust tool, but when it comes to mobile, there is no way one can view the prototype live on the mobile device itself. That where Mockplus comes in. Mockplus allows you to select the type of prototypes before you get started, including iPhone 6 plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, Android etc. The pre-built mobile components and icons saves you much time on design. It provides multiple choices to you test your mobile prototypes on actual device, such as scanning QR code, uploading project to cloud, exporting to html (coming soon). The interface is very clean that makes it really easy to focus on the layout without getting into too many details. If you need a mobile friendly and rapid prototyping tool, Mockplus is one of the best tools for that.
Tools for Linking Screens Together
Marvel is a great browser-based prototyping tool which a lot of designers will have probably heard of before. According to Marvel themselves their app “is a simple way to turn your sketches, mockups and designs into iPhone, Android, apple watch and web prototypes. It is a design, prototyping and collaboration platform
Design
It provides a simple design tool called Canvas to makes it a breeze to build some simple icons. Marvel supports direct uploading of certain image file types including PSD, GIF, and JPG, as well as third party uploading via Google Drive, Sketch, or Dropbox.
Prototype
It’s easy to create a flow in Marvel, just click and drag to create interactive hotspots on your designs that react when they are clicked or touched. It allows you to make your prototypes come alive with realistic transitions and gestures between screens.
Collaborate
This prototyping tool also lets you work with clients, colleagues and stakeholders and get feedback easily. Clients can leave comments without having to sign up to Marvel making it seamless.
Bring your mockups to life. Concept.ly is another browser-based prototyping tool offers an easy way to collaborate on design, build interactive applications with few clicks. It is owned and managed by VizTrend Ltd. , a Finland based company established in 2009. You can link screens together by drag-and-drop.
For better collaboration, it divides the feedback into four types including comment, suggestion, problem and idea. The version control features lets you see all versions of your screens and view all feedback. It allows to export your design as ZIP and PDF for further reference. With Concept.ly, you are able to embed your design on your portfolio or website as interactive iFrame.
Pop is an iOS and Android prototyping application that helps you transform your pen+paper ideas into a real working prototype quickly. Draw you app wireframes on paper and take pictures and link them together with POP. You can also upload your mockups form mobile and edit on your desktop with bigger screen. It allows you to duplicate your projects, mockpups and links easily which will improve your productivity. It offers frequently-used transitions and gestures allowing you to test you app like a real. There are several ways to share your app including URL, email, SMS and social media.
Furthermore, there are plenty of other wireframing and prototyping tools available, which may also be of interest. Another great site/table comparing prototyping tools. Click here for details.
