iOS and Android app development have both advantages and disadvantages, meaning you should decide which platform to choose based on the requirements of your project. Still, whenever platform you choose, you will have to do your best to make an interactive application.
Surely you wonder from time to time how to use a particular gadget, application and what will happen if you press some button. As human beings, we love interactivity because we like to be engaged in things we are doing.
Interactivity is not only more fun but also more effective. It is the path to better customer engagement, which brings longer-term brand satisfaction and equalizes more conversions.
Since the number of apps is growing year by year, the goal is to make applications as interactive as possible.
In this blog post, we bring you guidelines to make a bit more interactive applications and how to make your app do something in response to the user’s action.
Interactivity is a crucial part of your app’s UI
Today we live in a world of touchpad devices and interactive applications and websites. We use them daily for various things and they surely make our lives easier.
Consequently, it makes sense for designers to clearly understand the design of interactions before embarking on creating a fluid and lifelong user experience.
User-centered interactive design is based on an understanding of actual users, including their experiences, goals, needs, wants, and tasks. This discipline approaches design from a user perspective while also seeking to balance user needs and technological capabilities and business goals.
A step closer to designing more engaging mobile apps
For a mobile application to be of high quality, to attract users, and be useful – it must meet specific criteria.
The two major mobile app platforms on the market are Android and iOS.
When designing app interactions, it’s essential to solicit user gestures specific to the device’s platform. Depending on the device, users use different gestures to accomplish particular tasks.
Like any idea, the app should give some value, solve problems, and be as easy to use as possible.
When it comes to user interaction, the user reads the page content and manipulates the restricted data. A website, on the other hand, provides visual and text content that users can view and read, but does not affect their functioning.
Most applications have to respond to the user in some way.
How to make an interactive app?
To successfully collaborate with developers and designers and coordinate all the things, is one of the main things that will lead you to a satisfactory goal – creating an interactive app.
When creating an application, it is essential to express what you want a specific functionality in the app to do and describe it in detail. The crucial question is how interactivity is best used to enhance the user experience.
To make sure that the mobile app experience is convenient, engaging, and interactive (for both Android and iOS mobile devices), follow these steps:
1. Keep it easy, simple and intuitive
Any interactive application should be so simple that you don’t even need to think about how you use it. The user should have control over the application at all times.
Intuitive navigation, sleek design, and high-resolution photos are essential things to have in mind when designing any application.
The lowest criterion to be met by any application is to be simple and easy to use. If your app is not usable enough, the number of users will be reduced. If the user needs a lot of time to figure out how the system is being used, the chances of leaving and deleting the application are high.
Usability should be viewed from the user’s point of view – how much satisfaction/frustration the user experiences when using the application. “Usability” means the ease of access and use of an application. We measure usability throughout the iOS and android app development process, from wireframes to prototypes to the final deliverable.
Just like UX design, interaction design is also essential. It has been developed to allow for smooth interactions between users and the environment.
However, there are some differences between them. For example, user experience design is responsible for every aspect of a user-focused system or software. On the other hand, the interaction design focuses only on the interaction between users and their computers/devices.
2. Stimulate the senses
When formulating your application concept, consider other senses to help you immerse users in your application. Think about whether you can bring touch, movement or sound into the app for a more realistic experience?
Having a good-looking site is excellent, but it is also essential for users to navigate through the app easily.
Pay special attention to the following:
- Font size and color – Choose legible and large enough fonts that are easy to read. For aesthetic appeal, colors must be consistent and further ensure readability.
- Content – A web designer may or may not be responsible for creating a copy application. Still, there are certain design elements in the way you display copy for the user experience.
- Headlines – Organize content using captions and subtitles to have a consistent experience as they navigate the app.
- Excerpts – Excerpts must be separated, short and recognizable.
Sound
A great way to interact with the user and build the user experience is through sound. Tones can enhance the overall user experience, validate user actions, and provide feedback. Focus on using sound to improve any interaction for visual applications. Use sound to notify the user whether an action they have taken was successful or not.
Apart from sound and visual, tactile interactions are not negligible either. They are tactile and often involve vibrations to provide feedback.
How does the user know that the app is doing its job at the touch of a button? One way is for the button to change color or vibrate. This is one of the signs that specific software has activated large gestures of user pressure.
As with sound, you don’t need to overdo it with vibration. The user wants a decent mobile phone, not an electric shock game.
3. Use intuitive triggers
Just as you may be confused by signs on how to open the door, unexpected or unfamiliar functionalities can also confuse users.
For example, the confirmation and cancel buttons on iOS and Android devices are on opposite sides. Mixing these keys is like having taps that turn the wrong way: the user will keep clicking the wrong button.
Vertical card list
Vertical card lists slide with a swipe is the way of letting a user take action.
Cards mimic real-life objects and are very conducive to app interaction. Users can swipe horizontally or vertically through the lists, drag, drop and rearrange cards to a specific location or tap on them to expand or navigate another page.
Just like cards, images and buttons are rich sources of app interactions on both Android and iOS platforms. Using hand gestures, users can intuitively manipulate an image or a button. Users should be able to zoom the image in and out, to expand and drag it. Button states often change by being highlighted or pressed when the user touches them.
Text input fields
Text fields should indicate to the users that they are clickable and interactive. They let users enter and edit text. Even the most simple act of making fields appear ready for keypad input via a blinking cursor is an app interaction.
People with large fingers often struggle with apps that have tiny fields and buttons. Design your UI with Shrek in mind, not Thumbelina.
4. Speed, feedback and responsiveness are the keys
The golden rule in iOS and Android app development is that actions must happen immediately.
Feedback and response time are some of the “good” characteristics of interaction design. Feedback is the key to interaction design. Your product must communicate with customers and give them feedback on the task performed and what they should do next.
Unexpected interactions can also help surprise and improve user experience. Mobile devices are becoming more impressive over time, so finding creative ways to maximize the latest features will bring your users a more remarkable experience.
When you think you got it, test your app and test it again.
Never underestimate the value of testing from an early stage. By testing, you’ll be well on track to find the ways users interact and how they use your application.
Examples of successful iOS and Android app development
Let us show you how attractive app interaction looks in practice.
The first example of an interactive application is Bizar, a project we worked on successfully. We resolved all issues and bugs that existed from the previous dev team and improved the stability of Android, iOS, and Cloud/Web app. That included resolving legacy issues, updating frameworks, developing a new set of features, and developing an excellent user interface.
Bizar is an app for business collaboration that help you easily coordinate with your team, organize and plan projects. It takes all the networking tools your team needs and puts them in one place.
The app has a simple yet powerful editor that makes it easy to write Topics. Check to see why they like to say it’s so simple, it’s just Bizar.
Another good example is Wish, an e-commerce app with a “blitz buy” feature tempting users to shop. It gives a whole new level of online shopping experience.
The user has to tap to spin a roulette wheel with a pointer that lands on a different number of products and get a discount on that day. This type of impulse shopping is not for everyone but shows how app interactions can transform the user’s experience.
Are you interested in how to make a smartphone app? How to come up with a quality idea for the interactive application and find out if the application will be successful? Check our latest blog post on this subject.
Have a project in mind?
If you have a specific app idea and need for your business, feel free to contact us!
With our experience and knowledge, we are ready to create an interactive application according to your desires and measures. Let interactive apps become the best tool in your work!