Top Mobile App Wireframing & Mockup Tools

Mobile app development demands a lot of energy and time unless we use the right tool. That’s why various mobile app developers start with a mockup or wireframing tool. Apart from saving your money and valuable time, developers can also target the user experience using such devices.

What Is A Mobile App Wireframe Tool?

A graphical representation of a mobile web page, app page, screen designing, and UI is a mobile app wireframing tool. A mobile app’s rough skeletal structure is represented as a two-dimensional model where vertices and lines are shown.

The mobile app wireframe plays a vital role as it exhibits the element arrangement to meet the planned process in the mobile app development phase. Wireframing eases bridging the ideology between media app development creativity and business objectives.

Wireframing is the most significant aspect that developers should consider before finalizing the mobile app development, dashboards, web development, and more.

Let’s jump onto the questions that strike our minds before we start with wireframing.

Three Main Questions to Ask Before Wireframing?

Firstly, we need to understand the clients’ needs, and for that, we should interact with them 1-to-1 or on call. It will assist you with an exact scenario about what clients are looking for from the app and their primary business objectives. Before that, you should understand the below three top things

• What’s the aim of the app?
• How many types of users will be there?
• What is the expected user flow?

You should ask these questions before you start with wireframing. After you understand the app’s purpose, it will ease you while paying for elements on the page and finalizing what should come before and get the screen. Moreover, it will assist you in understanding what you want to archive here. Altogether, when you know the purpose of the mobile app, it will become easy for you to plan the information architecture and recognize user goals.

Knowing about your app users will assist you in determining the number of screens you would need in defined cases.

And understanding the expected user flow will help you in starting laying out your screens. You need to determine the anticipated user journey of each user, their actions and try user-friendly ways to meet those actions.

Four Tips to Create Great Wireframes

Let’s now check out some practical tips that we should incorporate when we are wireframing:

• Simplicity is the Key
  The process of wireframing should be fast and straightforward.
• Grid is Important
  A grid helps in crafting a structure for the layouts. All the advanced apps are developed on a grid. So, you should make sure that you use at least one in your wireframes.
• Make Sharp and Short Annotations
  As team members read wireframes many times, unlike other documents. So, you need to add some annotations to them. But, be sure you keep it brief and straightforward.
• Encourage Feedback
  After sharing your wireframes, motivate feedback from your team members. It’s a fantastic way to improve your wireframes.

Top Mobile App Wireframe Tools 2021

Let’s now look at Mobile App Wireframing & Mockup Tools and their pricing and key features.

1. Sketch

Pricing: Personal License: $99/year, and a package per device (volume license) for $89/year/device.

One of the widely used tools, Sketch, is used for creating prototypes, collaborating, and visualizing the user journeys. Moreover, professionals use it all over the globe for designing purposes. This tool holds an intuitive interface, features, and everything that macOS app operators use. Apart from handling and testing the designing elements, receiving feedback is also available for this wireframing tool.

Key Features

• The sketch is best for designing, creating, iterating, and testing the design.
• This wireframe tool comes with vector graphics, pixel-perfect icons, and interactive prototypes.
• This tool holds responsive, reusable components that align perfectly with the content.
• For easy flowing, all the designing ideas are first tested and then shared through the prototype.
• Designers can pick any plugin and integration for animation.
• Design access can be offered through a shared cloud workspace.

2. Justinmind

Pricing: $9 per user/month (standard version); $19 per user/month(professional version)

An all-in-one wireframing tool, Justinmind holds the caliber to create high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes for mobile apps. It is unique to mobile app design compared to existing mainstream design tools because of the excellent support in gesture operations, interactive effects, and transitions. You can craft interactive wireframes with the assistance of interactions and animations without any code involvement. You can start with various customizable templates using its drag-and-drop interface. The wireframing tool also provides online presentation support, permitting users to share wireframes remotely.

Key Features

• You can test the design and take it to the prototype phase, and they can communicate the procedure between teams smoothly.
• The project stakeholders are given access to give feedback.
• The user can publish the prototypes with only a click.
• Designers can also track the changes in the tool.
• We can export the documents.

3. Adobe XD

Pricing: $9.99 per month

One more mobile app wireframe tool, Adobe XD is a fantastic tool for prototyping and is known best for mobile apps, websites, and other digital assets mockups.

Adobe XD comes with various features for templates and UI, cardboards, contextual layer panels, and more robust UI wireframe tools. We can integrate it with Adobe’s creative suite of products permitting apps to import objects faster.

Key Features

• Adobe XD performs fine with illustrator and AfterEffects.
• This wireframe is the best choice for setting up and designing the homepage.
• Adobe XD, a fantastic mockup tool, is used by various users.
• The functional and simple prototype can be created easily and quickly through the auto animate feature.
• You can integrate this tool with Adobe Creative Suite that performs flawlessly.
• It offers an advanced and light feel and holds many functionalities.
• Using photoshop and illustrator, it can connect with XD.

4. Wireframe. Cc

Pricing: Free / $16 (for solo use) / $39 (for trio usage) / $99 (unlimited) per month

A simple wireframe, Wireframe. cc is a fantastic tool for those who have just started. It permits the user to add annotations to particular markup areas for reviews and comments. Although it may not be a feature-rich tool like others, its color palette will assist you in avoiding that specific avenue of procrastination. Its UI elements are context-sensitive and appear only when you want them.

Key Features

• The designer can craft wireframes from any mobile or web app.
• The UI that is built from this tool appears to be context-sensitive and straightforward.
• You can save time using its limited color palette.
• It arrives with a click and drops feature.
• For the seven days premium version, the user will also get a free trial version.
• It’s crafted in such a way that makes users attain everything related to the tool perfectly.

5. InVision Freehand

Pricing: Free

A fantastic tool, InVision is crafted by designers for designers. If you like to create your wireframes on a whiteboard where everyone can revise and contribute, this tool would be best. With this wireframing tool, you can make interactive mockups and also share them with your team. Later, they can leave comments on the screen directly. You will get access to real-time to-do lists, permitting others to make a sound on the discussion.

Key Features

• The features of the Invision Freehand tool permit users the chance to share their experience and offer feedback also.
• Users can connect and share their designs to existing or new freehand using the Craft plugin.
• Users can create, discuss, and save notes from the feedback sessions.
• This tool is simple and easy to use while allowing users to join and share their ideas.

6. Figma

Pricing: Free (for starter)/ $12 (for professional)/ $45 (for organization)

An all-in-one design, Figma is based in the browser. Using the layers panel, users can stay well-organized, keeping all the UI elements and artboards in one place. Apart from being the best tool for standalone designers, Figma provides real-time collaboration for your team. At the same time, advantageously, Figma permits many users to work on one project and save all the changes in one project. By commenting, the teammates communicate on the elements.

Key Features

• Round-trip component editing.
• Show where the components are live.
• Remove all prototype links.
• A new background layer type.
• Unsplash photo integration.
• Share button.
• Current users’ ring colors.
• Drag & drop image uploading into a mask.
• Prototype linking between pages.

7. Mockplus

Pricing: $199 (Pro) per year/ $399 (unlimited) per user for lifetime

Using a desktop-based app as Mockplus, you can rapidly and quickly prototype your mobile app. Mockplus makes the app easy to use with no technical expertise or data. You can get iPad, Android, iPhone templates in every size as per your particular needs. Mockplus comes with 200 and more components and 3000+ icons. Using the drag-and-drop feature, the user can develop an interactive prototype effectively.

Key Features

• Design prototyping
• Design organization and collaboration
• Design feedback and commenting
• User testing and research
• Real-time editing
• Design sharing and presentation
• Project and task management
• Components & icons
• Design system management
• Version Management

8. Moqups

Pricing: $20 (trio, $7 per each additional user)/ $13 (for single user)/ Custom (enterprise) per month, billed annually

A purely web-based platform, Moqups helps in creating a wireframe for mobile and web apps. The chief advantage of web-based platforms is that you can perform from anywhere. Moqups is available free of cost to the developer community all over the world. You can craft simple wireframes, UI concepts, and solid models using this wireframing tool and its in-built templates.

Key Features

• Collaboration
• Presentation Tools
• Feedback Management
• Drag & Drop
• Interactive Elements
• Desktop Interface
• Mobile Interface
• Revision History
• Prototype Creation
• Wireframe Creation

9. Fluid UI

Pricing: $8.25 (solo) / $19.08 (pro) / $41.58 (team) per month

One more popular and leading wireframing and mockup tool, Fluid UI, uses advanced technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. You can craft layouts easily by dragging in the elements from such libraries. Fluid UI offers a fantastic way to visually map your projects, create links to join screens, and create a diagram of how everything performs perfectly. Fluid UI holds a unique feature that allows users to interact with the UI design through different devices, such as Tablets, Mobiles, and Desktops.

Key Features

• Built-in Libraries
• Rapid Prototyping
• Mouse and touch gestures
• Upload Existing Assets
• Beautiful animations
• Collaborative prototyping tool
• Communicate how pages relate
• Team Ideation via Live Video Calling
• Installable desktop client
• Lock Pages
• Preview on Mobile
• Work from Any Browser

10.UXPin

Pricing: Free/ $29 (Pro)/ $49 (Team)/ Custom (Enterprise, billed monthly)

A UX design, wireframing, and mockup tool, UXPin arrives with the comment, share, and review features, such as task assignments, approval requests, Slack/email notifications, and allows users to streamline the workflows. The simple drag and drop functionality will allow you to drag icons, custom UI elements, and images to increase a wireframe. Administrators can make the team and set role-based permission access and also lock up the essential projects.

Key Features

• Mobile Support
• Feedback Management
• Collaboration
• Feedback Collection
• Drag & Drop
• Presentation Tools
• Interactive Elements
• Page Linking
• Mobile Interface
• Prototype Creation
• Wireframe Creation
• Revision History

Conclusion

We hope this article will be helpful for you. These are not just this much; there are various best mobile app wireframe tools that individuals and businesses can use. So, you should know the process of creating wireframes for apps. You may use the combination of devices listed above to make your wireframes.

Mobile app development demands a lot of energy and time unless we use the right tool. That’s why various mobile app developers start with a mockup or wireframing tool. Apart from saving your money and valuable time, developers can also target the user experience using such devices.