Mobile point-of-sale app for a UAE fintech operator
- 4.8
- star rating on Google Play
Mobile App UI/UX Design Services
Mobile users decide whether your app is worth their time in the first 30 seconds, and the design quality is most of that decision.
Mobile app design is different from web design. Touch targets, gesture navigation, one-handed use, variable network conditions, device notification systems, and platform-specific interaction patterns (iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Material Design) all require decisions that don't have direct equivalents in web design. Adapting a desktop interface to mobile produces a mobile interface that users tolerate. Designing for mobile from the start produces one they prefer.
RaftLabs provides mobile app UX and UI design for iOS, Android, and cross-platform apps. Research, wireframes validated with mobile users, high-fidelity Figma designs with platform-specific interaction patterns, and handoff specifications that give iOS and Android developers what they need to build accurately.
Platform-specific design patterns for iOS (HIG) and Android (Material Design), not a web interface squeezed into a mobile screen
Wireframes validated with mobile users before visual design begins
High-fidelity Figma designs with mobile-specific interactions, gestures, bottom sheets, pull-to-refresh, tab bar navigation
Handoff specifications with iOS and Android platform notes so developers build the right experience for each platform
Recent outcomes
Voice AI · Research
6× deeper insights
Text-based interviews converted to automated phone calls
AI Automation · Ops
20k+ txns day one
Manual invoice OCR across 40+ gas stations
Loyalty · Retail
1,062 users in 4 weeks
SuperValu & Centra loyalty platform with receipt validation
SaaS · Logistics
2,000+ shipments yr 1
Multi-carrier shipping hub for Indonesian eCommerce
4.9
on ClutchThe problem
Sound familiar?
Is your mobile app a web interface that was made smaller rather than a design that respects how people actually use their phones?
Are users abandoning your app at onboarding because the first-time experience doesn't follow the conventions they expect from iOS or Android?
Short answer
RaftLabs designs iOS, Android, and cross-platform mobile apps: user research on physical devices, wireframes validated with mobile users, high-fidelity Figma designs following iOS HIG and Material Design 3, and developer handoff with Safe Area, design-token, and gesture specs. A focused single-platform design takes 4 to 6 weeks; a multi-role, cross-platform system takes 8 to 14 weeks. Fixed price.
Key takeaways
- RaftLabs designs iOS, Android, and cross-platform mobile apps with platform-specific UX patterns.
- Wireframes are validated with mobile users on physical devices before visual design begins.
- High-fidelity Figma designs follow iOS Human Interface Guidelines and Material Design 3.
- Development handoff includes design tokens, Safe Area insets, gesture specifications, and platform-specific notes for iOS and Android developers.
- A focused single-platform design takes 4 to 6 weeks; a multi-role, cross-platform system takes 8 to 14 weeks, at a fixed price.
Trusted by
The most common mistake in mobile app design is treating it as a smaller version of the web interface. Mobile users are in different contexts, commuting, in a meeting, one hand occupied, and their tolerance for friction is lower than desktop users who have a keyboard, a large screen, and uninterrupted attention. A 44-point touch target, a bottom-sheet pattern for secondary actions, and a tab bar for primary navigation aren't arbitrary mobile conventions; they're solutions to the physical constraints of using a phone. Ignoring them produces an interface that technically works on mobile but feels like a port rather than a product.
Platform conventions also carry user expectations. An iOS user expects a navigation stack with a back button in the top left and a swipe-right gesture to go back. An Android user expects the system back gesture to work predictably. When an app breaks those conventions, users attribute the awkwardness to the app rather than to their unfamiliarity with a custom pattern, and they rate it accordingly. Designing to platform guidelines isn't about following rules; it's about meeting users where their muscle memory already is.
Retention data makes the stakes concrete. The average mobile app keeps only a small fraction of its users a month after install (Adjust, 2024). The decisions made in the first session, touch-target sizing, navigation conventions, onboarding flow, and empty states, decide whether a user comes back or churns like most do.
What we design against
The constraints behind every screen
- 26% / 6%
- Average app retention at day 1 and day 30
- Adjust Mobile App Retention benchmark, 2024
- 44pt / 48dp
- Minimum touch target on every interactive element
- Apple HIG and Material Design 3
- 75%
- Share of on-screen taps driven by the thumb
- Hoober, UXmatters mobile interaction research
Capabilities
What we build
- 01Mobile UX research
Usability testing on physical iOS and Android devices with representative users, because thumb reach, one-handed posture, and interruptions produce behaviour simulators cannot replicate. Findings arrive as a prioritised document with user quotes before wireframes begin, so designs build on validated assumptions.
- 02iOS design (HIG compliance)
Design aligned with Apple Human Interface Guidelines across every navigation, interaction, and component decision. App Store screenshot and preview specifications are produced alongside the designs, so submission needs no separate design pass.
- Built with
- Apple HIG · SF Symbols · Dynamic Type · Safe Area insets
- 03Android design (Material Design 3)
Design aligned with Material Design 3 across navigation, component, and theming decisions, with adaptive layouts covering Android's screen range including foldables. Material components are production-tested across fragmented Android hardware, which cuts implementation risk on devices your test lab doesn't cover.
- Built with
- Material Design 3 · Material You · Google Play assets
- 04Onboarding and first-run experience
Onboarding is where mobile apps lose users who never return. We design every first-run decision, from value proposition screens to in-context permission timing, scoped to deliver users to their first meaningful action, the activation event that predicts retention.
- 05Mobile-specific interaction patterns
Mobile interaction patterns exist because of physical constraints and must be designed explicitly, not discovered during development. Touch targets meet the 44pt iOS and 48dp Android minimums, gestures are specified with conflict resolution documented, and every screen gets empty, error, and offline states with specific recovery actions.
- 06Cross-platform design consistency
Cross-platform design for React Native or Flutter apps means a shared design system with platform-specific overrides, not identical designs or two separate processes. Handoff documentation explicitly separates shared from platform-specific implementation, eliminating the ambiguity that makes apps feel wrong on one platform.
- Built with
- React Native · Flutter · Figma Variables
Inside the developer handoff
A design is only as good as what developers can build from it. Ours ships as a spec, not a set of pretty screens someone has to interpret.
- Design tokens
- Color, type scale, spacing, and radius as Figma Variables, exported as a token set iOS and Android can consume directly, so values match the design instead of being eyeballed in code.
- Safe Area and insets
- Every screen annotated for notch, Dynamic Island, home indicator, and Android gesture and status bars, so layout holds across the current device range.
- Gestures and states
- Swipe, long-press, and pull-to-refresh specified with conflict resolution, plus the empty, loading, error, and offline state for each screen.
- Redlines and assets
- Spacing and size redlines, SF Symbols and Material icon references, and assets exported at every density, alongside App Store and Google Play screenshot specs.
Before you brief a mobile design team
The engagements that go well start with clear answers to five questions. Work through these before the first call and the scope tightens fast.
Mobile design readiness checklist
- Primary platform: which of iOS or Android your first users are on, and whether you launch on one or both
- The activation event: the first meaningful action that predicts a user will stay, so onboarding can be scoped to reach it
- Existing constraints: backend APIs, a design system, or brand guidelines the design has to respect
- Device range: phone only, or tablet and foldable use cases that justify a separate layout
- Content and edge cases: the empty, error, and offline states real users will hit, not just the happy path
Pitfalls we plan around
Most mobile apps fail on the same handful of mistakes. We design against each one from the first wireframe.
- The desktop port
- Shrinking a web layout onto a phone. We design from the thumb and the one-handed grip out, not from a scaled-down desktop grid.
- Onboarding that front-loads
- Ten setup screens before any value. We defer permissions and account steps until the moment they earn a yes.
- Untested gestures
- Custom swipes that collide with the system back gesture. We map gesture conflicts before a developer writes them.
- Missing states
- Screens designed only for full, perfect data. We design the empty, error, and offline states, since that is where real usage lives.
- Guideline drift
- iOS patterns on Android and the reverse. We hold each platform to its own HIG or Material conventions instead of one averaged look.
Where mobile UX is heading
On-device AI is changing what a mobile screen can do. Apple Intelligence and Gemini Nano run models on the phone, so personalization and summarization can happen without sending data to a server. That shifts design work from static screens toward interfaces that adapt to intent.
This creates new problems to design for. Generative UI produces output no one drew in advance, so screens need streaming and loading states, a way to show confidence, and a clear path to correct a wrong answer. AI features also need their own empty and error states, plus visible limits on what the model can see and do. We design these on purpose, because an AI feature users cannot predict is one they stop trusting.
How we scope and price
- Timeline
- A focused single-platform design takes 4 to 6 weeks. A multi-role, cross-platform system takes 8 to 14 weeks. Both frame a v1 you can put in front of users, then iterate.
- Cost
- Fixed price, agreed before work starts. A focused single-platform v1 design starts around $8,000 to $18,000; a complete multi-role, cross-platform system with a design library grows from there.
- What sets the range
- Screen count, interaction complexity, the number of user roles, and whether user research is in scope.
Have a mobile design project?
Tell us the platform, the core user flows you need to design, and whether you have existing designs that need improvement. We'll scope the engagement and give you a fixed price.
Related UX/UI design services
UX/UI Design Services, full design capability overview
Product Design Services, end-to-end product design including mobile
UX Audit, audit of an existing mobile app before redesign
Design System Development, design system with mobile tokens and components
What clients say
What our clients say
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
Charles E.
USAEntrepreneur at Aggie Technologies
All of the sprints were completed on schedule and on budget. We highly recommend RaftLabs!
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Read moreFrequently asked questions
Design for the platform where most of your target users are, or where you're launching first. iOS users in the US, UK, and Australia typically represent a premium segment, they're more likely to pay for apps and have higher average revenue. Android has a larger global market share, particularly in markets outside North America and Western Europe. For most US and UK-focused consumer apps, iOS is the right first platform. For enterprise internal tools, check what devices your company issues. For cross-platform apps built in React Native or Flutter, design for both simultaneously with a shared system and platform-specific overrides.
iOS designs are built with Safe Area insets that account for the notch, Dynamic Island, and home indicator across all current iPhone models. Android designs account for the navigation bar (gesture or button) and system status bar across a wider range of screen sizes and densities. Figma's device frames and auto-layout handle the screen size range without designing for each device individually. The development handoff specifies Safe Area handling and system UI considerations explicitly so developers implement it correctly rather than guessing.
A focused mobile app design, core user flows, onboarding, and the main screens for a single-purpose app, typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. A more complete design covering multiple user roles, complex interactions, onboarding A/B variants, and both iOS and Android platform-specific designs typically takes 8 to 14 weeks. Timeline depends on the number of screens, interaction complexity, and whether research is in scope.
Tablet design is in scope when the app has tablet-specific use cases that justify a different layout, point-of-sale, clinical documentation, field inspection, content creation. For apps where tablet is a secondary device, a responsive layout that adapts from phone to tablet using the same basic navigation structure is usually sufficient. For iPad-first apps (iPadOS-specific features like Stage Manager, keyboard shortcuts, Apple Pencil), dedicated iPad design is in scope and factored into the engagement.
Work with us
Tell us what you need. We'll tell you what it would take.
We scope Mobile App Design in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.
- Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
- Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
- Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
- 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
- All conversations are NDA-protected.