Mobile App Design Checklist: 10 Must-Have Elements

You can have the most brilliant app idea in the world. If the design feels off, people close it in three seconds.

The difference between apps that feel professional and apps that feel like a school project comes down to a handful of design fundamentals. Miss even one, and users notice—even if they can't articulate why.

Here are 10 elements your mobile app design needs to get right.

1. Clear navigation structure

Users should never wonder "how do I get back?" or "where am I?"

Bottom tab bar is the standard for primary navigation on mobile (we catalog all the essential mobile UI patterns for 2026 in a separate guide). It works because thumbs naturally rest at the bottom of the screen. Stick to 3-5 tabs maximum.

Good: Home | Search | Create | Profile
Bad: Home | Explore | Search | Discover | Trending | Saved | Settings | Profile

Rules:

• Active tab should be visually distinct (filled icon, color change, or label highlight)
• Every screen needs a clear way to go back
• Avoid hamburger menus for primary navigation—they hide important options and reduce engagement by up to 50%

If your app has more than 5 primary sections, rethink your information architecture. Not everything deserves top-level navigation.

2. Consistent spacing and alignment

Nothing screams "amateur" louder than inconsistent spacing.

Pick a base spacing unit and stick to it. Most mobile apps use 4px or 8px as the base unit. Everything scales from there:

Base unit: 8px

Spacing scale:
xs: 4px   (half unit — tight spacing)
sm: 8px   (1 unit — between related elements)
md: 16px  (2 units — between sections)
lg: 24px  (3 units — major sections)
xl: 32px  (4 units — page-level padding)

Horizontal padding from screen edges: 16px minimum. 20-24px is more comfortable on modern screens.

Vertical spacing between sections: should be noticeably larger than spacing within sections. This creates visual grouping without needing borders or dividers.

Align everything to a grid. Left-aligned text should share the same left edge. Cards in a list should have identical padding. Buttons should be the same width in similar contexts.

3. Touch-friendly tap targets

Apple says 44x44 points minimum. Google says 48x48dp. Both are right—small tap targets frustrate users.

Common violations:

• Text links with no padding around them
• Icon buttons that are visually 24px with no invisible tap area
• List items that are too narrow to tap reliably
• Close buttons in corners that are impossible to hit

The fix: Even if your icon is 24px, make the tappable area 44-48px. Add invisible padding. Users won't see it, but their thumbs will thank you.

Also consider spacing between tap targets. Two buttons 8px apart will cause mis-taps. Leave at least 8px between interactive elements—more if they trigger destructive actions.

4. Typography hierarchy

Your app needs exactly three levels of text prominence to feel organized:

Primary text: Headlines and key information. Largest, boldest.

Secondary text: Supporting details. Smaller, regular weight.

Tertiary text: Timestamps, metadata, captions. Smallest, lighter color.

Recommended mobile type scale:

Title:     24-28px, Bold (600-700)
Subtitle:  18-20px, Semibold (600)
Body:      16px, Regular (400)
Caption:   13-14px, Regular (400), lighter color

Rules:

• Body text below 14px is hard to read on mobile. Don't do it.
• Line height should be 1.4-1.6x the font size for body text
• Use weight and size for hierarchy, not just color
• Stick to one font family. Two maximum. Three means you've lost control.

Platform conventions matter: iOS defaults to SF Pro, Android to Roboto. Using system fonts is a safe choice that feels native. For the full breakdown, see our app typography guide for iOS and Android.

5. Loading and empty states

Every screen has at least three states: loading, empty, and populated. Most designers only design the populated state.

Loading states

Skeleton screens beat spinners. They show the shape of incoming content, giving users a sense of progress and structure.

Instead of:
[Spinning circle] "Loading..."

Do:
[Gray placeholder blocks in the shape of the content]

If loading takes more than 3 seconds, something is wrong with your architecture, not your loading screen.

Empty states

An empty screen with just "No items yet" is a missed opportunity. Empty states should:

• Explain what this screen will show
• Tell users how to populate it
• Include a call-to-action

Good empty state:
"No workouts logged yet"
"Start tracking your progress by logging your first workout."
[Log Workout] button

Bad empty state:
"Nothing here."

Error states

When something breaks, tell users:

1. What happened (simply)
2. What they can do about it
3. A retry option

Never show raw error codes or stack traces.

6. Consistent color usage

Pick a color system and use it consistently:

Primary color: Your brand. Used for CTAs, active states, links.

Semantic colors: Red for errors/destructive actions. Green for success. Yellow/orange for warnings. These are universal—don't override them.

Neutral palette: 5-7 shades of gray for backgrounds, borders, secondary text, and dividers.

Color usage rules:

Primary:    CTAs, active navigation, links, key actions
Error:      Delete buttons, error messages, form validation
Success:    Confirmation, completed states
Warning:    Alerts, caution notices
Neutral:    Everything else (backgrounds, borders, text)

Common mistakes:

• Using brand color for everything (overwhelming)
• Using red for non-destructive actions (confusing)
• Different shades of blue across different screens (inconsistent)
• Text on colored backgrounds that doesn't meet contrast ratios

Check contrast ratios. WCAG requires 4.5:1 for normal text. Use a contrast checker—your eyes aren't reliable enough.

7. Intuitive forms and inputs

Forms are where apps lose users. Every unnecessary field, confusing label, or friction point costs conversions.

Rules:

• Labels above inputs, not inside (placeholder text disappears when typing)
• One column layout—multi-column forms on mobile are a nightmare
• Show password option on password fields
• Real-time validation (don't wait until submission to flag errors)
• Auto-advance between fields when possible (like OTP inputs)
• Use appropriate keyboard types (number pad for phone, email keyboard for email)

Input field anatomy:

[Label]
[Input field with clear boundaries]
[Helper text or error message below]
[Enough spacing before next field]

Form length: If your form has more than 5 fields, break it into steps with a progress indicator. Nobody wants to see a wall of inputs.

8. Proper image and icon treatment

Icons

Use a single icon set throughout your app. Mixing Feather icons with Material icons with custom ones looks chaotic.

Icon rules:

• Consistent size (usually 24px for inline, 20px for compact)
• Consistent style (all outline OR all filled—don't mix)
• Meaningful—every icon should be recognizable without a label, or pair it with a label

Images

• Always define aspect ratios so layouts don't shift as images load
• Show placeholder/skeleton while loading
• Round corners consistently (if cards have 12px radius, profile images might have 50% for circles)
• Handle missing images gracefully (placeholder, not a broken image icon)

9. Feedback and microinteractions

Users need to know their actions registered. Every tap should produce visible feedback.

Essential feedback:

• Button press states (slight scale, color change, or opacity shift)
• Pull-to-refresh with visual indicator
• Success confirmation after form submission
• Haptic feedback for important actions (on supported devices)
• Progress indicators for multi-step processes

Optional but impactful:

• Smooth transitions between screens
• Animated toggles and switches
• Subtle bounce effects on scroll limits
• Skeleton-to-content fade transitions

The keyword is "subtle." Animation that calls attention to itself is distracting. Animation that makes the interface feel responsive is invisible.

10. Platform conventions

iOS and Android have different design languages. Respecting them makes your app feel native.

Key differences:

You don't need pixel-perfect platform compliance, but you should avoid iOS patterns on Android and vice versa. A back arrow in the top-left feels natural on iOS, weird on Android where the system handles back navigation.

If you're building cross-platform, lean toward patterns that work on both: bottom navigation, bottom sheets, and standard touch gestures.

The quick audit

Before shipping any screen, run through this rapid checklist:

• Can I navigate to and from this screen easily?
• Is spacing consistent with the rest of the app?
• Are all tap targets at least 44px?
• Does the typography hierarchy make sense at a glance?
• Does the loading state look intentional?
• Is color usage consistent with the system?
• Are form fields usable with one hand?
• Do images have defined dimensions and fallbacks?
• Does every action provide visible feedback?
• Does this feel native to the platform?

If you answer "no" to any of these, fix it before moving on.

Automate the checklist: Generate designs that follow these best practices out of the box — proper spacing, touch targets, typography hierarchy, and platform conventions are built in.

Speed up the process

Remembering all this while designing from scratch is a lot. AI design tools can handle many of these fundamentals automatically.

With GenDesigns, describe your app and the generated designs follow mobile design best practices — proper spacing, touch targets, typography hierarchy, and platform conventions are built in. You focus on what makes your app unique instead of reinventing the wheel on basic design patterns.

Related reading:

• Mobile UI Patterns 2026 - Pattern reference for mobile design
• Dark Mode Design for Apps - Getting dark themes right
• iOS vs Android Design Differences - Platform-specific guidelines