mobile phone app design software

If you're reading this post, the high chances are that you're looking for mobile app design software . Good news: you're in the right place.

In this roundup, people at Designveloper introduce you to the top 20 mobile development tools that most designers have been using for years. The tools we chose here are more intuitive and powerful than you'd expect. Let's find out. But first…

What is App Design Software?

With a small investment of time and a willingness to learn, you can create and manage your mobile site or application design using one of the best mobile app design software . Whether it's for your business, blog, product, service, or just something totally random. App creation software options are both plentiful and easy to find.

A good app design intends to make using the application design easy and enjoyable. Such a design does not mislead, distract or confuse users. It helps them get the most of the app features in the simplest and most fun ways.

All the best app design software platforms will help designers create better interfaces. In other words, thanks to these tools, your products will likely attract users more effectively.

Normally, designers will use application design software or some free app design software to provide developers the UI and UX design so that the development process could be performed in a productive manner.

See also: Software Engineering Project Management Methodology

What Makes Mobile UI Design Great?

First of all, designers have to follow the technical requirements of the client and the platform guidelines. Next, they need to align the project design with the latest digital trends so that it looks modern and smooth. And the last, but not least, they should make the project stand out thanks to its design

1. Marvel

Pricing : Start at $12/month. The free plan is also available.

Marvel allows you to design, prototype, and work with your team quickly. You can see how your potential users will interact with your designs in real-time. Even if you're a newbie in the world of designing Android/iOS apps, Marvel makes you feel like you're professional. It's actually the all-in-one mobile app design software for everyone.

2. InVision

Pricing : Start at $15/month. The free plan with one prototype is also available.

InVision offers you an over-the-top amazing user experience to design your mobile app. The mobile app design software comes with a modern studio which includes useful features such as vector drawing, adaptive layout, etc. Just enter an email, and the app lets you start the creation process immediately.

3. Axure RP

Pricing : Start at $29/month.

Axure RP is a robust mobile app design software for professional designers. The software gives you all the functionalities you need to create the best app ever. If you're struggling with delivering your design to developers, Axure RP is your ideal choice. Using this tool, you can publish an Axure RP file to Axure Cloud, and then show your design on the web as a complete picture, including everything you want to display – documentation, prototypes, visual design, you name it.

4. Sketch

Pricing : Start at $99/year.

Many big names like Nintendo, Google, Facebook, and even Apple have been using Sketch to create design masterpieces. This tool not only offers you the same features as Marvel and InVision do but also provides you with hundreds of plugins. Look for Felipe, Runner, or Zeplin, Sketch got you covered! Note that the first time you download Sketch, you'll have 30 days to enjoy full features. After that, you have to buy a license.

5. BuildFire

Pricing : $59/month.

When it comes to making apps for iOS and Android, many designers opt for BuildFire . The first reason is that this tool is 100% free to build, meaning you can create a mobile app design software without spending a dime. You won't have to pay unless you publish it. Besides, you don't need to know any coding knowledge to create an app on this platform.

See also: Web Design Trends You Should Know

6. Adobe XD

Pricing : $14.29/month. The free plan is also available.

If you're looking for a free mobile app design software to create designs for websites, mobile apps, games,etc., choose Adobe XD . This tool works like magic – it allows you and your colleagues to work together in real-time. Also, you can join daily challenges to get feedback on your design and learn from others.

7. Proto.io

Pricing : Start at $24/month. A free trial is also available.

Proto.io is trusted by companies such as Amazon, Evernote, PayPal, and Disney. This free app design software is easy to use and doesn't require coding skills. It also offers a wide range of design and prototype templates. The latest version of Proto.io comes with useful features like preset templates, gradient colors, visual Easings Manager, etc.

8. Origami Studio

Pricing : Free.

Origami Studio allows you to create prototypes with intuitive layers. You can also bring Sketch layers to Origami and edit them with masks, animations, behaviors, etc. Besides, it comes with pre-designed material and iOS components, which allows you to design faster. Here is the fact: Origami Studio is a product of Facebook engineers, and it has been used to develop Facebook Messenger as well as Instagram! What's more? It's a best app design software!

9. OmniGraffle

Pricing : Start at $149.99/year. A free trial is also available.

As a diagram design tool, OmniGraffle will help you create screen flows, strategy maps, wireframes, and many other diagrams you want. This tool offers advanced features like artboard presentation, artboard layers, automation with JavaScript, etc. Currently, it's available for Mac only.

10. Balsamiq

Pricing : Start at $9/month.

Balsamiq is meant for app designing tools. Using this tool, you can completely focus on structure and content without being interrupted by colors and details. It's easy to use, so you don't need to worry about the learning curve. Balsamiq is available on the web, Mac, and Windows. You can integrate the app with Google Drive, Confluence, and Jira.

11. JustInMind

Pricing : Start at $19/month.

JustInMind is the standalone mobile app design software for wireframe and prototype designers. This tool supports fully-interactive, responsive prototypes, smart form and data, along with free UI kits. You can also import your work from Sketch or Microsoft TFS to JustinMind and edit images in Illustrator or Photoshop.

12. HotGloo

Pricing : Start at $12/month.

HotGloo is an optimized mobile app design software . It runs in your browser, so you need the Internet connection to work with this tool. Apart from that, GotGloo is useful to create interactive wireframes and prototypes. It currently offers a 7-day free trial.

13. UI Stencil Kit

Pricing : Diverse, depending on what types of products you buy.

Have you ever heard about UI Stencil Kit ? If not, you miss a powerful kit to support your mobile app creation process. Basically, UI Stencil Kit is a set of tools to help you brainstorm and sketch your ideas on paper. It's a must-have tool for every designer.

14. Flinto

Pricing : Start at $99/month.

Flinto is a Mac app design tool to create interactive and animated prototypes. The software offers a bunch of features like sound effects, gestures, scroll animations, animated transitions, etc. You won't find any trouble when working with Flinto, for sure.

15. FramerJS

Pricing : Start at $15/month.

Compared with the tools above, FramerJS is a bit difficult to start with. You need some time to get familiar with the software and its features. Despite that, FramerJS is still the right choice if you don't mind getting some training early one. It covers all the features that the typical mobile design app software should have.

16. Zeplin

Pricing : Start at $19/month. The free plan is available, as well.

Want a perfect mobile app design tool to work with developers? Look no further! Zeplin will be your best choice. It's considered the ultimate collaboration tool for designers to share their designs with engineers. More importantly, Zeplin supports many integrations with popular apps like Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma, Photoshop, Slack, and Trello.

17. UXPin

Pricing : Start at $24/month.

UXPin is a UI/UX design tool with a compelling drag-and-drop feature, available for Mac and Windows. The software platforms also support a vast collection of built-in elements, so you're free to design anything you want. Also, UXPin continually adds new features to do your work more effectively.

18. IconJar

Pricing : Start at $27.5/month.

If you have a lot of icons but don't know how to organize them, you should use a mobile app design tool named IconJar . The name tells it all – this tool works like a "jar" where you can keep your icons inside and manage them the way you want. For example, you can drag icons from IconJar to any app, export icons in any size/type/color, or use Smart Sets to similar icons. There are unlimited possibilities for you to work with this awesome tool.

19. Fluid UI

Pricing : Start at $8.25/month.

With Fluid UI , you can prototype and share your design instantly. This tool supports faster prototyping, epic collaboration, interactive previews, fluid UI, and more. You can't miss it!

20. Principle

Pricing : $129.

If your designs need complex animations and interactions, you can use Principle to create them. It doesn't matter that you're making a multi-screen app or a new animation, you can do that with this app. The principle is now available for Mac only, and it supports all the Mac features you love: Full-screen mode, a Retina interface, and AutoSave.

21. 3Ds Max

With 3ds Max designers can make impressive 3D animations and, roughly speaking, any 3D model they need to create. 3ds Max has an extremely helpful library of 3D content one can borrow for their projects.

This is a trendy design tool which is frequently used for rendering, animation, and 3D modeling. It was developed with game design visualization in mind. 3ds Max is quite expensive, it costs $1,545.00/year.

22. Avocode

Basically, Avocode can cover the workflow from prototype to code. Avocode can hardly be called a tool for UI design. However, this software is extremely useful for working with designs. It costs $14 per month for one user and $90+ per month for teams.

In Avocode, you can drag, drop and share any design, import design prototypes, export layers, and discuss any component in the comments next to it.

23. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop has a middle learning curve. It's easy to learn the basics, but learning all the tricks takes significant time and effort.

This software has been the number one designer choice for many years. With this tool, designers can make anything from simple web pages to complex mobile app design.

Bonus: Top 5 free app design software

If your resource in terms of capital is limited, here I've brought together 5 brilliant app designing tools to help you get from concept to finished app faster — all free.

1. PopApp

If you liked Marvelapp but you want a working prototype on your Android device, look no further than PopApp. It is unique because it starts with photographs of your hand-drawn app sketches and links them together on your device.

2. Adobe Kuler

Use Adobe Kuler to take a photo of something with a colour scheme you like, and let it pick the best complementary colours from the photo. Alternatively, you can pick a pre-made colour palette from their library of popular colours to get a winning colour scheme right off the bat.

See also: 4 Biggest Trends in Mobile App Ideas

3. Mobile Awesomeness

Mobile Awesomeness has a rating system for all of the designs posted on its website. Much like before, this is a website for inspiration, except that this website has design inspiration from a variety of sources, including mobile and web.

4. Android Patterns

This website categorizes tons of Android design patterns. If you're looking for something new and distinctive or just something different to start using, you can go over to their design pattern library to take a look.

5. App design software free – Tuts+

Tuts+ tutorials are long and comprehensive, so you are walked through each button click you may need to get something done.

Tuts+ is an enormous library of tutorials from everything on CSS to Crocheting. Luckily, they have an entire section dedicated to Mobile Design as well. Head on over there to access for enormous, visual design tutorials.

Your turn!

OK, so now you've known the best mobile app design software for 2020. Make sure you choose the tool that fits your needs, technical knowledge, and budget. In case you know any other powerful tool to create mobile app designs, feel free to share it with us below.