How much time should it take to prototype? I have noticed that the whole point of prototyping is to iterate fast, i.e. run through the build-measure-learn loop as many times as you can.
You don’t know what you will learn before you build and test your prototype, so the faster you can get it out the better. Your second iteration will be considerably better than the first.
So here we recommend 19 mobile app prototyping tools which can considerably reduce your workload and decrease your time to market.
- Proto
Proto.io can simulate everything an app can do. This includes interactive touch gestures, screen transitions and animations. It is perhaps the only mobile prototyping tool that allows users to create realistic, sharable prototypes that work as good as a real app. It is 100% web-based and offers a familiar and intuitive drag-and-drop user interface (UI), with no coding required. It is ideal for User Experience professionals (UX), Interaction Designers (ID), mobile designers, coders, and app enthusiasts.
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Canvas Flip
CanvasFlip is a SaaS platform to create realistic design prototypes and validate it with clients or target audience. Makes life easier for all stake holders in app development – app designers, Product Managers and developers.
- Allows “Layer based transition” to create more realistic design prototypes in lesser efforts.
- Automatically generates UX-Site maps for entire team to visualize and discuss Application flow right on the platform.
- Real time collaboration in-between team using on-screen feedback mechanism.
- Embedding code to share your designs on your WordPress Behance, Medium, Squarespace profiles.
- View your design prototype as an actual app using Panorama App
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Marvelapp
Marvel app turns sketches and designs into interactive web, iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple Watch prototypes and mockups. It helps you collaborate with your team and get feedback.
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Xiffe
Xiffe is the fastest and easiest way to prototype mobile apps. It has an easy to use drag and drop interface. Check out this video which shows how to quickly prototype an expense tracking app Xiffe Prototyping Video.
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Balsamiq
Balsamiq creates software mockups in minutes. It helps you collaborate with a distributed team and has a short learning curve making it easy to involve your clients and customers in the prototyping process. The core focus of Balsamic is on creating the finished product.
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Popapp
POP turns hand-drawn wireframes to interactive prototypes. Sketch the app ideas on paper, take pictures and add links between the mock-ups. POP has an optimised camera for taking photos of paper prototypes which you then link by simply selecting rectangles and assigning them gestures to move to other screens.
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Mockingbot
Mocking bot is very easy to start and has features like widget library, image uploading, gestures, an IOS 7 look and more. It is free for public prototypes.
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UXpin
UXPin is a collaborative design platform used by the best designers. From wireframing to prototyping and hi-fidelity mockups, UXPin brings pure pleasure to the creative work of some of the greatest technology and media companies.
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Moqups
Moqups is an HTML5 app for creating resolution-independent SVG mockups, wireframes and interactive prototypes for your next project.
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Axure
Axure RP is considered the standard in software prototyping tools and is used by tens of thousands of user experience professionals, business analysts and product managers.
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Weld
Weld is a rapid prototyping tool and a complete app to understand the flow, testing with real users.
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Invisionapp
Invisionapp transforms your Web & Mobile (iOS, Android) designs into clickable, interactive prototypes and Mockups. It helps you share and collaborate with others.
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Pixate
Pixate designs micro-interactions (gestures, animations) in a single screen and also offers testing with real users.
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Justinmind
Justinmind defines software specifications through advanced wireframes and realistic simulations. Theirsolutions are directed to minimize the risks of a software development project and reduce the development cost.
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Fluidui
Fluidui offers quick prototyping designs for mobile and web without too much learning. The user interface is very intuitive and easy to figure out along with custom built libraries for Android and iOS.
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Conceptinbox
Concept inbox is a collaboration platform for creative teams and their external stakeholders. Whether you are a designer, product manager, marketer or an architect, concept inbox makes collaboration with your team and clients easier than ever and streamlines the creative process.
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Codly
Codly helps mobile designers or mobile developers by converting design automatically to mobile UI code.
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Irise
Irise is a collaborative visualization framework that helps teams integrate rapid prototyping into agile, waterfall, and hybrid development processes
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Framerjs
Framer.js is an open source prototyping framework. It is known to have a quick learning curve with coffeescript.
I hope the above recommendations are helpful. Are there any other valuable prototyping tools that you have found useful? Do let us know in the comments section below.
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