18 mobile app wireframe examples to inspire you

Wireframing is no doubt one of the crucial steps in mobile app development.

Going into production without a wireframe is like building a house without a blueprint. It’s possible, but the results probably won’t be great.

Though wireframes might seem simple, designing them can be deceptively complex. It requires a lot of foresight and principles that are often gained through years of experience.

But learning from successful wireframing examples offers a faster alternative. It can give you a sense of what works and doesn’t, even if it’s your first time doing it.

To help you out, we’ve gathered 18 of the best wireframe designs to inspire you.

Loan app wireframe

Like any fintech app, loan apps should simplify a complicated process. And we think the app depicted by this mid-fidelity wireframe by Ryszard Cz does the job perfectly:

Source: Ryszard Cz | Dribbble

The wireframe design did a great job laying out a clear loan processing flow for people who might not have any experience applying for one. It’s also very transparent.

This is most apparent on the first screen, where the user can view all the important details of their loan.

Everything is presented in a beautiful and minimalist UI that doesn’t need visuals or graphics to shine. Indeed, one could easily mistake it for screenshots of the actual app.

That, in a nutshell, is what a great wireframe should deliver.

Podcast app wireframe

The challenge with wireframes is to lay out the flow of your app clearly but quickly. This low-fidelity wireframe by Fernando Aleta for the Podline app overcame that issue:

Source: Fernando Aleta | Behance

The use of simple shapes and stock icons undoubtedly accelerated the production of this wireframe.

But the artful use of these elements made the layout and flow of the app crystal clear as well.

A good touch might be to add annotations to explain certain unique features. For instance, the Quote icon allows the user to record snippets of the podcast while listening.

Adding a label would’ve made that clearer.

Nevertheless, as far as implementations go, this is a simple yet effective wireframe design you can adopt.

Adventure app wireframe

Unique app concepts are the ones that benefit most from wireframing.

This creation by Piotr Kazmierczak is a travel app that helps users manage hikes, with some gamification and social elements thrown in.

Source: Piotr Kazmierczak | Dribbble

This is clearly a high-fidelity wireframe, as it already looks polished with icons and a map screen.

What’s good, though, is that they also used relevant copy and content instead of the generic lorem ipsum dummy text.

The wireframe also manages to convey the essence and purpose of the app without any annotations. That’s the benchmark of a great wireframe.

Analytics app wireframe

Analytics presents a hurdle for many UX and UI designers—what’s the best way to present big data on a small screen?

The answer is focus and simplicity, as designer Wildan Wari did with his prototype app MonoTask.

Source: Wildan Wari | Dribbble

While this is a task list app, the Stats screen is what we want to highlight. The clever use of charts makes consuming data very intuitive.

The liberal use of space and color also eliminates clutter.

No doubt, the other parts of the app were executed beautifully. But it’s the analytics screen that is noteworthy in this wireframe example.

Money transfer app wireframe

As mentioned in this article, wireframes are not about design but flow and structure.

That’s why it can be beneficial for apps with complex processes, like money transfer apps, to have a wireframe that looks like a flowchart.

Source: Vadim Kendyukhov | Behance

The above is just a small snippet from a wireframe flowchart by Vadim Kendyukhov.

Notice that each screen is only a rough representation with almost zero detail.

But thanks to the very detailed user flow, you can still visualize what each screen looks like in your head.

This is a fantastic example because it’s a functional wireframe that can benefit everyone.

It gives developers a roadmap of the app’s logic while offering designers context to build effective UI.

Smart home app wireframe

How simple can a wireframe be? That’s one question that Villi R. answered in his wireframe design:

Source: Villi R. | Behance

True, it looks too simple to the point of being abstract. However, there’s a logic behind this approach.

By toning down the wireframe into simple blocks, it’s much easier to visualize and focus on the overall layout of each screen without any visual distraction.

Indeed, this example shows the versatility and flexibility of wireframing. There’s no single right approach—as long as it’s helping your plan out your app, it’s fair game.

Task management app wireframe

Sometimes, the easiest way to build a wireframe is to use existing UI elements from standard apps or libraries.

For example, this is the approach used in the task management app TickTick.

Source: Mockplus

The above wireframe has two benefits.

One is that it’s easy to create. Most wireframing tools have default iOS and Android elements you can use. The other is that it feels instantly familiar to the viewer.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel in wireframing, especially if it’ll make the process faster.

Weather app wireframe

A risk of doing simple wireframes is that not everyone might be able to understand them.

It’s a good practice to ensure that you can still communicate the idea of your app is through annotations.

Here’s a low-fidelity wireframe of a weather app, courtesy of Matt Sclarandis. We’ve included the resulting high-fidelity wireframe beside it for comparison.

Source: Matt Sclarandis | Behance

Using annotations can speed up the wireframing process. Moreover, it minimizes the danger of your idea getting lost in translation.

For instance, instead of designing a weather icon in the above example, the author simply annotated it.

Remember, the ideal wireframe process requires speed and clarity. Annotations can give you both.

Car sharing app wireframe

The next wireframe is from UX designer Dheeraj Dr_u for Car Mate, a car rental platform.

He used a combination of both high and low-fidelity wireframes to develop the UI idea from scratch.

Source: Dheeraj D_Ru | Behance

As you can see, his low-fidelity wireframes are simple sketches. Drawing on paper is an effective way to start wireframing because it’s fast and easy.

That can speed up your ideation process.

To make it even easier, you can use gridded templates to guide you when drawing, as with the example above.

Scavenger hunt app wireframe

If you want to know how much detail should go into each stage of wireframing and prototyping, designer Michelle Lock can show you.

Here’s the progression of her wireframe (from low to high fidelity) for the scavenger hunt app History Hunt.

Source: Michelle Lock | Notion Page

Notice how the final UI was completely different from how it started. This shows the power of wireframing as an ideation tool, especially since the designer started with sketches first.

It also shows that focusing on the app idea and flow first makes the app design process much easier later.

Beach finder and weather app wireframe

Anami Chan’s Sundayz app highlights the importance of wireframing in presenting a familiar yet unique app idea.

It has a specific purpose—to help people plan the perfect beach day based on weather information.

Source: Anami Chan

Visual elements like color aren’t usually recommended for early wireframes, but they worked great in the above example.

Specifically, the use of color to emphasize the app’s features (such as using color codes to denote which beach spots are OK).

Icons also worked well to illustrate the many possibilities users can expect in the app.

Real estate app wireframe

The next wireframe example is from designer Annie Tang, and it highlights an unorthodox, but surprisingly effective process.

Her redesign of a real estate app screen was done backward. She opted to start with a high-fidelity concept, then trimmed it down to a low-fidelity version:

Source: Annie Tang | Dribbble

Her reason made sense. She wanted to switch to low-fi for testing purposes since it enabled testers to focus on each screen’s content and flow instead of aesthetics.

It just goes to show the flexibility of wireframing. As long as you know why you’re doing it, feel free to experiment.

Donation app wireframe

Even though wireframes are planning tools themselves, it helps if you use other methods to help plan your wireframing process.

For example, let’s look at a donation app case study by Maritina Tsouvala.

From the get-go, she began the process with a task diagram. This told her the actions and goals users needed to do on each screen.

That way, she can strategically design the UI to remove as much friction as possible.

Source: Bootcamp

With that information, designing the wireframe became more straightforward.

Source: Bootcamp

Indeed, wireframes aren’t the only tool you have at your disposal. You have other methods and techniques to make the app development process easier and faster.

Expense tracker app wireframe

Expense tracker apps can be challenging due to the potential complexity of having a large amount of data on-screen.

Therefore, a well-designed wireframe is crucial for minimizing this, as proved by designer Saurabh Biware.

Source: Bootcamp

Using a rough wireframe, the designer zoned related elements together in the UI to reduce complexity.

For example, the monthly balance sheet was placed after the expense tracker chart. This is called the Law of Common Region, and it can make complex UIs easier to interpret.

Investment app wireframe

Trading apps are often some of the most data-intensive and complex software on your mobile phone.

It takes meticulous planning and design work to make them user-friendly without minimizing their capabilities.

That’s why wireframing is a crucial aspect of developing trading apps. Here’s an example from BullsEye.

Source: BullsEye | Behance

Notice how each screen is jam-packed with information but never feels cluttered.

Clever use of visual hierarchy (where bigger elements have more importance) and color helped make the wireframe clear.

For comparison, here’s the final design of the app:

Source: BullsEye | Behance

Proper planning and foresight provided by low-fidelity wireframing help achieve those results.

Road assistance app wireframe

Mission-critical apps like road assistance need to have an intuitive and straightforward user flow so that users can get immediate help in an emergency.

The Towed app, designed by Siddhartha Pandey, provides a great example of a high-fidelity wireframe for just such an app.

Source: Siddhartha Pandey | Behance

We included this example because it is well-designed, while also clearly showing the process behind the app.

The idea is so apparent and easy to understand that there’s no need for annotations.

For transportation-based service apps like deliveries and ride-hailing, this is a good wireframing template to follow.

Grocery shopping app wireframe

Annotations are powerful because they can communicate things that static images simply can’t, such as animations and interactive elements.

Not only that, but they also help convey the logic behind your choices.

Here’s an example from designer Volodymyr Melnyk:

Source: Volodymyr Melnyk

As you can see, the designer used annotations to describe what the key UI elements do and sometimes what they’re for.

Such detailed descriptions are beneficial to developers, designers, and even clients.

School app wireframe

Finally, here’s a wireframe for a school app for parents, designed by UI designer Kishore.

Source: Kishore

Apps that involve a variable number of dynamic content (such as this school app) require proper layout. Not doing so can risk overwhelming users with too much content on-screen.

But thanks to wireframing, the above app managed to get that under control.

And the use of simple elements and placeholders means it probably took only a short time to put together.

Feeling inspired?

Hopefully, these 18 examples have nudged your app’s wireframing a step closer in the right direction, whether it’s through adopting a time-saving technique or getting some UI ideas.

However, it’s not just the role models and successful examples you should look into.

You must also be aware of the key mistakes many developers make when wireframing. You can check them out in our article here.

Or, you can simply hire a mobile app agency to handle your wireframing and app development. Feel free to contact us if you want to get started.