Prototyping is one of the most important steps of this UX design process. It involves creating a model of the product to test your concepts. Prototypes may be high—or low-fidelity; however, they’re most often used to test with users. Prototypes can be accessed via click and can run specific scenarios on them prior to releasing them.
As with everything related to UX, there are numerous prototyping tools available to assist you in completing the task. If you’re overwhelmed and are unable to narrow down your options, this guide is ideal for you. We’ve put together the best mobile app prototyping tools for 2025.
What are Mobile App Prototyping Tools?
An app prototype tool for mobile devices is one type of software that enables designers to visualize user interfaces, app designs, and interactions while facilitating feedback and collaboration during the development and design process. The tools that aid in this include drag-and-drop interfaces, templates specific to each device, interactive gestures, real-time collaboration, and the capability to mimic the user’s interactions.
These tools are essential in refining and testing mobile app interfaces before investing resources into their actual development, which ultimately leads to an easier-to-use and well-designed mobile app.
They generally serve a variety of functions in the prototyping process:
Conceptualization
Prototyping tools assist designers in translating their concepts and ideas into tangible components.
Communication
Prototypes are an effective visual communication tool that helps designers communicate their ideas and designs to developers, stakeholders, or other teammates better than static wireframes and mockups.
Iterative Design
Prototyping tools let designers quickly design, modify, and refine prototypes based on the feedback and information they collect throughout the design process.
User Testing
Designers can use prototypes in user testing sessions to test an idea’s functionality, usability, and overall user experience. Feedback from users during prototype testing can inform design enhancements and optimizations.
Prototypes Vs. Final Products
Prototypes differ from the final product in many ways. They tend to be less polished and utilized for feedback and testing. Although the final product will be an entirely functional app, prototypes can only have the essential features and functions needed to communicate the app’s concept. This is essential to setting realistic expectations in the development process.
In 2025, there will be a huge range of design mobile app prototyping tools to choose from, and selecting the right one is vital. They provide a range of capabilities, starting with basic wireframing and moving up to more advanced prototyping tools that accommodate different requirements in the process of developing apps.
Top Mobile App Prototyping Tools for 2025
The most efficient prototyping tools are:
InVision
InVision is an instrument for prototyping and design and a tool for creating high-quality, interactive digital prototypes for mobile and web applications. InVision offers various options, making it among the most widely used prototyping tools in the marketplace.
InVision’s user-friendly interface lets you easily build and share prototypes that mimic the user experience of a real-world application. It comes with a complete collection of pre-designed UI components, like forms, buttons, and icons, that you can modify to suit the specific needs of your design. It also allows integration with popular design tools, including Sketch and Photoshop.
Adobe XD
As part from part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of products, Adobe XD is a well-known tool that allows you to design and create top-quality User Interfaces (UIs), prototypes, and animations.
One of Adobe XD’s most important characteristics is its ability to build interactive prototypes. With XD, you can build fully functional prototypes that mimic the user experience of an actual application.
Another key feature is the capability to work with other designers and stakeholders. XD lets you communicate your ideas and prototypes with colleagues, work in real time, and get feedback from your clients and team members.
In September 2022, in the wake of their deal to purchase Figma, Adobe emailed its Creative Cloud customers, stating that they would be reducing the amount they invested in XD but would continue to offer support. Therefore, there’s no urgency to switch to Figma; however, it’s unclear what’s next for XD.
Marvel
Marvel lets developers and designers build interactive prototypes quickly and easily and collaborate in real-time.
One of its most notable features is its simple interface, which allows you to swiftly make prototypes by importing designs from software such as Sketch, Figma, or Adobe XD and adding interactive elements. Marvel also has a large selection of designs and templates to get you up and running, along with the capability to design unique animations and transitions.
Webflow
Webflow is a complete web technology platform for design and development that provides prototyping capabilities. With Webflow, you can make interactive and responsive prototypes for websites and apps without writing code. It is a very popular tool for developers and designers who want to quickly and effectively prototype their ideas.
One of the main characteristics of Webflow’s prototyping abilities is its visual user interface. Using drag-and-drop, users can easily design and build UI elements and see how they interact in real-time. This makes it easy to rapidly start the process of iteration and testing.
Figma
The cloud-based Figma tool is effective software for design and prototyping that lets teams cooperate on user interfaces such as mobile apps, web pages, and various other digital products. It’s a very popular tool for designers, product managers, and developers and has an active online community.
Figma offers a comprehensive set of tools and features ideal for prototyping. The interface is simple and user-friendly, and it comes with a wide variety of design elements, including shapes, icons, and text styles, that you can alter to suit your needs.
One unique aspect of Figma is its collaboration capabilities. Multiple users can work on the same task in real-time, which makes it easy to gather feedback and quickly make changes. Figma also facilitates the handoff of design and development teams. It has features such as code export, design specs, and handoff to developers.
Sketch
Sketch is a Mac application for designers to design, collaborate, and create prototypes. It’s a well-known tool for creating user interfaces, user icons, and interactive prototypes. Sketch is well-known for its intuitive user interface, large features, and capability to connect with other prototyping and design tools.
Sketch’s interface is easy to use and adaptable, allowing you to build custom toolbars and shortcuts to simplify your workflow. It provides a wide range of features for design and prototyping, such as layers, vector editing, and advanced controls for typography. Sketch also comes with a large collection of plugins that provide additional features, allowing you to tailor it to suit your requirements.
Sketch allows integration with other prototyping tools such as InVision and Framer and the ability to prototype built-in. Features such as hotspots, overlays, and transitions enable you to create an interactive prototype without the need for programming.
Axure RP
The Axure RP tool is a wireframing and prototyping tool for creating interactive prototypes for mobile and web applications.
With a full collection of prototyping and design instruments, Axure RP comes with built-in widgets and UI elements, in addition to the capability to design custom elements and interactions. You can also design dynamic content such as dynamic panels, conditional logic, and adaptive views, which can be used to create flexible designs that adjust to various screen sizes.
Regarding integrations, designers can paste and copy design files in Sketch, Adobe XD, and Figma into Axure RP and then directly publish to Axure Cloud.
ProtoPie
ProtoPie is a computer application that lets you create interactive and responsive prototypes for use on various digital platforms, such as mobile apps and websites, smartwatches, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
ProtoPie’s most significant feature is its ability to design complex and realistic interactions that closely resemble the behavior of the final product. This allows you to experiment with an idea and improve it before committing to development.
It comes with an intuitive interface that allows you to create quickly and easily custom experiences using a variety of built-in widgets and design tools. It also allows a broad range of input options, including multi-touch gestures, scrolling, and sensors, which means you can design realistic experiences.
ProtoPie supports collaborative design workflows, which means that several designers and other participants can work on the same design project simultaneously. It also provides a wide range of sophisticated features and integrations, such as the capability to load Sketch and Adobe XD files, support for debugging and testing in real-time, and connections with Figma and InVision.
Best Tips for Mobile App Prototyping
Prototyping mobile apps is an exciting aspect of the design process. Designers can witness their ideas come to life while gaining valuable insights from usability tests. Here are some of the tips to build mobile app prototypes you can follow in 2025:
Test Early, Test Often
Testing is a key goal for mobile app developers who are creating prototypes. UX teams can’t verify their design concepts or uncover usability problems without the ability to test.
UX designers should utilize prototypes on paper to test the most ideas possible when establishing the design concept. Teams should use the simple fact that pencil and paper testing can be cheap. Even the most bizarre ideas can stimulate creativity that could lead to new ideas and breakthroughs.
High-fidelity prototyping enables UX teams to improve mobile applications to satisfy users’ requirements. Usability research involves a lot of costs (participants, equipment, tools, facilities, etc. ). Researchers must define clear goals and objectives while making sure they have the appropriate participants to get relevant feedback.
Test Mobile App Prototypes on Multiple Devices
UX teams frequently make the costly mistake of not testing mobile application prototypes on sufficient screens or devices. This can lead to an app that is not performing well or with certain features that are not working.
If you’re in a highly competitive marketplace, the customers may switch to your competitors!
Don’t Get Side-Tracked!
Making high-quality mobile prototypes is an exciting process. Designers can create interactive features with animations and transitions to improve the user experience.
However, designers may get lost in creating irrelevant features and interactions without clear goals.
DesignOps establishes project goals and KPIs to ensure UX designers concentrate on developing prototypes that meet the specifications for usability testing instead of adding “nice-to-have” features that don’t benefit the end user.
Involve Other Departments
UX teams shouldn’t be confined to testing to end-users. Participating team members from different departments is a fantastic method to generate excitement for a company’s new feature or product.
Team members outside the UX department may give valuable feedback that designers had not considered. For example, a marketing department could point out that email forms must have the first name and email field since personalizing the correspondence can boost conversions.
The Key Takeaway
In conclusion, mobile app prototyping services are important in the design process that lets designers and users visualise, test, and improve app concepts and user experience before the development process begins.
If you follow the guidelines and utilize the appropriate software, developers can build prototypes that effectively communicate ideas for design as well as gather feedback to aid in the process of the creation of user-friendly mobile applications. Make time and effort to create prototypes early and continuously to make sure that your app meets the needs and expectations of your users, ultimately resulting in greater satisfaction and greater success on the market.
