The ability to create a truly native mobile app experience on Bubble is one of the most exciting recent developments.
However, the rules of interaction, design, and performance are fundamentally different from a web app.
Ignoring these mobile-first principles is the fastest way to disappoint your users and get your app deleted.
Below, we’ll go over five critical best practices you must adopt to ensure your Bubble native app feels fast, familiar, and genuinely mobile.
1️⃣ Build for Taps, Swipes, and Gestures
On a computer, users click with a mouse. On a phone, they interact with their fingers.
This seems obvious, but the small difference changes everything.
Your buttons should be large enough to be easily tapped (Apple recommends a minimum of 44 x 44 points).
Even more importantly, utilize the power of mobile gestures:
- Can the user swipe left on a list item to reveal a "Delete" option?
- Can the user swipe up and down to consume content without accidently triggering other workflows?
- Are key actions placed in the bottom third of the screen where a thumb naturally rests?
The most engaging native apps reduce the number of taps needed by replacing them with smart gestures.
2️⃣ Leverage the Device Hardware
A native app’s primary advantage over a web app is its direct access to the device's hardware and features, so build this into your core user experience.
- Camera: Use the native camera access to allow instant photo uploads rather than a cumbersome web file picker.
- Geolocation: Access the device's GPS for features like "find nearby locations" or automatic location tagging.
- Push Notifications: This is key for re-engagement! Native push notifications allow you to alert users to important events (like a message or a new payment) even when your app isn’t actively in use.
If a core feature of your app would be better or easier with hardware access, prioritize building it into your Bubble workflows.
3️⃣ Adopt Platform-Specific UI (Don’t Look Like a Website)
Users expect your app to follow the design patterns of their operating system (iOS or Android). When you mix and match, your app feels wrong.
Don't fight the platform. When your app "feels right" on a user's phone, it builds instant trust and familiarity.
- For Android inspiration, explore Google’s Material Design 3 guidelines: m3.material.io/
On the web, clicking a link or a back button often forces the page to reload. This can slow down the experience.
Native apps use view stacking instead.
Imagine screens being stacked on top of each other. When a user clicks an item, the new screen slides on top of the previous one.
When they hit the back button, the top screen instantly disappears, revealing the original screen exactly as they left it… no reloading required.
This system-level control is crucial for making your Bubble app feel smooth and performant.
Ensure your navigation workflows are structured to take advantage of this native behavior, avoiding unnecessary reloads.
5️⃣ Use the Right List Element for Performance
This is one of the most common performance culprits for Bubble apps that try to go native: using the wrong list element.
A Bubble product manager shared this critical distinction for performance:
- Short List and Selectable List (elements) load all data at once. They should only be used for small, fixed lists of under 30 items (like a list of 5 options in a filter).
- The List View (view type) is designed for showing long lists of data (like a social media feed or a catalog). It uses a technique called virtualized listing in the backend, meaning it only loads the data that's visible on the screen.
If you have a feed, a user list, or any dynamic list that could grow beyond 30 items, you should use the List View type at the view level. Failure to do so could result in slow performance.
Mastering these strategies will ensure you don't waste time building a native app that feels like a reconfigured website. Focus on embracing the mobile mindset, and your users will thank you for it.
Coaching No Code Apps
The ability to create a truly native mobile app experience on Bubble is one of the most exciting recent developments.
However, the rules of interaction, design, and performance are fundamentally different from a web app.
Ignoring these mobile-first principles is the fastest way to disappoint your users and get your app deleted.
Below, we’ll go over five critical best practices you must adopt to ensure your Bubble native app feels fast, familiar, and genuinely mobile.
1️⃣ Build for Taps, Swipes, and Gestures
On a computer, users click with a mouse. On a phone, they interact with their fingers.
This seems obvious, but the small difference changes everything.
Your buttons should be large enough to be easily tapped (Apple recommends a minimum of 44 x 44 points).
Even more importantly, utilize the power of mobile gestures:
- Can the user swipe left on a list item to reveal a "Delete" option?
- Can the user swipe up and down to consume content without accidently triggering other workflows?
- Are key actions placed in the bottom third of the screen where a thumb naturally rests?
The most engaging native apps reduce the number of taps needed by replacing them with smart gestures.
2️⃣ Leverage the Device Hardware
A native app’s primary advantage over a web app is its direct access to the device's hardware and features, so build this into your core user experience.
- Camera: Use the native camera access to allow instant photo uploads rather than a cumbersome web file picker.
- Geolocation: Access the device's GPS for features like "find nearby locations" or automatic location tagging.
- Push Notifications: This is key for re-engagement! Native push notifications allow you to alert users to important events (like a message or a new payment) even when your app isn’t actively in use.
If a core feature of your app would be better or easier with hardware access, prioritize building it into your Bubble workflows.
3️⃣ Adopt Platform-Specific UI (Don’t Look Like a Website)
Users expect your app to follow the design patterns of their operating system (iOS or Android). When you mix and match, your app feels wrong.
Don't fight the platform. When your app "feels right" on a user's phone, it builds instant trust and familiarity.
- For Android inspiration, explore Google’s Material Design 3 guidelines: m3.material.io/
- For iOS inspiration, look at Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines: developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideli…
4️⃣ Leverage System-Level Navigation
On the web, clicking a link or a back button often forces the page to reload. This can slow down the experience.
Native apps use view stacking instead.
Imagine screens being stacked on top of each other. When a user clicks an item, the new screen slides on top of the previous one.
When they hit the back button, the top screen instantly disappears, revealing the original screen exactly as they left it… no reloading required.
This system-level control is crucial for making your Bubble app feel smooth and performant.
Ensure your navigation workflows are structured to take advantage of this native behavior, avoiding unnecessary reloads.
5️⃣ Use the Right List Element for Performance
This is one of the most common performance culprits for Bubble apps that try to go native: using the wrong list element.
A Bubble product manager shared this critical distinction for performance:
- Short List and Selectable List (elements) load all data at once. They should only be used for small, fixed lists of under 30 items (like a list of 5 options in a filter).
- The List View (view type) is designed for showing long lists of data (like a social media feed or a catalog). It uses a technique called virtualized listing in the backend, meaning it only loads the data that's visible on the screen.
If you have a feed, a user list, or any dynamic list that could grow beyond 30 items, you should use the List View type at the view level. Failure to do so could result in slow performance.
Mastering these strategies will ensure you don't waste time building a native app that feels like a reconfigured website. Focus on embracing the mobile mindset, and your users will thank you for it.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 5