Mobile Principles

Mobile Principles

Touch-first UX context. Loaded when mobile is detected (web mobile, iOS, Android). Concise rules here. Deep-dive in references/.

Touch Targets

Rule of thumb: any tap target smaller than the platform minimum is a usability bug, period. The hit area can extend beyond the visible glyph (use padding, hitSlop, or a transparent inner spacer), but the interactive surface must reach the minimum. Spacing matters as much as size: two 44pt buttons touching edges are still mistappable.

No-Hover Doctrine

:hover does not exist on touch. Treating it as a primary trigger means hidden affordances on every phone. Anything reachable only by hover is, on mobile, simply gone. Visible-by-default is the rule; hover styles are a desktop enhancement, never a load-bearing interaction.

CSS - gate hover styles behind a media query:

.card { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(0); }

@media (hover: hover) and (pointer: fine) {
  .card { opacity: 0.85; }
  .card:hover { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(-2px); }
}

SwiftUI - tap and long-press, no pseudo-hover:

Image(systemName: "heart")
  .onTapGesture { toggleLike() }
  .contextMenu {
    Button("Share", systemImage: "square.and.arrow.up", action: share)
    Button("Report", systemImage: "flag", role: .destructive, action: report)
  }

Compose - combinedClickable for tap + long-press:

Box(
  modifier = Modifier
    .combinedClickable(
      toggleLike() },
      showContextMenu() },
    )
) {
  Icon(Icons.Default.Favorite, contentDescription = "Like")
}

Thumb Zones (Hoober)

Steven Hoober's research shows portrait phone use is overwhelmingly one-handed or cradled, with the thumb pivoting from the bottom corner. The screen splits into reachable zones:

+------+----+------+
| HARD | OK | HARD |   <- top: stretch, two-handed only
+------+----+------+
|  OK  | OK |  OK  |   <- middle: comfortable
+------+----+------+
| EASY |EASY| EASY |   <- bottom: natural thumb arc
+------+----+------+

• Bottom third (EASY): primary CTA, send, confirm, FAB, tab bar.
• Middle (OK): content, secondary actions.
• Top (HARD): back, close, search, profile - things the user expects to reach for, not hit by reflex.

Rule: primary CTA goes in the bottom half. Secondary, less-frequent or destructive actions go in the top. Never put a "Pay" button in the top-right corner of a phone screen.

Safe Areas

Web:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, viewport-fit=cover">

.fab {
  position: fixed;
  bottom: calc(env(safe-area-inset-bottom) + 16px);
  right: calc(env(safe-area-inset-right) + 16px);
}

SwiftUI:

ScrollView { content }
  .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom) {
    PrimaryCTA().padding()
  }

Compose:

Column(
  modifier = Modifier
    .fillMaxSize()
    .windowInsetsPadding(WindowInsets.safeDrawing)
) { /* content */ }

Reduced Motion (cross-platform unified)

SwiftUI:

struct Hero: View {
  @Environment(\.accessibilityReduceMotion) var reduceMotion
  @State private var shown = false

  var body: some View {
    Text("Welcome")
      .opacity(shown ? 1 : 0)
      .offset(y: shown ? 0 : (reduceMotion ? 0 : 20))
      .animation(reduceMotion ? .none : .easeOut(duration: 0.3), value: shown)
      .onAppear { shown = true }
  }
}

UIKit:

let duration = UIAccessibility.isReduceMotionEnabled ? 0 : 0.3
UIView.animate(withDuration: duration) {
  view.alpha = 1
  view.transform = .identity
}

Compose (helper pattern):

@Composable
fun rememberReduceMotion(): Boolean {
  val context = LocalContext.current
  return remember {
    Settings.Global.getFloat(
      context.contentResolver,
      Settings.Global.ANIMATOR_DURATION_SCALE,
      1f,
    ) == 0f
  }
}

val reduceMotion = rememberReduceMotion()
val spec = if (reduceMotion) snap() else tween<Float>(durationMillis = 300)

Note: ANIMATOR_DURATION_SCALE only reflects the developer-options "Animations off" toggle, not the user-facing accessibility setting. For the latter ("Remove animations" in Settings -> Accessibility on Android 14+), use AccessibilityManager.areTransitionsEnabled() (API 34+). Deep dive in references/accessibility-mobile.md.

Mobile Gestures (canonical patterns)

The five gestures users already know. Reusing them is free UX; reinventing them is friction.

• Swipe-back: iOS edge-swipe from the left to pop the navigation stack. Never override; mirror it on Android via predictive back (Android 14+).
• Pull-to-refresh: downward drag at the top of a scroll surface to refetch. Standard on feeds, mail, lists.
• Drag-to-dismiss: modal sheets and image viewers close when dragged downward past a threshold (typically 100-150pt).
• Pinch-to-zoom: two-finger spread/pinch on images, maps, and zoomable canvases. Respect minimum/maximum scale.
• Swipe actions on rows: horizontal swipe on a list row to reveal contextual actions (delete, archive, mark read). Leading vs trailing swipe = different action sets.

Mobile Performance Budgets

• Cold start: <2s on mid-range devices. Baselines: Android Pixel 4a, iPhone SE (2nd gen). If your app takes 4s on a Pixel 4a, it takes 8s on a low-end device users actually own.
• Frame budget: 16.67ms per frame at 60fps, 8.33ms at 120fps (ProMotion / high-refresh Android). Anything synchronous on the main thread above that = jank.
• Binary size: target <30MB APK and <50MB IPA before adding heavy media libs. Lottie/Rive add 500KB to 2MB. Watch your asset folders; PNGs over WebP / vector are the usual culprit.
• Battery: no continuous CPU activity in the background. Coalesce work, use platform schedulers (WorkManager on Android, BGTaskScheduler on iOS), avoid wake-locks unless the user explicitly asked for foreground media.
• Network: respect connection hints. Web: Save-Data request header and navigator.connection.saveData. iOS: URLSessionConfiguration.allowsCellularAccess and NWPathMonitor for cellular vs Wi-Fi. Android: ConnectivityManager + NetworkCapabilities to detect metered networks.

Anti-Patterns (BAD / GOOD)

1. Hover as the only reveal

/* BAD - on mobile the action button literally never appears */
.card .actions { opacity: 0; }
.card:hover .actions { opacity: 1; }

/* GOOD - visible by default, hover is a desktop enhancement */
.card .actions { opacity: 1; }

@media (hover: hover) and (pointer: fine) {
  .card .actions { opacity: 0; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-out; }
  .card:hover .actions { opacity: 1; }
}

2. Sub-minimum touch targets

// BAD - 32dp icon button, mistappable, fails Material guideline
IconButton(
 
  modifier = Modifier.size(32.dp),
) { Icon(Icons.Default.Delete, contentDescription = "Delete") }

// GOOD - 48dp minimum even when the visible icon is 24dp
IconButton(
 
  modifier = Modifier.size(48.dp),
) {
  Icon(
    Icons.Default.Delete,
    contentDescription = "Delete",
    modifier = Modifier.size(24.dp),
  )
}

3. Ignoring safe area insets

// BAD - the CTA sits under the home indicator on every modern iPhone
VStack {
  Spacer()
  Button("Continue", action: next)
    .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
    .padding()
}

// GOOD - safeAreaInset keeps the button reachable and visible
ScrollView { content }
  .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom) {
    Button("Continue", action: next)
      .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
      .padding()
  }

Quick Reference: Loading sub-skills

Sources

• Steven Hoober, "Designing for Touch" (mobile thumb zones research)
• Apple Human Interface Guidelines (iOS): https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/
• Material Design (Android): https://m3.material.io/foundations/layout/canonical-layouts/overview
• WCAG 2.5.5 Target Size: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/target-size.html