Mobile app animations offer an intuitive app experience to users, it breaks the monotony and helps make great first impressions.

There are over 2.96 million apps in Google Play Store as of June 2020 and 1.85 million apps in Apple’s App Store. Businesses are changing their strategies and more of them are investing in building an app. 

Why some apps are successful depend on various factors in terms of 

  • Unique selling feature
  • Value addition
  • Cross-Platform support
  • App security and much more

Now, however good an app is, if it fails to enhance the user experience it will be uninstalled. Using animations and high-quality graphics can help build strong user engagement.

In this blog today we will discuss 8 brilliant mobile app animations that will keep your audience hooked.

#1 Visual Feedback Animation

This type of animation is very crucial and tells the user they are on the right path and the command has either succeeded or failed. It indicates that the app is working properly. With the help of visual feedback animation, you can achieve a great user experience by applying animated pop-up notification, buttons, and ticks, field backlights, etc.


Source- Dribbble

It reflects the interaction between the user and the device and focuses on visuals and less on the text.

#2 Splash screen animations

The screen that promptly appears as soon as you open the app, is a splash screen. It usually contains the logo of the company and helps in masking the loading time or make it appear shorter. This animation comes in handy when complex apps take time to load, and to maintain the users’ patience.


Other advantages are that it strengthens brand image, is usually 1-3 second long, and is fluid.

#3 Navigation animations

Many apps most of the time have a complicated hierarchy that doesn’t meet the user’s eyes. You can display these elements using mobile app animations. These further ease out the complicated in-app navigation and the interface is spontaneous.

Source- Dribbble

By animating the key elements, it is easier for users to locate the features they need to use. Other important aspects of navigation animation are that it expediates transition inside the app and uses the common, easy to recognize icons instead of texts.

#4 ‘How to Use the App’ Animations

Many apps as of today inculcate an onboarding process animation or hints on how to navigate through the app. You can add pop-up instructions to make it easy to access the main features of your app.

Source- Dribbble

These onboarding animations help in forming good impressions that will prompt users to keep using the app. Apart from giving a quick tour of the app, these animations highlight the app’s main features and show the user as to what to do next.

#5 Progress Indicator Animation

We are all familiar with the loading time that some in-app actions take up. Generally when an app connects to a server or is engaged in other time-consuming activities that may make the app look stuck.


Source- Dribbble

An animation that showcases the progress to the users is a great idea. Users related to them in terms when they download a particular file or some data is being processed. Progress animations help convey how much the user has to wait before a particular action. Furthermore, making these animations fun and creative can entertain and help users maintain patience.

#6 Visual Clues

These animations appear when you preview an element in the app. For instance, pop-up tabs can appear without disrupting the user’s app flow. Visual clues are important if it is a gesture-based app, it excludes the confusion for users regarding the interface.


Source- YouTube

It further helps the user on how to use the app, surfaces on demand, and it’s something very basic and clear to get hold of.

#7 In-App Transition Animation

In-app transitions with help of animation make the whole experience a lot of fun and memorable. You can derive such animation from the real-life instance, for example when you turn a page of the book, you can give the same feel in your app.


It helps visualize the changes and highlights the connections in the app that give a more natural appeal.

#8 Brand Exclusive Animations

Including this type of animation is one of the best ways to strengthen your brand image and awareness. Similar to splash screen, you can add an animated logo or mascot, or include your motto.

Make sure these animations are bright, catchy, and memorable. It will appeal to your target audience and mask the loading time.

Before applying Mobile App Animations, here are some main principles of design that you should be aware of for successful animation. Originally, verbalized by Walt Disney these principles effectively apply to user interface design.

1. Material

Show what your element in the app consists of, Is it light or heavy, rigid or flexible, flat, or multi-dimensional? 

2. The trajectory of movement

Define the nature of the movement, whether you want a straight trajectory or want it to be more flexible.

3. Timing

Timing is one of the most relevant considerations when designing animations. Make the use of curves to make your objects move more naturally.

4. The focus of animation

To separate elements, you can have to focus the user’s attention on animation. For example, a blinking icon will inform a user that they should click on it because there is a notification waiting. 

5. Follow-through and overlapping

It is the termination part of an action. Objects don’t immediately stop or start moving, it is followed by a set of smaller moves. Overlapping is the second action that starts before the first one is complete and this holds the interest of the viewer since there is no vacuum between actions.

6. Secondary actions-  

Similar to the follow-through and overlapping principles. In short, the main animation can be supplemented by secondary actions. These make the design more definite, but if you are not careful while implementing them they can be unnecessarily distracting.

7. Ease In and Out

It is a fundamental principle of design and equally important for animation and UI animation in mobile development. Although the concept is well understood, oftentimes is overlooked. Every object requires some time for acceleration and deceleration, it can’t come to a sudden halt. 

It will result in a very natural pattern when you design animations according to the ease in/ ease out principle.

8. Anticipation

The principle of anticipation applies to such visual elements as prompts. Before the animation reveals itself, we give a user some time to foretell that something is going to happen. 

9. Rhythm

It structures the motion and using rhythm in your animations makes them look more physical.

10. Exaggeration

Frequently used by animators and it can’t be readily illustrated because it is based on the idea of exaggeration of required action or effect. In terms of UI, it will help to draw additional attention to a distinct feature.

Now, implementing all the above animations or only with select will depend on the type of app you are building. Keep this below pointers ready when applying mobile app animations-

  • Know your target audience is and design your model that resolves issues and adds value to users
  • You should know “Why this?”, “Why so?”, “Why now?” while adding the element and animations in your app, define the purpose.
  • Derive and implement animation from real-live patterns 
  • Be in sync and consult with developers at all stages of your project.

If you are looking for experts to build you a mobile app, we at Orafox are at your service. Feel free to connect with us to discuss your app ideas!