What Makes Your App Mobile?

As extraordinary as your app might be in features, content, and technical razzle dazzle, it’s only tapworthy if your users find it convenient, necessary, and easy to use in a mobile context. “Mobile” means on the go, of course, but in the iPhone context it’s helpful to think of its meaning more flexibly as “away from my desk.” Whether you’re on the peak of Kilimanjaro or just curled up on your couch, both are mobile contexts—each with their own opportunities and potential distractions. What mobile context are you designing for? Why would you use this app when you’re away from your desk or computer? Why is it especially convenient to have anytime-anywhere access to this app in your pocket?

Sometimes this is a no-brainer; some apps are naturally mobile because their whole purpose is to be used in the field. Take a gander at iBird Explorer Plus, a sprawling field-guide encyclopedia of birds and bird calls. It’s an app for bird watchers (who) to look up info and birdsongs (what) when peeping at their finefeathered friends in the wild (when and where) to identify a bird or attract one with a bird call (why). This is a niche audience, to be sure, but it’s also a natural mobile app whose value is undeniably tapworthy if you happen to be a birdwatcher in the brush. By wrapping your five W’s tightly around a mobile context, you’ve got the makings of a must-have app for your audience.

iBird is an example of an accessory, an app that augments an activity—a birdwatching expedition in this case—but accessories don’t have to be so explicitly mobile. Other iPhone accessories like a calculator, guitar tuner, or recipe collection are just as useful on your couch or in your kitchen. These, too, are mobile contexts—nontraditional computing environments— where you can craft a convincing set of five W’s for an app to extend and enhance another activity. No matter what the specific setting, consider how your app can take advantage of the size and portability of the iPhone to do something that desktop computers cannot.