Have you ever noticed why users sometimes quit using mobile apps, especially Android apps, despite having top-notch features?

It is due to the lack of responsive app design. 

Current Android phones come with different screen sizes and features. Modern smartphone users don’t have patience in using apps that are confusing. Today’s Android users look for smooth navigation and a hassle-free user experience without the need to think. 

If they can intuitively figure out the app design and its UI, they will continue to use your app again and again. Otherwise, despite having new features, your Android app won’t be able to engage users and ultimately lose them. 

Therefore, building a responsive UI for Android apps is highly important. It makes your app intuitive and offers a seamless and engaging user experience across all Android phones. But creating a responsive UI is not so easy. In this article, we will explain design principles and techniques which will help you build a responsive UI in Android successfully.

What Is Responsive UI In Android?

Responsive UI in Android means an Android app should be responsive to adjust or fit perfectly different mobile screen sizes. A responsive user interface (UI) is built around the concept of continuity and flexibility in layout which makes optimum use of the available space. 

It has the ability to adjust to different Android phones’ layouts, screen sizes, and screen orientation, facilitating usability, navigation, and visual appearance. A responsive Android mobile app intends to display the same content while ensuring visual consistency across all devices and offer users a seamless and hassle-free app usage experience. 

Difference Between Adaptive And Responsive UI

Adaptive and responsive UI might appear the same in the first instance. However, there is a difference between adaptive and responsive UI. Many Android app developers often have confusion and complexities about differentiating the design patterns while creating responsive and adaptive Android apps. But both are different in design concepts. 

A responsive Android app is designed to fit all the available screen sizes across different devices. It displays the same content perfectly when a user changes the device’s orientation or resizes the window screen. 

Whereas, an adaptive Android app is designed to run on different types of devices like mobile and desktops. It has the ability to respond and adjust to the functionality of additional devices such as keyboard and mouse input. So, for adaptive apps, there are different visual expectations regarding how component selection works while using platform-specific features, etc. 

Design Principles And Techniques For Building Responsive UI For Android Apps

The primary goal of building a responsive Android app is to make it compatible with all screen sizes. Since Android smartphones and devices are now coming with different screen ratios and device features, users expect consistency in using the apps whether it is a smartphone, tablet, or small mobile device. So when it comes to building responsive UI for Android apps there are certain designs and techniques that developers or Android app development companies should follow. 

1. Create A Consistent Layout Considering The Density Of Screens

Android has high device fragmentation. It has more than 24,000 distinct Android devices with different screen ratios and display features. Hence, there is a substantial variation in the screen densities across a wide range of Android devices. A higher-density screen has more pixels per inch in comparison to the low-density screen counterparts. 

The same UI elements would appear in smaller sizes on high-density screens and bigger on low-density screens. Therefore, you need to ensure consistency while creating the layout in your Android app. For this, you should know how to leverage material design in your app to make it more user engaging. 

2. Incorporate The Visual Hierarchy

Smooth in-app navigation plays an influential role in user experience. Users always want easy navigation. Therefore, try to incorporate the visual hierarchy in your Android app design and include all the essential design and UI elements to facilitate seamless in-app user navigation. Here, the most important thing is to ensure the UI comes with predictivity to allow users to predict the forthcoming buttons and actions within the app. 

3. Include Native UI Elements

One of the best practices in Android app design and development is to incorporate the Native UI elements in Android apps. It enables the app to give a quality user experience. You need to make sure the icons, buttons, checkboxes, input fields, buttons, or other functional UI elements you are incorporating in Android apps should be native UI elements. This would be easy when you create an Android app in Android Studio since it is a native Android app development SDK. However, in the case of cross-platform Android apps, you have to make sure the framework you utilize employs the native UI elements. 

4. Follow The Fundamental Laws Of App Navigation

It is not okay to be innovative or creative every time while building responsive UI in Android apps. Sometimes, it is better to follow the basic rules of app navigation. It enables users to easily comprehend the navigation flow and the app design framework to make quick selections. Your UI  design should be based on the fundamentals of mobile app designing which are as follows

• Predict user behaviors through scenarios
• Implement Hick’s Law
• Employ the Fitts’ Law
• Ensuring Accessibility
• Use Light colored text field for inputs
• Place X in the top right-hand corner
• Simplicity in user flow and in-app journey

So, as of now, you have a basic understanding of the designing principles and techniques for building responsive UI in Android apps. Let’s go through

Steps For Building Responsive UI in Android Studio

To design a responsive UI in Android Studio, you can use ConstraintLayout. It facilitates the creation of the base layout and defines the size and position of every view in the UI. 

To start building responsive UI, 

1. Create a new Android Studio Project
2. Choose the project name as ‘Responsive design layout’.
3. Select programming language: Kotlin/Java
4. Move to the XML and select the Constraint layout as a parent layout
5. Create portrait and landscape screens for your Android app
6. Place them as per the screen sizes for testing
7. Run the project and ensure the layout is responsive to all kinds of screen sizes in Android Studio. 

To Wrap Up

Building responsive UI in Android apps doesn’t require a complex process. Android Studio and other SDK platforms offer dedicated facilities for creating responsive and adaptive UI efficiently. However, an important task is to test the UI and app design from all user’s perspectives to ensure they get a hassle-free and smooth app usage experience across all devices. The best way would be to either hire experienced developers or consult the best Android app development company that specializes in building responsive apps for Android. 

Ishan Gupta is the CEO and Co-founder of RipenApps, a leading web, and mobile app development company specializing in Android and iOS app development. Deploying feature-loaded mobile & web app solutions to SMBs globally transforms business all around.