It looks like a friend has recruited me to help him with a mobile app he is building.
The app allows people to communicate and plan events, which requires they have an account and be logged in.
When a user accesses the app, what should they first see?
Should there be some sort of home page/landing page which introduces them to the app and what it does?
Or is it understood that if they installed the app, then they must know what it is about, and just have Log-In/Create Account options?
On a regular website you would have enough space to have a home page where you could inform people or just allow visitors to browse, but on a mobile app I don’t know how these scenarios are handled.
In my experience, if you download an app, you tend to know already what purpose it fulfills, so landing on an introductory page would probably be annoying—though you might consider doing something like this just the first time the app is opened. Generally, you just want the app to open so that you can get on with what you ned to do. The important thing is to have easy access to a help section if you do want help with the app … and that could be via a simple link that’s out of the way, say at the bottom of the screen or in a menu.
I understand what you are saying, however, the first thing a new user would need to do is register with a Name, Tele #, Email and Password.
My fear is that they will be apprehensive having to register and hand over personal details when they have never used the app. That is why I was wondering if a landing page that sold them on what the app does and why they should be happy to register might help out.
Each app is different, I suppose. People will download it from somewhere, and presumably they’ll read a bit about it before downloading. So I doubt there will be such big surprises as you describe.
As I said, some apps present an introductory/get started page the first time you open it, or perhaps before the user has set it up etc. That’s a call you have to make. Certainly if you are asking people to sign up to something, it’s important to know why. But if you download something like the GMail app and you don’t know why you’re entering log in details, then maybe technology ain’t for you after all.
Could this intro page have a checkbox where they could choose if they see it again the next time they come into the app? (I think that is common in desktop apps and even in websites, right?)
