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10 design secrets of apps which are designed to be addictive

Ten secrets of design to make your apps more compelling and addictive

By Aymeric DelaplacePublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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 10 design secrets of apps which are designed to be addictive
Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

Apps for smartphones and tablets are designed to be addictive. While you might enjoy playing a game, or perhaps even find it helpful to have an app to stay on track, others can’t control their use and will do anything, including spending money, to keep using it. My own daughter is telling me she is addicted to her favourite game on the iPad.

She says all her friends use it and they all agree that they need a break. It amazes me how apps which can’t be deleted have taken over her iPad. It makes me wonder what are the design secrets which have made this game so popular? Could I make an app which is addictive too?

I decided a while ago that I would never design anything which could hold any kind of power over people. The last thing I need is a bunch of addicts up my sleeve. But as an experiment, and in line with my interest in psychology, I wanted to see if I could replicate these addiction patterns in my own apps.

Apps that have a long setup process are more likely to be used because the user has invested time in configuring them

The first secret is that apps that have a long setup process are more likely to be used because the user has invested time in configuring them. For example, if you want to use a new app on your phone, you can't just click on it and use it. You have to download it, then go through a series of steps to get it set up and installed on your phone.

Overcoming this barrier means the user is more invested in using the app than they would be if they simply installed an app from the store. In addition to having a lengthy setup process, apps that require users to interact with them in order for them to do anything are also more likely to be used because they've invested time in learning how it works.

This makes sense because if you're going through all of these steps, you're more likely to make sure that what was done was done correctly and not waste all of your time doing something only for it not work out as planned. The second secret is that apps designed with onboarding in mind are more likely to be used than those without onboarding or with poor onboarding experiences.

Slot machines are deliberately designed to reward you so that you keep playing. the same technique is used in apps - when you complete a task you get a reward which keeps you coming back.

Most people are motivated by the need to feel competent and games are designed to make players feel good about their progress.

How apps are designed to be addictive In this post, we’ll look at how apps are designed to be addictive and how you can use these design secrets to make your own apps more engaging. Most people are motivated by the need to feel competent. Games are designed to make players feel good about their progress.

They provide a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction when you overcome a challenge. This is why games use achievements and badges (achievements) as rewards for completing tasks or levels. You can use this same psychological principle in your app to create an enjoyable experience for your users. A great example of this is Instagram which lets you earn trophies for reaching certain milestones like posting 50 photos in one day, uploading over 100 photos per month, etc..

Apps are often designed to be social - so we can share our achievements with friends and compete against each other.

Apps are designed to be addictive. They're designed to get you to open them as often as possible, to get you to use them for longer than you intended. That's because they're designed by people who want to make money — and the best way to do that is by getting more people using their apps.

So how do they do it? What are the secrets of app design that make them so addictive? Here are 10 ways that apps are designed to be addictive: Apps are often designed to be social - so we can share our achievements with friends and compete against each other.

Apps like Instagram and Twitter have this built-in, but others like Candy Crush Saga offer leaderboards that show how far your friends have progressed through the game. This makes us feel good about ourselves and encourages us to keep playing in order to improve our position on the board — even if we're not having fun!

Apps also use what psychologists call intermittent variable rewards — small rewards given at random intervals of time — as a way of keeping us interested in continuing playing rather than quitting straight away. These rewards don't have to be big; even just seeing your score increase by one can be enough for some people!

One of the best ways for app designers to keep us addicted is by making us wait - so our desire to find out what happens next increases.

There are lots of ways that apps are designed to be addictive. One of the best ways for app designers to keep us addicted is by making us wait - so our desire to find out what happens next increases. Here's how it works: If an app includes a countdown timer, or some other type of clock that's ticking down, we know there's something coming up but we don't know when.

This makes us want to know what's going on more than anything else in the world! For example, if you're playing a game and you're waiting for something exciting to happen (like a prize), then it will be hard for you to put your phone down until that point arrives.

The same goes for apps like Instagram or Snapchat - when you open their apps, there is usually no content immediately available for you to see! Instead, users are greeted with a blank screen which displays the number of new followers they've gained since they last opened their accounts. These numbers act as a countdown timer, prompting users to return frequently in order to see who has liked their posts or stories.

Tech companies use data about their users behavior to constantly improve their products, which makes them more addictive.

We’re all familiar with the idea that apps are designed to be addictive, but how do they do it? There are hundreds of different ways that tech companies use to increase our engagement. One of the most common techniques is using push notifications to remind us to come back to the app.

By sending a notification at just the right time, you can encourage users to check their app and complete important tasks. For example, if you send a push notification when someone checks into a location, they will stay in your app longer because they have more information about what’s happening at that place.

Tech companies also use data about their users behavior to constantly improve their products, which makes them more addictive. This means that the more engaged you are with an app, the better it gets at serving your needs and keeping you coming back for more.

'fomo' (fear of missing out) is a powerful force that makes apps like facebook so addictive; people want to be involved so they can't miss what's happening.

The first step to making an app addictive is to make it simple. If you want people to use your app and come back again and again, then you need to make it easy to use. The best way to do that is by putting an end to options. Apps like Snapchat and Instagram are designed around a single purpose – taking pictures or sharing them with other people.

They don't have complicated menus or options, because they don't need them. Apps with too many options are hard to navigate and can put people off using them altogether, so keep things simple as much as possible. 2: Make sure your app looks good on a mobile device If someone is going to use your app for more than just a few minutes, then it needs to look good on their phone screen.

It's no good if they can't see what they're doing or if the interface is confusing – they'll just give up and move on somewhere else. When designing your app, think about how you can make it look as good as possible on a small screen (by using clear fonts and icons) but also make sure that people have enough space for their fingers when using touchscreens (for example, by making buttons big enough).

Tech products don't just use addictive techniques - they also give us something useful or enjoyable which we genuinely want to use or play with.

Good design can make something addictive. But not all tech products are designed to be addictive. There are many reasons why a product might be designed to be addictive, but it's worth remembering that the vast majority of products aren't designed this way. The vast majority of products don't want you to keep coming back, they just want you to buy them once.

It's also worth remembering that while some products are designed to be addictive, they don't always work as well as they should. There's a reason why people sometimes call them "crack apps" or "time suckers".

To Sum Up

It is well worth noting that there are a lot of benefits to having an app that keeps you coming back. The app can keep people informed and acted on these new pieces of information. This leads to an increase in traffic, which in turn leads to an increase in revenue.

It is this practical reasoning that leads to certain features being added to apps and not others, despite what the individual user thinks would be useful. Most of these features are designed with the idea of keeping you engaged in the app, hence the success of habit forming apps.

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About the Creator

Aymeric Delaplace

💬 Hello, I'm Aymeric 📱. 👋 I write about apps, software and businesses for kids for publications like TechCrunch 🌟. 🤔Have a question? DM me on Twitter or e-mail my email address. 👈❤️

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