Building a successful app isn’t about development itself. It is more about the idea, planning, and research. You can build an app with the best experience out there, but if it doesn’t solve a real problem, nobody will use it.

That’s why you need to find an idea that’s worth building on. It takes a great deal of brainstorming, user research, and validation.

In this guide, we’ll discuss:

Key elements to find an ideal mobile app idea
Four types of app ideas

6 Key Elements of an Ideal Mobile App Idea

There are 6 crucial elements that can help find and validate the ‘perfect’ mobile app idea. Let’s explore them all:

1. Clear problem statement

Most apps are what we call as “filler apps”. They are an ordinary copy of existing ideas that don’t solve a real, painful problem. In a crowded market, such apps are hard to scale as they don’t stand out to the audience.

You need your app to introduce a new solution to an actual problem. When brainstorming an idea, ask yourself:

Does this app idea solve a real problem that people would pay for?
Does this app idea offer a better solution than the existing ones?
Is your problem-solution statement clear?

If you can’t really define a real problem-solution statement, you need to research further to clarify unsolved problems. Conduct market research and user interviews to find better insights on your app idea.

2. Defined buyer persona

Apart from a clear problem-solution statement, you also need to define who your audience, what their preferences are, and what they actually want.

Most problems are specific to certain audiences. For instance, software engineers might want to code faster for which, Cursor is a solution. However, the platform isn’t suitable for someone who doesn’t code.

Your goal is to find an audience who actually needs your app. Once you’ve defined your buyer persona, you also need to make sure that:

The audience exists and needs a solution. Every problem has a solution but it doesn’t necessarily mean that its audience wants the solution too. Nobody will use your app if they don’t really need to use it.
The audience aligns with your goals. If you want to scale your app, your target audience also needs to be large enough. No amount of efforts can support your growth otherwise.

3. Strong unique value proposition

No matter how good your app is, you need a differentiating point that sets your app apart from competitors. In perspective, you’ll need to stand out from not just direct competitors but also the indirect ones.

You want to create a point of differentiation that makes your offer irreplaceable. It shouldn’t have an alternative to lose against. To create a strong unique value proposition, ask yourself:

Does my app solve my audience’s problem in an easier way?
Why should my customers choose my app over other alternatives?

If you’re able to write out a clear answer, then you’re probably going in the right direction. A clear unique value proposition will also help you while creating a go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

4. Great founder-market fit

When it comes to understanding the real market, a good founder-market fit plays a key role. Most successful apps you’ll see have this factor in common.

However, a founder-market fit doesn’t mean that you need to be a part of your target audience. Instead, it means that the founder should have some reasonable overlap with the problem they’re solving or the audience they’re building the app for.

The real leverage of founder-market fit is that you can gain traction even if the market’s demand or your audience changes. Therefore, it gives the app an edge to grow in all circumstances.

5. Technologically feasible

Once you’ve got your idea planned, there’s still one thing: How complex is it to build with the current technology?

If your idea is too complex, it may not be easy to develop. The good part is that most apps can be built easily nowadays. In fact, you don’t even need a mobile app developer anymore for most cases.

Whether you can code or not, you can build apps with AI mobile app builders such as Natively. All you need is to prompt the AI, explaining exactly what you want in your app. Add integrations and AI features to your app — without actually writing any code.

6. Aligned with your vision

Finally, your idea should align with your long-term and short-term goals. If you’re building a mobile app, then your vision with it determines whether the idea is worth investing into or not.

Ask yourself questions such as:

Do you want to scale and grow your business to a high level?
Does your goal align with your audience size?

You want to ensure that every aspect of your business aligns with the idea and research.

How to Find Ideas That Actually Work?

There aren’t just problem-solving app ideas. If you research, you’ll find three more types: audience-focused, activity-focused, and personal development apps.

Let’s learn about all of them to settle down on the type of app you want to build.

Audience-focused apps

Starting with the core of each app: The audience.

Most successful app ideas focus on a particular audience for a specific problem. It could be anyone such as busy solopreneurs, non-coders, or people with specific hobbies. You could find a large audience that currently doesn’t have any good apps for them.

Ask yourself these questions:

What communities do you know particularly well about?
Which problems do they face that’s the hardest for them? Do you they want to solve it?
Can these problems be solved with a good mobile app?

Do market research to get a deep understanding of your audience. If you find a feasible idea, build a minimum viable product (MVP), get feedback and iterate on it.

Activity-focused apps

These apps are focused on making the user ‘do an activity’. It could either designed for an activity (cooking apps, meditation apps) or the app itself is the activity (games, social media apps).

Such creative mobile apps aren’t focused on solving a specific problem. Instead, they allow the users to invest time in hobbies and things that bring joy to them.

Personal development apps

Everybody uses personal development apps: Productivity apps, health tracking, mindfulness apps, educational apps, and many more. You can find hundreds of them on the App Store.

However, it doesn’t mean that their market is saturated. If you research deep into it, you’ll find more personal goals than known across the physical, social, and mental aspects.

To find personal development app ideas, ask yourself:

What have you struggled with (and overcame) that others might relate to?
Are there any personal growth tools that can potentially be an app?
How could you replicate the existing apps, but much easier to use?

Problem-focused apps

These are most common types of apps, and also the most successful ones. They can be as simple as a Reminders app and as complex as an AI agent builder. Among all, the common point is: the app solves a specific problem.

You need to go back to the basics and ask yourself, “Is this idea solving a real problem or a non-existent one?” The app idea should be strong enough for users to notice and use your app.

However, a strong idea doesn’t necessarily a complex one. You can build an app that solves a simple yet painful problem too.

Build your app with Natively

Whether you’re building an app for your team structure, personal goals, or your brand-new business idea, Natively can help you bring all your ideas to life. You can validate all your ideas within minutes with the AI app builder.

The best part of all is that you don’t need to know coding to build apps. From the app’s first version to the final one, you just need to prompt the AI on what you want to create. Ship your big mobile app idea by next week — start building today!