Mobile Onboarding UX: 11 Best Practices for Retention (2025)

It is the process of designing the first real meeting between an app and a new user.

Great onboarding:

• Shows value in under 10 seconds
• Teaches through action
• Builds trust by respecting users’ time and intent

As few as possible. A banking app (high stakes) might need 4 steps for security setup. A weather app? Just 1 step.

5+ intro screens explaining features new users don’t yet care about. Onboarding that looks/feels nothing like the actual app. Asking for contacts/location before proving value. Forcing registration to share the app’s core functionality. These are all opposites of onboarding UX best practices.

Static onboarding = A museum tour. Users passively swipe through pre-packed screens (for instance, “Here, read about 7 features!”).

Progressive onboarding = A hiking guide. It teaches users as they climb. Tooltips appear when they hover over a button. Contextual hints explain features only when first used. It matches how our brain learns – through action.