Developing an Interior Design Mobile App: A Complete Guide

The mobile app development industry is booming, with new apps being released every day to cater to a variety of needs and niches. One such niche that has gained significant traction in recent years is interior design. As more and more people are becoming interested in designing their living spaces, interior design apps have become increasingly popular.

According to recent data, the global interior design services market has witnessed steady growth over the past few years, reaching a valuation of US$115 billion in 2022. Looking ahead, it is expected to expand rapidly at a CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period of 2022-2032, reaching a value of US$213.7 billion.

Building an interior design mobile app can be a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses looking to tap into this growing market. However, creating a successful interior design app requires careful planning and execution, as well as a deep understanding of the industry and user preferences.

In this blog, we will explore the key aspects of building an interior design mobile app, including the features and functionality that users expect, the costs involved, and how to choose the right app development company for your project. Whether you are an interior designer looking to create an app to showcase your portfolio or a business looking to provide a unique experience to your customers, this guide will provide you with the necessary insights to bring your vision to life.

What is Interior Design?

Interior design includes working on a room, or space, or an entire house with the intent of achieving a desired look or feel that one wants from it. Hence, the ultimate goal of interior design is to create functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces that enhance the quality of life and culture while promoting mental well-being and stability.

To achieve these objectives, interior designers must have a deep understanding of the psychology of human behavior, a keen eye for aesthetics, and a strong sense of design principles. They use this knowledge to create spaces that look beautiful and serve their intended purpose practically and efficiently. 

App for Interior Design: How it Works

Designing a space can be a serious and daunting task involving investing lump sum amounts of money. It is a task that cannot be done alone and requires professional consultation.

However, a wide array of interior design applications have made their way into the market and completely transformed how things work. Such apps serve as special virtual assistants which suggest and provide innovative and inspiring ideas to users on how their spaces should be designed. In addition, the applications make it easier for users to convey personal desires and ideas regarding house décor and other such rooms and offer suggestions accordingly. 

Thus, the applications are no less than professional interior designers and are available to users 24/7. 

How do Virtual Interior Design Apps function?

The applications present users with interior design ideas on the basis of the room and show many pictures of the house’s different rooms. Users can search through the images from various categories such as modern, ethnic, contemporary, eclectic, mediterranean, etc. Users can select and narrow down the pictures they like the most based on their style. Thus, through this whole process, each room can be designed innovatively by browsing through the extensive collection of pictures.

Revenue generation techniques for interior design apps

1. Exchange Fee 

In such applications, the app owner might charge some commission from the product sellers in exchange for listing their offerings in the app marketplace.

2. Membership Revenue

In this monetization model, the application stores information regarding home décor experts in its database. Utilizing this database, interior design applications can offer pre-designed internal design programs to their clients. Thus, businesses can earn additional profits by charging an annual membership fee from their clients to grant them access to the pre-designed programs.

3. Promoting Revenue 

As a part of this revenue generation strategy, app owners can charge the related businesses a certain sum as a fee in exchange for advertising their products and services on their interior designer platforms.

Role of Augmented Reality in Interior Design Apps

With augmented reality, app users can virtually try on different home décor ideas. It takes place when the décor applications are powered with AR technology. Hence, users can effectively rearrange furniture and decorative items via AR-powered apps.

Popular Virtual Interior Design Apps

Some of the best interior design apps are mentioned below:

1. Houzz

Houzz is an interior design application that helps in planning and preparing homes for the purpose of repair and design. The app offers more than 16 million images of interiors and exteriors for high-resolution landscape design software. The platform provides users access to a network of specialists and a market of home décor products.

2. Heavenly

Havenly is another interior design application that makes home renovating easier by allowing users to select a designer based on their preferred style and budget. The app allows users to upload a picture of the room they are interested in, pick an interior designer suitable to their preferences, and start communicating with the designer to accomplish the planned look.

3. IKEA Place

Ikea is a renowned home furnishing company widely known for its furniture and Scandinavian design. The company has an IKEA Place app that allows users to place 3D models of furniture in their spaces virtually.

4. Pinterest 

Pinterest does not belong to the category of virtual interior applications but is an app that is fun and easy to navigate through. It allows users to make creative mood boards to gather inspiring and innovative ideas for future craft projects and make purchases. 

5. Design Home

Design Home app allows users to solve design ideas by giving them a hypothetical client situation, where they are asked to design a beach living room or an outdoor space. To finish the task, the interior design app offers a fake budget that can be invested in decorating the space. It is possible to receive game money for completing the task. 

6. Hutch 

Thanks to the latest augmented technology, the interior design application offers users a vast selection of antique, vintage, and new furniture. It allows users to see how the items will look in their spaces.

7. RoOmy 

RoOomy is another virtual interior design application that can convert 2D pictures to 3D visualization. RoOomy enables its users to display various arrangements of furniture and artwork within a designated area and provides direct access to retailers.

Users are required to take a picture of the spaces they wish to recreate and turn them into 3D scenes, shop right at home, place items digitally in their rooms, and then save and share the design for future reference.

8. Planner 5D

Planner 5D is an application that allows users to create 2D or 3D sketches of photorealistic HD pictures of their rooms or the entire house. Hence, the design app offers various room layouts and furniture changes to users.

9. MagicPlan 

MagicPlan app allows users to take pictures of their spaces and convert them into floor plans with accurate measurements. Although the app could be more meticulous regarding interiors, it is an effective tool for quick layout planning. 

10. Photo Measures

This innovative application enables users to draw all sizes of walls and floors directly on the picture of the room. The effective app eliminates the need for you to carry a measurement tape as it allows you to save dimensions and angles or write down a detail you need to remember. So the next time you buy furniture, you need to open the app for reference.

11. iHandy Carpenter 

Another valuable and practical interior design app is iHandy which offers five essential tools for decorating and building work right at the touch of your smartphone. 

Cutting-edge functions in Interior Design Apps

1. Ideas allocation

Once the app development work starts, businesses can ask their family and friends to share décor ideas on the app platform. In addition to this, companies can allow them to save their thoughts on the app and create a store book. Hence, in the store book, the decorating ideas are shared and may also include solutions to the challenges faced. 

One can also allow people to share home remodeling ideas on the app. 

2. Get Professional consultation

This is one of the app’s main functions that allows users to get professional consultations such as home designers and architectures, either online or offline. Additionally, the app can display the ratings and reviews given to these professionals and designers by other app users, making it easier to select one.

3. Shop feature

The shop is another essential feature of virtual interior apps, and it allows users to select and add to their cart their favorite products.

4. Discount 

Customers often tend to drop a product due to its high price. Thus, virtual interior apps can offer discounts on selected products so that users would be compelled to purchase. 

5. Push Notifications 

Push notifications are messages sent to the user’s device even if the app is not currently open or in use. These messages provide updates or alerts to users, such as news updates, reminders, or promotional offers. 

6. Ratings and Reviews

Ratings and reviews are other crucial features of virtual interior apps as they help in providing valuable feedback to the users, as well as to platform owners and developers, and can even influence the purchasing decisions of other users. 

7. Upload Pictures

It should be easier for the users to upload pictures of the spaces they wish to recreate on the app. Although, there are a few things that need to be taken care of when integrating this functionality. For example, the photograph must have a width of 1000 pixels as an image has to be of high quality. Additionally, only authentic and licensed photos should be allowed to be uploaded. It is essential to ensure that the visitors use relevant keywords because, to sell products, the keywords must be searchable. 

8. Social Signup/Login

Social signup/ login is another popular feature that allows users to create an account or sign in to the app using their social media credentials, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter. 

Additionally, social login can also provide the app with access to some of the user’s social data, such as their name, email address, and profile picture, to offer a more personalized experience to the user and show more relevant content. 

9. Ideabooks

Ideabooks are a prominent feature of virtual interior design apps that allow users to save and organize their design ideas and inspiration in one place. Users can go through a vast collection of design images, products, and other visual content and save them to their ideabook for future reference. 

How to Develop an Interior Design App?

1. Understand Your Business Requirements 

Before beginning to build your app, it is essential to understand your core business goals clearly. You should be aware of your target audience and their expectations from the app. It is also integral to be mindful of the various trends in the market. Apart from this, doing thorough research on your competitors is crucial for the success of your app, as it will help you gain insight into the mistakes that have already been made in this field and what you can do to avoid them.

2. Go for Expert Consultation

Once you have determined your business requirements, to go ahead with the development plan, you need the best experts who will assist you in identifying the best solutions to your business problems. They will help accelerate development by employing the best tools and strategies. Hence, you can pick a skilled interior app development company that provides consultation services.

3. Choose Competitive Features

Two aspects that contribute significantly towards the growth and success of a project are its features and the UI/UX design. Some competitive features that you can integrate into your application are:

i. Find Designer

Allow your customers to find the best interior designers for the spaces they wish to recreate. Users can utilize a geolocation filter to find designers in their area or look for specific designers in certain locations.

ii. Share Ideas

Customers should be allowed to communicate their ideas with the designers freely. They can connect via in-app messaging or even schedule a meeting through your interior design app.

iii. In-app Purchasing 

You can allow third-party companies to list their products on the interior design app in exchange for a specific fee charged. This feature will enable customers to buy those products from the same app to enhance their home décor.

iv. Rewards and Discounts

You can increase your app’s trust and user experience by giving discounts and loyalty bonuses to your customers. In addition to this, you can also offer great deals or run referral campaigns to boost your app’s traffic. 

v. View Design Ideas and Virtual Décor

The customers should have the option of viewing pre-built design templates for their projects. The designers can display their previous work, and the users can alter the design. 

Apart from this, you can increase your app engagement by using VR features that allow users to decorate their homes by choosing great décor items, color themes, and designs for homes and offices.

vi Social Sharing 

The social sharing feature would allow customers to share their favorite or custom designs on social media apps, which will ultimately help your business gain more followers without much marketing effort. 

4. Interior Design App Tech Stack 

5. Hire an Experienced Interior Design App Development Company

The next step is to hire an experienced app development company with the most talented resources across your niche and adequate information on the next-gen technologies and development platforms to contribute towards the success of your app. 

6. Develop, Test, and Deploy your app.

The final step of your app development process is to develop and test your app. Testing is a necessary component as it helps identify any bugs hindering the smooth functioning of your app. Thus, test runs are required before launching your app in the market. 

Cost of an Interior Design Mobile App Development 

Different factors influence the cost of an interior design app:

1. App Development Platform

The platform determines the development cost of an app it will deploy, whether iOS or Android. For each forum, different development teams are required. For example, for an iOS platform, iOS app developers are needed, whereas for the Android version, Android app developers are required. Hence, the cost differs accordingly. The price will double if the app is developed for both platforms.

2. App Development Team

Two development teams are required for the app development process, one for the front end and the other for the back end. Hence the cost would differ accordingly. 

Apart from this, the development team should contain the following members:

• Project Manager
• iOS/Android Developers
• Back-end Developers
• UI/UX Designers
• Quality Analysts

3. App Design (UI/UX)

Applications with simple designs tend to cost less than apps with complex structures.

4. Features and Functionalities

The estimated development cost of an application with basic features for a single platform is $25000-$35000, and an app with advanced features, designed for multiple platforms costs double, around $50000-$70000. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, building an interior design mobile app can be a complex and challenging task that requires a deep understanding of the industry and user preferences. However, with the right app development company, you can streamline the development process and create an app that stands out from the competition.

Idea Usher is a prominent interior design mobile app development company that can help you build a top-notch app with a range of advanced features such as 3D modeling, virtual reality integration, and more. Our team of experienced designers and developers can also guide you through the development process, ensuring that the app meets all your requirements and is delivered within your budget.

We believe that communication is key to a successful project, which is why we work closely with our clients to ensure that their ideas are fully realized. Our team will keep you updated throughout the development process and ensure that any feedback or changes are implemented promptly.

Contact Idea Usher today!

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(+1)732 962 4560

(+91)859 140 7140

FAQs

Q. What is Interior Design?

ANS: Interior design is a multifaceted discipline that encompasses the planning, coordination, and execution of design projects within indoor environments such as homes, offices, and retail stores.

Q. What are the advanced features of an interior design mobile app?

ANS: There are several advanced features of an interior design mobile application, such as shop features, ratings and reviews, idea books, push notifications, etc.

Q. What features should I look for in an interior design mobile app?

ANS: When selecting an interior design mobile app, it’s important to look for features that align with your specific design needs and goals. Some useful features to consider include a 3D visualization tool, a floor plan creator, a furniture and decor library, and the ability to collaborate and share designs with others.

Q. How can Idea Usher help you in interior design mobile app development?

ANS: Idea Usher is a prominent interior design mobile app development company that can help you build a top-notch app with a range of advanced features such as 3D modeling, virtual reality integration, and more. Our team of experienced designers and developers can also guide you through the development process, ensuring that the app meets all your requirements and is delivered within your budget.