Bottom Tab Bar Navigation Design Best Practices

This article describes the best practices of the bottom tab bar navigation for mobile and tablet devices.

First, learn why the bottom navigation tab bar is important for mobile apps. The next section describes the anatomy of the bottom navigation bar by showing its elements. Several best practices are listed in the next section along with a bunch of visual practical examples. The last section shows a few alternatives to the bottom navigation bar for different use cases using examples of real applications.

Key Takeaways

• Use the bottom tab bar when you have three to five main navigation options in your app.
• A bottom tab bar has a fixed layout and scrolling is not a desired behavior.
• Use icons along with text labels as tab titles. Follow standards for icons and labels.
• Use badges to show additional information with a tab.
• Show a standard empty state for tabs where no content is available.
• Use a hamburger menu and a navigation drawer for more than five options.

Learn how to design an interactive Bottom Navigation Bar animation in Figma: