An example of a product requirements document for a mobile app should include a one-page executive summary, user stories with acceptance criteria for every feature, explicit non-functional requirements (performance, accessibility, offline behavior), and platform-specific behavior notes for iOS and Android — because mobile PRDs that omit non-functional requirements and platform differences consistently produce apps that ship with performance regressions or accessibility failures.
The most common mobile app PRD failure is treating it as a list of features rather than a complete specification of what "done" means. A feature without acceptance criteria is open to interpretation — and different interpretations produce different apps on iOS and Android.
Example PRD Structure: Personal Finance Tracking App
Product: FinanceTrack — a mobile app for personal expense tracking and budget management.
Version: PRD v1.2 Author: [PM Name] Engineering Lead: [Name] Design Lead: [Name] Last updated: [Date] Target release: [Date]
Section 1: Executive Summary (One Page)
Problem: 68% of surveyed users in the 25–45 age bracket report they don't have visibility into their monthly spending until they review their bank statement at month end.
Solution: FinanceTrack enables users to categorize expenses in real time as they occur, set monthly budgets per category, and receive alerts before they overspend — with a target experience that takes <30 seconds per transaction.
Success metrics:
- D30 retention: >45%
- Average transactions logged per active user per week: >5
- Budget alert engagement rate: >60% of users who receive an alert take action within the app
Out of scope for v1.0:
- Investment tracking
- Joint/shared budgets
- Bank account sync (v2.0)
Section 2: User Personas
Primary persona: Alex, 31, full-time professional
- Logs expenses manually after each purchase (or weekly in batch)
- Primary device: iPhone 15 Pro
- Key job-to-be-done: "Know if I'm on track for my monthly budget before the month ends"
- Success criteria: Can see budget status in <3 taps from home screen
Secondary persona: Sam, 27, freelancer with variable income
- Needs to categorize expenses for tax purposes alongside personal tracking
- Primary device: Samsung Galaxy S24
- Key job-to-be-done: "Separate business and personal expenses without maintaining two separate apps"
Section 3: Feature Requirements
Feature 1: Expense Entry
User story: As a user, I want to log a new expense in under 30 seconds so that I can capture spending immediately without it feeling like a chore.
Acceptance criteria:
- [ ] User can open expense entry from home screen in ≤2 taps
- [ ] Expense entry form requires only 3 mandatory fields: amount, category, date (pre-populated with today)
- [ ] Amount entry supports decimal input and auto-formats to 2 decimal places
- [ ] Category selector shows the 5 most recently used categories first
- [ ] Save action completes in <500ms (confirmed by performance test)
- [ ] User receives haptic feedback on successful save (iOS Taptic Engine; Android Haptic Feedback API)
Platform-specific behavior:
- iOS: Use SF Symbols for category icons
- Android: Use Material Icons for category icons
Edge cases:
- Offline entry: Expense saved locally and synced when connectivity restores
- Duplicate detection: Warn user if identical amount + category + date exists within 30 seconds
Feature 2: Budget Dashboard
User story: As a user, I want to see my budget status at a glance so I know where I stand without having to navigate through multiple screens.
Acceptance criteria:
- [ ] Dashboard loads in <1 second on primary personas' devices (iPhone 15 Pro, Galaxy S24)
- [ ] Budget status for each category shown as: percentage used, amount remaining, and visual indicator (green / yellow / red)
- [ ] Yellow threshold: 80% of budget used; Red threshold: 100%+ used
- [ ] Dashboard updates in real time when new expense is saved (no manual refresh required)
- [ ] Tapping any category opens the transaction list for that category
Accessibility:
- All color status indicators must have text or icon fallback (not color-only for accessibility compliance)
- Minimum tap target: 44×44 pt (iOS Human Interface Guidelines)
- VoiceOver/TalkBack: All interactive elements must have descriptive accessibility labels
Section 4: Non-Functional Requirements
Non-functional requirements are the most commonly omitted section of mobile PRDs and the most common source of post-launch performance and accessibility bugs.
Performance requirements:
| Metric | Requirement | Test method | |--------|------------|-------------| | App cold start | <2 seconds on target devices | Automated performance test on iPhone 13 and Galaxy S22 | | Screen transition | <300ms | Profiler measurement | | Data sync | <5 seconds for 100 transactions | Integration test | | Offline mode | Full read access, write-to-local queue | Manual test with airplane mode |
Accessibility requirements:
- WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
- Full VoiceOver support (iOS) and TalkBack support (Android)
- Dynamic type support: UI must not break at 5 accessibility text sizes
- Minimum color contrast ratio: 4.5:1 for all text
Security requirements:
- Biometric authentication support (Face ID / Fingerprint) for app unlock
- No financial data stored in device logs
- Data encrypted at rest using AES-256
- HTTPS with certificate pinning for all API calls
Offline requirements:
- Read: All previously synced data available offline
- Write: New expenses queue locally and sync when connectivity restores
- Conflict resolution: Last-write-wins for same-date expense edits
Section 5: Platform-Specific Requirements
| Requirement | iOS | Android | |-------------|-----|---------| | Minimum OS version | iOS 16 | Android 12 (API 31) | | Widget support | iOS home screen widget (v1.0) | Android widget (v2.0) | | Push notifications | APNs | FCM | | Biometric auth | Face ID + Touch ID | Android BiometricPrompt API | | App size budget | <50MB on install | <50MB on install |
Section 6: Analytics Requirements
Every screen and key action must fire an analytics event. Analytics requirements belong in the PRD, not as a post-launch afterthought.
| Event | Properties | Purpose |
|-------|-----------|---------|
| expense_saved | amount, category, entry_time_ms | Track 30-second entry target |
| budget_alert_shown | category, percentage_used | Measure alert relevance |
| budget_alert_tapped | category, action_taken | Measure alert engagement |
| screen_viewed | screen_name, load_time_ms | Performance monitoring |
FAQ
Q: What should a product requirements document for a mobile app include? A: Executive summary with success metrics, user personas with jobs-to-be-done, feature requirements with user stories and acceptance criteria, non-functional requirements (performance, accessibility, security, offline), platform-specific behavior notes, and analytics requirements.
Q: What are non-functional requirements in a mobile app PRD? A: Performance requirements (cold start time, screen transition speed), accessibility requirements (WCAG compliance, VoiceOver/TalkBack support, dynamic type), security requirements (encryption, auth), and offline behavior — requirements about how the app performs rather than what it does.
Q: How do you write acceptance criteria for a mobile app feature? A: Write specific, testable statements that define when a feature is complete — not "users can log expenses" but "user can open expense entry from home screen in 2 taps, save completes in <500ms, and offline entries sync when connectivity restores."
Q: Why are platform-specific requirements important in a mobile PRD? A: iOS and Android have different interaction conventions, icon systems, authentication APIs, notification systems, and OS version support requirements. A PRD that doesn't specify platform differences produces inconsistent experiences or platform-specific bugs.
Q: What analytics events should be specified in a mobile app PRD? A: Every key user action tied to a success metric — at minimum: core workflow completion events, engagement events, performance measurement events, and error events. Analytics requirements belong in the PRD, not as a post-launch addition.
HowTo: Write a Product Requirements Document for a Mobile App
- Start with a one-page executive summary defining the problem, solution, success metrics, and explicit out-of-scope items before writing any feature requirements
- Write user personas with specific devices, jobs-to-be-done, and success criteria that can be used to evaluate feature decisions throughout development
- For each feature, write a user story and specific acceptance criteria as testable statements that define when the feature is complete
- Include a non-functional requirements section covering performance targets with test methods, accessibility compliance level, security requirements, and offline behavior
- Document platform-specific behavior for iOS and Android including OS version support, UI component libraries, authentication APIs, and push notification systems
- Specify analytics events for every key action tied to a success metric so tracking is instrumented at build time rather than added as a post-launch retrofit