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Our mobile app has a screen with a button that updates a price when the user takes a picture.
In order to clarify any doubt that a user may have about the button, I want to add a description somewhere that the user can read so that she/she is clear on how the button works.
The left screenshot is what the app looks like. The right screenshot is with the balloon popup that will be displayed when the user clicks on the blue button.
My question: Is the balloon popup a "thing" in mobile development?
These kinds of onboarding events are common across many things, yes, across both desktop and mobile. I don't believe I have seen a uniform style for them yet; it's not a very standardized method.
That said, your balloon style likely isn't the best choice here. For one, even in your mockup, you can already tell that the text inside it is fairly awkward. For another, it's non-obvious what exactly you're pointing towards in this moment as your balloon is, well, round.
A better solution may be a rounded rectangle with an arrow pointing at the item in question. I think some Google apps also circle the item and have the outer edge of the circle be a fading-out gradient, with the explanatory text simply placed on the gradient. But again: None of this has a universal standard.
From an interaction point of view, it also is important when you show these onboarding balloons. When clicking "edit prices", I already kinda know what I want to do with it - I want to edit prices using my camera, else I wouldn't have clicked the button. So this particular onboarding attempt is coming at an inopportune time, you need to either show it very early on, before the user even clicks the button, or on the next page as the first thing.
If you look at the description of the behavior of the element, I would say that this is a reminder message or a warning message. I see it's an iPhone, in their design system they use regular pop-ups in the middle of the screen.
Of course, you can use any shape but it is advisable to follow the manufacturer's patterns.
Below you can see an example.
