Mobile Login with Social Sign-In (iOS)
Based on real screens from Reddit, Balance, Strava, MyFitnessPal, Vocabulary, IMDb, and Airalo on Mobbin.
Observed patterns
Social-first layout (most common)
- Reddit: close X top-left, "Sign up" link top-right, large "Log in" title, legal microcopy ("By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy") directly under the title, then three identical outlined pill buttons — brand icon left-aligned, label centered: "Continue with Google", "Continue with Apple", "Continue with Login Link". Below: an "OR" divider with hairlines, filled gray Username/Password fields (password has an eye toggle), a "Forgot password?" link, and a full-width "Continue" button at the bottom that sits disabled (washed-out gradient) until fields are valid.
- Strava: nav bar with "< Back" and centered "Log In" title; Facebook button filled in brand blue on top, Google and Apple as white outlined buttons beneath — all full-width, same height, stacked with tight equal gaps; then a grouped Email/Password field pair and "Forgot Password".
- Airalo: presented as a bottom sheet with a Log in / Sign up segmented tab underline at the top. Social options are three compact icon-only pills in a row (Apple, Google, Facebook), followed by Email + Password outlined fields, "Forgot password", a disabled "Log in" pill, and a secondary "Log in with SSO" text link.
Email-first layout
- MyFitnessPal: labeled Email/Password fields on top, a filled blue "Log In" button, "Forgot password?" link, then an "OR" divider and three white card-style social buttons (Google, Apple, Facebook) with icon + centered label. Reassurance microcopy at the very bottom: "We will never post anything without your permission."
Minimal / value-framed layout
- Vocabulary frames sign-in as a benefit, not a gate: mascot illustration, headline "Keep your data safe", subcopy explaining that an account preserves favorites and settings across devices. Only two options: black "Sign in with Apple" pill first, white outlined "Sign in with Google" second. Legal microcopy in small centered gray text at the bottom.
- Balance: three stacked full-width rectangles each filled with the provider's brand color (Apple black, Facebook blue, Email teal) — bold but visually noisy; the three competing brand colors give no clear primary.
- IMDb: "Returning customer?" heading over a uniform list of white rounded rows, each with a brand icon and left-aligned label (IMDb, Amazon, Google, Apple) — treating providers as a neutral choice list.
Cross-app constants
- Social buttons are always full-width (or equal-width), ~48–56pt tall, pill or 8–12pt rounded, stacked vertically with equal spacing, and use the provider's official icon.
- "Continue with X" / "Sign in with X" wording — never bare brand names.
- Apple is always present and usually first or second (App Store requirement when third-party login is offered).
- Email/password is positioned as the fallback below an "OR" divider (Reddit, MyFitnessPal, Strava, Airalo).
- Legal agreement copy appears on the login screen itself, in small gray text near the title (Reddit) or the bottom (Vocabulary).
Design rules derived
Do
- Offer 2–4 social providers max; include Sign in with Apple whenever any social login exists (App Store Review 4.8).
- Make every social button the same shape, width, and height; differentiate providers by icon + label, not by size.
- Use "Continue with [Provider]" labels — "Continue" works for both new and returning users.
- Give the recommended provider the only filled/high-contrast treatment (black Apple pill in Vocabulary); render the rest outlined.
- Separate social options from email/password with a hairline "OR" divider.
- Include: "Forgot password?" link near the password field, a show/hide eye toggle on password, and a route to the opposite mode (Sign up link in the nav or a tab pair like Airalo).
- Keep the email/password submit button disabled until inputs are plausibly valid, like Reddit and Airalo.
- Put agreement microcopy ("By continuing you agree to…") on the auth screen with linked Terms/Privacy.
- Add one line of trust reassurance when a provider raises privacy fears (MyFitnessPal's "We will never post anything without your permission").
- If auth is optional, frame it around the user's benefit ("Keep your data safe" — Vocabulary) and keep it skippable.
Don't
- Don't fill every button with its provider's brand color (Balance) — the screen loses a visual hierarchy and a primary action.
- Don't hide email login entirely if your audience includes users without the offered social accounts.
- Don't use icon-only social pills (Airalo) unless space is critical; labels remove ambiguity and help accessibility.
- Don't place legal text where it interrupts the field → CTA flow; above the title or below the CTA are the observed safe zones.
Anti-patterns seen
- Brand-color soup (Balance): three saturated brand-filled buttons of equal weight; no primary action, poor scalability when providers are added.
- Duplicate affordances (Strava): "Log In" appears both as a disabled nav-bar button and as the implicit form action — two competing submit locations.
- Ultra-low-contrast disabled CTA (Reddit): the disabled gradient "Continue" is so faint it can read as decorative; disabled states should stay legible.
- No sign-up escape hatch on screen (IMDb, Balance): returning-user screens without a visible "create account" path strand new users behind the back button.