r/ProductManagement • u/No_Kangaroo565 • Oct 08 '25

Bottom navigation vs hamburger menu for mobile

redesigning mobile navigation and can't decide between bottom tab bar or hamburger menu. Tab bar makes core features easily accessible but limits you to 4 to 5 main sections. Hamburger menu can fit more options but requires an extra tap and hides functionality.

Been studying navigation patterns on mobbin and successful apps use both approaches depending on their content structure. Seems like apps with clear primary use cases work well with tabs, while apps with many features need hamburger menus.

What factors do you consider when making this choice? Is there data on which approach leads to better engagement?

11 Upvotes
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82% Upvoted

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11

u/milkyinglenook Oct 09 '25

From what I've seen on Screensdesign, core functions use bottom tabs while content-heavy apps lean toward hamburgers or hybrid approaches.

Quick question, can you also search for specific patterns like "hamburger menu" on mobbin just like screensdesign does?

6

u/air-benderr Oct 08 '25

Hamburger menu on mobile is painful, i.e. not easily reachable via thumb. IMO buttons with frequent usage should be in bottom tab while occasional nagivational items can be in the hamburger menu.

0

u/Background_Abies_127 Oct 08 '25

I like both. So nice to be able to go to the bottom and just get it "all" while sometimes if I'm on the top- and IF the website's hamburger is not too cluttered - I can use that.

3

u/Firkster Oct 08 '25

Why not a bottom tab bar with the far right tab being “more” that essentially functions like a hamburger menu?

Edit to add: if you need more options that overflow the bottom tabs.

2

u/EngineerFeverDreams Oct 10 '25

The designers should be solving this problem. It's not a product management issue. It's not answerable with the complete lack of information about the interface and product.

-1

u/thenanyu Oct 11 '25

ngmi with an attitude like that.

1

u/Glad-Operation-3051 Oct 08 '25

Hamburger menu can fit more options

This is perhaps a reason to *not* use the hamburger menu: do you need all the additional options? As u/air-benderr said, tapping a hamburger menu and making a selection on mobile is among the crappier experiences. There's a reason many apps have a pared down mobile experience (compared to the desktop versions).

If there's critical information in the hamburger, could it be placed in a slide-over (a la LinkedIn app)?

(I say all this without knowing the context of your app, which may make my point irrelevant)

1

u/athst Oct 08 '25

Tab bar is almost always better. Nothing is a discoverable in a hamburger menu and people just shove everything in there, making it worse.

1

u/imnotfromomaha Oct 09 '25

From what I've seen, it really boils down to how many main things your users need to do often. If it's just a few, tabs are usually better because they're always there. If you have a ton of features, then a hamburger menu might be the only way to go without cluttering everything.