Splash screens and interstitial ads

"The splash screen isn't displayed for long enough." It's something I've heard from clients and companies creating apps but never from the people actually using an app. To be fair I have heard people comment that an app shows a splash screen for so short a period of time it looks like the screen is flickering but that's a separate issue with a separate resolution.

Let's start with some history. Where do splash screens come from?

Many years ago, when computers were much slower than they are now and programs took a long time (relatively) to start up, someone had the idea to have the app display an image as the first stage in its start-up operations to give the impression and reassurance to the person who wants to use the app that it is loading. Over time the use of a static image was enhanced with animation and sometimes progress messages. All this was to reassure the person that the app/computer was doing something and to hide from the user that an app was taking so long to start.

Lets be clear, there was never a person who said I want an app to take longer to start or have an artificial delay between saying I want to use an app and actually being able to use it.

For many years, on the desktop, more and more apps started using splash screens and they started being displayed for longer as apps got larger and more complex, thereby taking longer to load.

For lack of a better option the splash screen would typically contain an app or company logo. Collectively, we became used to these "adverts" being displayed to us as we started apps. In fact some companies even began including their own adverts on their splash screens.

Over time and as application monetization models evolved, some apps began including full screen, or almost full screen, interstital ads when an app started. These would either be displayed for a fixed period of time or until they were physically dismissed.

That's all well and good, but what about Windows Phone?

The Windows Phone 7 application templates included a special file in the SplashScreenImage.jpg.

When an application was launched on the phone the OS would first look for the existence of this file. If found it would be displayed until the first "proper" page in the app was ready to be displayed. This was really useful as WP7 devices were relatively low powered and the application load process wasn't as optimized for speed as it is in WP8.

For the most part, the people developing apps would modify the image and the person launching an app would get a near instant visual response to launching an app. 

Some developers didn't modify the default splash screen image and their apps looked worse because of it.

With Windows Phone 8 a lot of work was done to improve the time it takes for an app to start. The improvements were such that they removed the placeholder image from the project templates. Partly as a way to highlight the improvement in start-up time and partly as a way to encourage the people creating apps to think about optimising the application start up experience with regards to what they're doing that impacts start up time too.

All this leaves us in a situation where a Windows Phone (8) app shouldn't need a splash screen. Apps should be developed to start quickly and get into a state where they are usable as quickly as possible.

However, many PMs, clients, marketing folk, etc. still have an expectation from history and the desktop regarding splash screens. They can think they're a necessity or something that should be included in every app. Then, when they are included we end up with feedback like the opening quote above.
Based on external and historical expectations, the requirement is added that the splash screen be displayed for a minimum length of time.
Depending on the ultimate owner of the app they may argue for the inclusion of an extended splash screen display duration (so it behaves like an interstitial ad) and you as a developer cannot persuade for an alternative. In that case so be it. For some people or companies the need to have a logo displayed to the person using your app is something they can't be persuaded against.

However as a developer interested in producing the best apps you are better able to do your job if you can explain why this may be a bad idea.

Let's return again to consider the person using the app. When they launch the app they're doing so because they want to use the app, not look at a logo. They've already probably just seen the logo anyway as it's on the tile, app icon or tile used to launch the app. I'd also assume that the person knowingly installed and launched the app and are aware of what it is and what it does.

If the person/company responsible is insecure about how the branding is reflected in the app then there are better and more appropriate things that can be done than just force the user to stare at a logo when they want to be doing something else.

Remember.

Just because things have been done one way in the past isn't always a good reason for doing them now. Especially when the reasons for doing them the old way no longer apply.

Think before you add a splash screen to your app.

Think REALLY carefully before adding an interstitial splash screen or other artificial delay to application start up.