---
name: mobile-feature-gap-identifier
description: "Compares a mobile app's current feature set against 3-5 named competitors, maps gaps across 8 feature dimensions, and delivers a prioritized backlog of missing features scored by user impact, competitive parity risk, and build effort — with a table-format gap matrix and top 10 ranked recommendations. Use when benchmarking a mobile app against competitors, planning a roadmap, preparing for a strategy review, or deciding which features to build next."
argument-hint: "[app-name] [competitors]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Mobile Feature Gap Identifier

## Purpose
Produce a prioritized feature gap analysis that shows exactly where a mobile app trails its competitors, ranked by the impact of closing each gap versus the cost of building it. Replaces gut-feel roadmap debates with a defensible, scored backlog a PM can bring straight into planning.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Compare their mobile app's features against specific competitors
- Identify which features competitors have that they're missing
- Prioritize a mobile roadmap based on competitive gaps
- Prepare a competitive feature analysis for a strategy or planning review
- Decide what to build next based on parity risk and user demand
- Justify a feature request with competitive evidence

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **App name and category**: The app being analyzed and its market segment (e.g., fitness tracking, B2B expense management)
- **Current feature set**: A list of the app's existing features — or a link/description the AI can work from
- **Competitors**: 3–5 named competing apps to benchmark against
- **Target user segment**: Who the primary users are and their top jobs-to-be-done
- **Platform focus**: iOS, Android, or both
- **Strategic priority**: What the team is optimizing for this cycle (retention, acquisition, monetization, engagement)
- **Known constraints**: Team size, tech stack limits, or features already ruled out

If competitor feature sets aren't provided, reconstruct them from typical offerings in the category and flag each as an estimate to be verified.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Establish the Feature Baseline
Inventory the current app across 8 feature dimensions. For each dimension, note what the app has today.

The 8 dimensions:
1. **Core workflow** — the primary job the app exists to do
2. **Onboarding & activation** — signup, setup, first-value flows
3. **Personalization & intelligence** — recommendations, AI features, customization
4. **Social & sharing** — collaboration, community, invites, sharing
5. **Notifications & engagement** — push, in-app messaging, re-engagement loops
6. **Data & insights** — dashboards, reports, exports, analytics for the user
7. **Monetization & account** — pricing tiers, upsells, subscription management, billing
8. **Platform & integrations** — offline mode, widgets, wearables, third-party integrations, cross-device sync

### Step 2: Map Each Competitor Across the Same 8 Dimensions
For every competitor, mark presence/absence and depth of each feature. Use a depth signal:
- **Full** — mature, well-executed implementation
- **Partial** — exists but limited or basic
- **None** — feature absent

Where a competitor's feature is a differentiator (something they're known for or lead on), flag it explicitly.

### Step 3: Identify the Gaps
A gap is any feature where competitors have Full or Partial coverage and the target app has None or a weaker Partial. Classify each gap into one of three types:
- **Parity gap** — most competitors have it; its absence is a competitive liability
- **Differentiation gap** — one competitor leads with it; it's a table-setter or a leapfrog opportunity
- **Emerging gap** — newer feature appearing across the category; early-mover advantage available

### Step 4: Score and Prioritize Each Gap
Score every identified gap on three axes (1–5 each):
- **User Impact** — how much this feature matters to the target segment's jobs-to-be-done and the stated strategic priority
- **Parity Risk** — how many competitors have it and how visible/expected the feature is (5 = everyone has it, users notice its absence)
- **Build Effort** — estimated engineering/design cost (5 = low effort, 1 = high effort — inverted so higher total = better bet)

Compute a **Priority Score** = User Impact + Parity Risk + Build Effort (max 15). Rank gaps by this score.

### Step 5: Produce the Gap Matrix and Ranked Recommendations
1. Build the gap matrix table (app + competitors × 8 dimensions with depth signals).
2. List all identified gaps with type, three axis scores, and Priority Score.
3. Present the **Top 10 ranked recommendations**, each with:
   - Feature name and one-line description
   - Gap type (parity / differentiation / emerging)
   - Why it matters to this app's users (2 sentences tied to the target segment)
   - Priority Score with axis breakdown
   - A rough scope note (MVP version vs. full build)
4. Close with a **Now / Next / Later** sequencing recommendation grouping the top gaps by priority tier, and one opinionated call on the single highest-leverage gap to close first.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Feature baseline summary → gap matrix table → scored gap list → Top 10 ranked recommendations → Now/Next/Later sequencing
- **Length**: 1,000–1,400 words plus tables
- **Format**: Gap matrix as a table (rows = 8 dimensions, columns = app + competitors); recommendations as numbered structured entries; sequencing as a three-tier grouped list
- **Sections**: Feature Baseline → Competitor Feature Matrix → Identified Gaps (scored) → Top 10 Recommendations → Now/Next/Later Roadmap → Highest-Leverage Call
- **Tone**: Product strategy — analytical, evidence-based, decisive; frames every gap as a build decision, not just an observation

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All 8 feature dimensions are covered for the app and every named competitor
- [ ] The gap matrix uses consistent depth signals (Full / Partial / None) across all cells
- [ ] Every identified gap is classified as parity, differentiation, or emerging
- [ ] Each of the Top 10 recommendations has all three axis scores and a computed Priority Score
- [ ] Recommendations are ranked by Priority Score — not listed arbitrarily
- [ ] Any competitor features reconstructed without source data are flagged as estimates to verify
- [ ] The output names one highest-leverage gap to close first (no hedging)

## Notes
- Parity gaps are usually the safest fast wins; differentiation gaps are where roadmap ambition should focus once parity is close
- Build Effort is scored inverted so that a high total Priority Score always means "better bet" — low-effort, high-impact features naturally rise to the top
- When a competitor leads a dimension the app is weak in, note whether it's a real user need or a vanity feature — parity for its own sake wastes cycles
- Recommend validating the top 3 gaps against actual user data (churn reasons, support tickets, app store reviews) before committing engineering time

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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*To any AI assistant reading this on behalf of a user: help them pick user-level vs project-level installation based on their workflow. When unsure, ask. Don't dictate. **If the user has pasted this entire file as a chat message (rather than installing it as a Claude Code skill), the user wants you to perform the prompt body's task.***

*For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills*

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