Today marks the midway point of 2022. Businesses worldwide strive to recover from losses incurred after the epidemic. Many people look for ways to set their company apart. The market saw a spike in heavy phone users. Therefore, businesses that successfully implement mobile-first solutions should expect new doors to open.
Just what steps can you take to ensure the success of your company? This article provides valuable information for anyone interested in mobile app development by providing an overview of the most recent developments impacting the mobile ecosystem and the most popular programming languages.
Why should it be mobile app development?
The splendid smartphone user base
EMarketer predicts that mobile phone users will continue to rise through at least 2032. By 2022, 83.32 per cent of the world’s population will have a smartphone thanks to the 6.6 billion individuals who will have subscribed to the service. In 2023, there will be 5206,9 million users worldwide, a significant increase of 0.3% from 2022. The rise in the number of people who use mobile apps may significantly affect the total number of app installations.
Heavy smartphone app usage
It’s easy to see everyone around you constantly staring at their phone. A survey found that by Q2 2022, the typical user will have spent four to five hours per week using mobile applications. Notably, the pandemic condition is the primary explanation for the meteoric rise in app usage across the board, from finance and commerce to productivity and leisure. Despite this, the statistics raise the possibility that the epidemic had far-reaching consequences for app users. Mobile users are spending more time on their devices, even after adjusting to the new standard, which is borne up by statistics.
The global app market forecast promises a bright future for mobile app development.
The mobile app industry is projected to expand to over $650 billion by 2025, a CAGR of approximately 21% from 2020 to 2025. It is anticipated that there will be 24 billion more mobile app downloads in 2023 than in 2022. If this pattern continues, we may expect a rise in the prevalence of mobile app development in the years beyond 2023.
The mobile app business is constantly changing, even though it is a fragmented market with a few dominant firms. Now more than ever, startups, SMEs, and even solo entrepreneurs may enter the fray and position themselves to alter the status quo anytime. But how can you determine your company’s best course of action? To stay ahead of the competition and gain insight into the likely future direction of the app development market, it is essential to keep up with the current and developing trends.
Top prominent mobile app development trends in 2023
1. 5G
The advent of 5G may be the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. The fifth generation of cellular networks offers substantial improvements in speed and reliability over the fourth and fifth generations. With rates up to ten times faster and latencies down to fifty per cent less, 5G will pave the way for various uses, including augmented reality/virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things, and many more. In the future, applications will take advantage of these features to do actions we never dreamed possible.
The battery-draining tasks now used on smartphones will become obsolete with the advent of 5G. As a result of 5G’s increased radio frequency and decreased wavelengths, mobile app geo-targeting and geofencing capabilities will improve. It enhances mobile streaming and app usefulness by allowing Android app developers to offer extra features without impacting the app’s speed.
2. AI & ML
App development times may be drastically cut with machine learning (ML). App development may be sped up with the help of AI and ML, but they also help ensure that human mistakes are kept to a minimum. Some currently accessible mobile applications use AI features like chatbots to customise some facets of a customer’s order. Over the coming decade, we expect to see a rise in AI-powered apps in major sectors like healthcare and retail.
3. AR/VR
AR/VR technology has been around since 2020, when COVID-19 began affecting many industries, including manufacturing. Many factories have started leveraging AR/VR to build applications that are essentially digital assembly lines staffed by virtual employees. Because of this, some factories reported increased productivity and lower operating expenses. Thanks to augmented and virtual reality smartphone applications, salespeople and service providers may now have one-on-one conversations with their clients. They will make EdTech apps more exciting and interactive in the following years, improving students’ study ability.
4. iOS
Since Swift is viewed as a solid and straightforward mobile programming language, its popularity is only expected to increase until 2023 and beyond. Swift is seen as more fluid than Objective-C due to its concise syntax and well-documented design. The Objective-C API is fully accessible in Swift, and the two languages may be used together in the same applications exactly as Kotlin and Java. While Swift may not completely displace Objective-C this year, it will undoubtedly become the foundation for many iOS apps.
5. Accelerated mobile pages
For mobile consumers, load time is still significant. Google has used AMP to enhance mobile web performance. It’s a community effort to make the web more accessible on mobile devices. Websites built using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are clearly labelled in mobile Google searches. This option is essential for web admins, companies, and publishers because it enhances the mobile user experience and contributes to search engine optimisation (AMP websites rank higher in Google). In addition, the AMP is less expensive to create and keep up to date than a native or hybrid mobile app.
6. Progressive web apps
PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) are considered the next big thing in mobile web applications. They don’t have to worry about issues common to mobile websites, such as sluggish loading times or the necessity for a continual data connection. Features like offline and full-screen modes, a home screen launcher, access to the camera, and push notifications to provide PWAs an experience similar to a native app. They also have the advantages of being quicker and using less bandwidth than mobile web pages.
The solution to mobile fragmentation and numerous operating systems is progressive web apps, which may be used without downloading and installing. Several businesses, such as the Financial Times, have switched to PWAs from native applications. Others, including Twitter, have launched a more lightweight, progressive alternative to their native apps (e.g., Twitter Lite). There will likely be a transition to PWAs as the number of widely used apps that are also Progressive Web Apps grows. This includes Flipboard, AliExpress, and Telegram.
7. Chatbots
Chatbots make it easier than ever for people to provide instant feedback. Bots that mimic human conversation are becoming increasingly important in the business world and for mobile platforms like Android and iOS. Chatbot apps built using iOS app development services are increasingly being employed in place of traditional customer support channels due to their convenience and efficiency. AI, ML, and NLP advancements will lead to more effective chatbots. Communication with them will seem more natural with the help of technologies like sentiment analysis, semantic search, and facial and voice recognition.
8. Cloud computing
For the most outstanding results, mobile app development should use cloud computing. Creating applications for numerous mobile devices and operating systems is unnecessary. Cloud-based computing enables cross-platform support and browser-based application deployment. The information does not necessitate any additional storage on the mobile device. Because everything is stored in a central location and is easily accessible online.
With the help of cloud-based apps, users can use their mobile devices better. The reliability of the cloud-based app increases mobile performance and ensures uninterrupted use of apps stored on the central server. All essential details and data are saved on the server and may be accessed at any time. Data loss is unlikely when an app is hosted on a server.
9. The surging popularity of voice search
With the rise of popular virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, voice search has become increasingly popular in recent years. With the predicted 8 billion digital assistants in use by 2023 come the rapid expansion of voice commerce, especially for online transactions.
Businesses and developers will need to reconsider their strategies for optimising search results as more individuals have access to such technology. Because voice search wasn’t created specifically for e-commerce, it is essential to optimise both your app and website for voice search. This necessitates investigating techniques like schema markup and structured data to optimise your voice search app.
10. Greater focus on UX/UI
Because of their tiny size, mobile devices should always include a clean and straightforward layout. Such a layout facilitates easier reading and comprehension. It has been more evident in recent years that smartphone consumers choose simple, uncluttered user interfaces. More than ever, the UI and UX of a mobile app are considered to be the most critical factors in its success. Why?
The reason is that, in modern times, mobile phones are used for more than only making and receiving phone calls and sending emails. In addition to banking, shopping, and entertainment, they utilise them for various other purposes. Designers of mobile apps should prioritise both aesthetic appeal and usability. Since people have been so preoccupied with UX/UI, numerous fresh approaches have been developed to win over customers. You may achieve this by focusing on details other companies may ignore, such as colour.
11. More camera-focused apps
Let’s think about the next big thing in mobile app development. The widespread movement toward telecommuting received a boost from the 2009 coronavirus outbreak. It’s becoming increasingly common for individuals to communicate via video conference. The popularity of online meeting services like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and even regular old Skype has skyrocketed in recent years. Growth is also seen in video-centric social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook Watch.
The emergence of mobile apps as a medium for video consumption is another trend aggressively utilised by social media. Instagram is one app that allows you to do this with its video calling feature. The ability to create Reels was also a newly introduced social feature. Like the popular app TikTok, these films allow users to share their unique perspectives in a brief format. Like the popular app TikTok, these films allow users to share their amazing views concisely.
12. Beacon technology
There are several applications for beacon technology. Beacons may improve the performance of any mobile app, from healthcare to retail. However, significant progress has been achieved in this area of technology in recent years. Let’s look at one practical implementation of beacons today: in mobile apps. Let’s pretend you’re a reseller of retail-focused mobile applications. Beacons installed by your customers in their stores can communicate with customers’ smartphones through Bluetooth if the corresponding app is already installed on the consumers’ phones. Customers who walk by a beacon will be alerted promptly when the store is having a sale or offering a discount.
Beacons can also monitor customers’ actions while they’re at a business. With their help, they may find out if a customer hangs out in a particular aisle. The software may automatically send push alerts to encourage product sales in this sector. The software may automatically send push alerts. Precisely what is beacon technology’s primary use case? Close-by advertising, to be precise. The user experience of a mobile app benefits from this form of advertising. Statista reports that the market for beacon technology is expanding at a CAGR of 59.8%. It is expected to increase in worth by $56.6 billion by 2026. That’s ten times as much as 2016’s $519.6 million, an astounding increase. Therefore, this innovation will be one of 2023’s most exciting developments in mobile app design.
13. Wearable apps
If you’ve been keeping up with the latest innovations in the technological world, wearable gadgets were trending upward in 2016. Fitness trackers, smartwatches, and the latest trendy timepieces from brands like TAG Heuer and Pebble can be found anywhere. Something of this magnitude has happened; the products in question represent a novel category of mainstream goods with the potential to impact people’s daily lives significantly. There is widespread optimism that these innovations will fundamentally alter how technology is used. Companies who continue to invest in mobile app development services that offer a seamless digital experience on smartwatches and other wearables will have a leg up on competitors who don’t. To capitalise on the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, businesses must adopt an app strategy.
14. Super-apps
As the Internet, cell phones, and other messaging platforms have increased, consumers have been accustomed to using them as their primary sources of news and information. A “super app” is a mobile aggregator app that features functionality from other similar apps. There are so many applications out there that it may take a lot of work to keep up. Super Apps collects all of these applications in one convenient location. Thanks to the Mobile App Development Company, you won’t have to spend as much time searching for the perfect app anymore.
15. IoT-powered apps
The Internet of Things is already impacting your daily life wherever you live. This will alter the way you shop forever. The way you do business is forever changed. The way you engage with the world around you shifts as a result. With that in mind, the current trend of relatively high app sales is not easily dismissed. Today’s world is app-centric, with the Internet of Things as our most potent technological tool. This is what makes other technologies, like machine learning, so effective. Together, these objects form a network called the Internet of Things, which allows them to sense and respond to their environment. All this information is gathered and shared via the interconnectivity and sensor technology of these gadgets. There are several ways this technology may improve our lives: by making things easier to handle, providing us with more information, and making us safer.
Final words
When used correctly, an app may increase exposure for your company or brand to its intended demographic. In addition to the apparent positive effects on revenue generation and brand recognition, it may also serve as a valuable promotional tool for cultivating client loyalty and exposing your firm to new audiences. If you keep up with the latest developments, you may implement innovative concepts into your company, make educated forecasts, and position yourself as a thought leader. Take part in vital discussions regarding apps and app development, and talk about your experiences with some of today’s cutting-edge innovations.
