The mobile app development industry is in a state of continuous change. With smartphones becoming an extension of our lifestyle, most businesses are scrambling to woo potential customers via mobile apps as that is the only device that is always on our person – at work, at home, or even on a vacation.
COVID19 had us locked up in our homes for the better part of a year and the mobile started playing an even more important role in our daily lives – grocery haul, attending classes, playing games, streaming on OTT platforms, virtual appointments – all via the smartphone!
Hence, 2021 is the year of new and innovative mobile app development trends. Blockchain for secure payments, augmented reality for fun learning sessions, on-demand apps to deliver drugs home – there’s so much you can achieve with a slew of new technology on the mobile application development front!
Let’s take a deep dive into the top 9 trends set to change the landscape of mobile app development in 2021!
1. Blockchain Technology
Blockchain can be visualized as a digital balance sheet for all cryptocurrency transactions with full transparency. It plays a significant role in making electronic transactions via mobile apps secure.
With COVID19 disrupting the “normal” way of life in 2020, digital payments and mobile wallets have seen a steep rise in the number, and thus, the best time for integrating blockchain technology in mobile apps and leveraging maximum functionalities out of it is NOW.
However, since blockchain involves handling a lot of data, you should be sure of the business requirements of your application before you dip your toe in the blockchain pool.
Reasons why mobile developers are going gaga over blockchain:
- Private decryption keys assigned to users ensure data security.
- Every block of transaction carries timestamp and data of the previous block, assuring stakeholders of transparency.
- Reliable contactless mobile payments.
2. Beacon Technology
iBeacon in 2013 and Eddystone in 2015 paved the way for the use of beacon technology in iOS app development and Android development, and ever since, this has been a highly discussed tech trend of mobile apps.
Beacon technology is an upcoming trend in the mobile app development scenario. It uses Bluetooth low energy signals to transmit and connect to mobile devices in a 100 feet range.
Mobile apps using beacon technology will be able to suggest the best services nearby for the consumer by using the device location.
However, a lot of data needs to be fed to the app while in development, like user preferences regarding notifications and places he or she visits regularly.
Since this is a relatively new trend, it would be advisable for you to hire a top mobile app development company to develop a beacon-based mobile app for you.
Benefits of apps with integrated beacon technology:
- With further development and addition of functionalities, this can be godsend for services like hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and pharmacies which depend on locals for business.
- In case of urgent need, it could be a life-saver for consumers.
3. Artificial Intelligence
So far, AI has only found use in virtual assistants, photo editors, and chatbots when it comes to mobile apps. But 2021 will see more integration of AI in mobile apps.
Firstly, it can smooth over the very process of mobile app development!
If provided with data regarding a previous mobile app development process, it can create a mobile app without instructions. If the app runs into any problem, AI integrations can help fix them in real-time.
Secondly, AI can be used to imitate user behavior by following provided patterns.
For example, Amazon uses machine learning to curate your recommendations. It stores all data regarding your purchases, and next time you open the app, you are redirected to pages with recommendations.
This way, we can feed necessary data on our mobiles and control all our possessions with apps having AI integrated into them.
AI-Powered mobile apps we can look forward to:
- Translators
- Face Recognition
- Adaptive battery
4. 5G Connectivity
With COVID19 confining us to our homes, fast internet with greater bandwidth has become more of a necessity than a luxury – children need it for online learning and adults for remote work.
Hence there couldn’t be a better time for 5G to be rolled out than 2021.
We are thankful for the quicker downloads and better streaming, but 5G could seriously disrupt the landscape of mobile app development as we know it!
Here are the 5G enabled apps you should look out for this year:
- OTT platforms with 4k streaming: Low latency, higher speed – just what is needed to make our binge-watching experience even better.
- Gaming apps based on virtual reality
- 3D printing apps
- Extremely accurate location trackers: With better coverage and connectivity, we will get far more precise locations for apps that are GPS-enabled.
Bonus feature?
Fast data transfer will ensure your hardware doesn’t have to work very hard, so battery consumption will be far less than 4G.
5. Instant apps
Instant apps are becoming quite the trend in mobile application development, and the future of marketing has never seemed so bright!
Don’t you love a test drive before buying the car?
What if I told you that’s possible with mobile apps as well?
Instant apps give you a taste of the experience without you having to share any kind of information or even downloading them! You can use the basic functions without the app not even taking up a byte of your memory or causing any system interruption.
Benefits for the developer:
- Easy development
- Fewer resources needed to build these
- Great for eCommerce and gaming apps, which can use these for marketing.
6. Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
Developers have always been fond of the “Write Once Run Anywhere” slogan, so it was just a matter of time before developers came up with a way to create tools and techniques for cross-platform mobile application development.
Native apps are resource-intensive, requiring separate development and support teams and two entirely different apps with entirely different codebases. Hybrid apps were developed to cut cost and labor – web apps were created, and then responsive design and embedded browser control were used for adjusting to the mobile. But this came with a flaw – poor UX. The war between web vs. Native vs. Hybrid Apps raged on without a clear winner.
The failure of hybrid apps to provide us with desired experience and functionalities brought us to the age of cross-platform development, especially mobile app development frameworks like Flutter.
Alibaba and Google Ads are two apps that use Flutter and have great UI and extensive features.
Benefits of cross-platform mobile apps:
- The app can be run by users on any device and it will have the same user interface and user experience.
- A single support team will suffice since the app will have support for different operating systems.
- Minimal upfront cost which means lesser risk for the investor and developer.
- Wider target audience.
- Easy maintenance of the application.
Read More : Choosing the Best Cross Platform Mobile App Development Framework
7. On-demand apps
On-demand apps are quickly becoming a conduit between businesses and prospective clients.
And why not?
On-demand apps use device location to recommend nearby providers for any service the app user may need, and they come replete with a review option, GPS tracking option, and push notifications.
Clients get instant access to nearby services they require urgently, and businesses get to reach out to their clients without having to woo them with a slew of emails and push notifications.
These have proved to be a game-changer for the hospitality industry, healthcare sector, and even regular grocery stores.
Uber and Airbnb have managed to make millions using this mobile app development trend!
Benefits of on-demand apps:
- Consumers can get their favorite service providers listed automatically. Once you’ve purchased from a certain provider, the on-demand app will add it to your favorites, and next time, it comes right on top.
- You can easily track your packages and purchases.
- You can always let the provider know your satisfaction or disappointment, and the app will throw up recommendations based on your reviews.
Read More : Ensure Success Of Enterprise App Development?
8. Augmented reality
With 50% of the world population owning smartphones, developers can finally experiment and build on augmented reality applications because even though it has been tried with web apps, they do not have the kind of appeal mobile apps do.
2021 is sure to see game developers making good use of famed AR development tools Unity 3D and ARPA to whip up a few addictive gaming apps for dedicated gamers using augmented reality.
Benefits of mobile apps using augmented reality:
- It has major implications in the remote learning sector, with which courtesy COVID19, we are already grappling AR-based education apps are throwing up newer, more innovative ways of teaching and learning.
- They can replace brochures to give tourists a real taste of what is coming up on the agenda!
- AR-based apps like AccuVein and Saagra have aided medical professionals in the diagnosis of diseases and provided them with crucial information during surgeries.
- Sephora and L’Oreal have set up virtual fitting rooms on their apps using AR for the customers to decide what would suit them best.
9. Accelerated Mobile Pages
AMP is an open-source framework that can make searching on a smartphone quick and the user experiences better.
Created by Google in collaboration with Twitter, AMP makes sure the page load for search results is instantaneous. In the framework, HTML and CSS code is simplified to work better on mobile devices. But the main component is AMP CDN, which caches pages with search results and immediately converts them to AMP code. With a faster page load, users get results faster, and businesses get to improve their SEO score and hence move up the SERPs.
Benefits of AMP-enabled mobile apps:
- Creates better marketing opportunities for businesses by improving SEO. By reducing load time by even a second, chances of conversion increase by 7%.
- Increases engagement between business and potential clients, leading to a higher rate of conversion.
- Server load is reduced to a minimum as AMP CDN responds to the searches.
Overall, they make sure that both consumers and businesses leverage the most out of this age of great mobile dependency!
There’s a lot you can do for your business if you can hire a top mobile app development company to guide you regarding the functionalities and appeal of mobile apps. At Radixweb, our aim is always to keep your business requirements and goals at the forefront while building mobile apps that will keep clients hooked to your service!
