7 Mobile App Development Trends to Watch Out for in 2018
Mobile applications are fast becoming a necessity and 2017 has only cemented this fact. A lot of businesses are now making apps a central focus of their marketing and customer acquisition strategy.
With mobile apps rising in popularity, this blog post will look at some of the exciting trends that can be expected in the upcoming year.
1) Internet of Things (IoT)
The concept of “Smart Homes”, inter-connectivity and data sharing between appliances and technology is all set to see an increase in popularity. We can expect the technology to become mainstream in the very near future, and so, IoT applications based on this technology will gain popularity as well.
We may soon start seeing applications for smart devices other than smartphones.
2) Wearable Apps
Smart Watches have not become as mainstream as everyone expected. However, large companies like Google and Apple have continued to launch newer versions of their smart watches, with other companies looking to enter. Therefore, wearable apps will be a completely new untapped market for companies to explore.
Industries such as healthcare are particularly promising. Wearable apps will allow users and healthcare providers to monitor fitness, eating habits, heart rate etc. and so there is plenty of potential for growth
3) Augmented/Virtual Reality Apps
Another up and coming technology is Augmented/Virtual Reality. Gamers and marketing agencies are the biggest proponents of the technology. With that in mind, new apps solely focused on this niche are likely to be very successful.
As with any other new technology, the potential for growth is huge. You can expect AR/VR to move beyond the marketing and gaming industry very soon, in fact in certain cases it has done so already! One reason being that both augmented and virtual reality apps offer a visual experience to customers on behalf of the companies that desire to have their products and services presented in a more exuberant way. This is all done in real time, which further enhances the user experience.
4) Accelerated Mobile Pages
Google has recently released a new feature for faster loading of pages on mobile platforms. The AMP feature allows users to access the bare minimum amount of HTML code without altering the content of the page. This eliminates any time taking bits of code on a page, making the page load faster.
The AMP app allows faster loading as well as lower bounce rates, boosting performance across all mobile devices.
5) Cloud Based Apps
Increasing advances in cloud technology has given users the option to save internal phone memory. Therefore, more cloud based apps can be expected on the market as consumers demand shifts toward this technology.
Cloud technology is particularly attractive to enterprises as they are able to exert more control over data security. It also saves costs through reduction in hardware and equipment costs, all the while increasing collaboration and productivity.
6) App Security
With more people getting comfortable with app downloads, there is a lot of personal data and information on the market that needs security. Not only this, but most of the time users refrain from downloading a particular app because of their perception of how secure it is. So app developers needs to have in-built security features as well as the market overall having certain security standards and protocols.
As the technology becomes more sophisticated, so the does the method of maintaining sensitive information. The onus is on the developer to enhance the security as users are unlikely to be sufficiently stringent with their security measures.
7) Android Instant Apps
Android Instant Apps gives users the ability to view and use an app without actually having to install the app. The technology allows users to load only the portions of an app that they need, whenever they need. Due to this accessibility, they can attract a lot more customers and essentially function like a website.
Expect to see a lot more apps being created with this feature in 2018.
