It’s crazy to think back years ago before mobile apps were a thing. When you do you realize just how much apps have changed our lives and how there are certain apps we just can’t live without. Like any other technology, innovative trends change from 1 year to the next. This year is no exception. There are new technologies to integrate and new ways to develop that make our apps superior to mobile apps last year. Okay, let’s dive into this year’s mobile app future trends. 1. Chatbots You’d be surprised to know that not many apps are taking advantage of chatbots. This year you will start to see a huge rise in the use of chatbots because of how efficient and cost-effective it is. Over 50% of people like chatbots simply because of how quickly they can get the answers they need. There are many industries who are realizing how useful this is because it saves them a lot of money in the long run. We’re already seeing savings in the billions. Whether your app is about selling products, making deliveries, or any other service its time to get this integrated into your app. Chatbot and smart assistant technology have been around a while but until recently it was not a popular tool to use. With the use of technology that learns a user’s behavior, chatbots are better than ever. 2. Mobile Wallets Apple Pay and Google Wallet have become more popular payment systems. People are transitioning from traditional ways of paying and dealing with money to more mobile-friendly versions. It won’t be long before those plastic credit cards and bank cards become obsolete. This year you will see a heavy push towards progressive mobile payment systems. These systems will include better user experiences and more advanced security. It’s not just about paying for things but its completing banking transactions and transferring money back and forth with other people. With the increased use of mobile wallets means an increase in purchases. The quicker it is to make a purchase the higher the probability that a person will follow through. We’re already in the billions for mobile wallet transactions but in the next couple of years, it could double. 3. Internet of Things (IoT) in Mobile Apps The Internet of Things always seems like a difficult concept to understand. Simply put, its multiple smart gadgets that are connected and work together to provide information. Major companies like Google are using IoT in various devices to help make everyday life easier. This technology has been seeing massive growth. The IoT devices are between 15 and 20 billion with sales in the trillions. This is definitely something you want to talk to your app developers about. 4. Cloud-based mobile apps Cloud solutions haven’t fully caught on until now. Many companies haven’t even considered it but now enterprises are realizing how important it is in their mobile apps. Over the next year, we should see cloud-based mobile apps grow to be about 20%. What is driving this increase? It’s a combination of things that include lower hosting costs, higher quality of storage, streamlined operations, increased productivity, and much more. The cloud helps store and process data better than ever before and it’s secure. Your apps can work smoothly across various platforms. It’s a more reliable system that app owners and companies can be more confident with. It can deal with larger amounts of data better than other options out there. 5. Wearable Apps Wearable technology has become an important part of many industries, the primary one being healthcare. These devices have changed the way we use other smart devices as well. Wearable applications have a huge potential as we see a decline in our dependence on smartphones. Apple has recently made its watch independent from the iPhone so the watch now has its own app store. This has changed the game for mobile app development. Now is the time to start creating your app that can be integrated into wearable devices. 6. Beacons Beacons have been used for a while to help businesses connect with their customers better. The retail industry uses it quite a bit to learn what their customers’ likes and dislikes are. This year is bringing us more amazing beacon technology that will be used in airports and even in our personal everyday lives. It has created an easier way to learn and share information. It’s also easy to use making it convenient for practically everyone, not just big companies. You will also see more beacon technology integrated into mobile which means that gathering information is going to be easier than ever. 7. Mobile App Security One of the most important factors in technology today is Cyber Security. It is imperative that proper security is integrated into your app or any technology for that matter. With so many companies large and small facing issues with hacking it’s no wonder why this has become a huge focus. The crack-down to stop hacking is real! Businesses and app developers need to ensure they create apps with a security-first approach. Build the app based on security because protecting yourself and your users are the most important. Invest in encryptions and proper security because if companies like Facebook and Google had issues with breaches, then no company is immune. 8. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have been huge topics all over the world. It has truly revolutionized many industries and changed all of our lives. In the past few years, there have been some pretty remarkable apps that have taken advantage of AI and ML including Google Assistant and Snapchat. Even Apple is using a machine learning framework to have AI in all their apps. It’s going to change mobile app development drastically. It will make everything easier for developers, users, and app owners in many different ways. You will soon see AI and ML integrated into just about everything in our lives. It’s even going to help cybersecurity in detecting threats before they happen. 9. Instant Apps Instant apps work similar to how a website would but they are native apps. Instead of having to download an app from the store you just start using it from the web. The reason why people like them is because it won’t use your phone’s memory, it’s easy to use making the experience amazing, and has the features of the website. The great news is there aren’t a whole lot of instant apps out there so the market is not saturated yet. They are becoming more popular among app developers because the conversion rate is better. One thing you hear most about apps is improving the user experience and faster load times which is exactly what instant apps do best and that is why this is definitely an app development trend this year. 10. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) We’ve seen some pretty impressive Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technology in gaming apps like Pokemon Go. However, we will be seeing this technology in other industries like healthcare, marketing, manufacturing, and more. AR in mobile apps is going to be integrated more because it creates an experience, unlike anything we’ve seen before. This year we will see many major brands like Apple and Google integrating AR and VR heavily into their apps. We will see AR become essential to every mobile app. If you have or are creating an app its time to think about integrating this. 11. Honorable Mentions There are quite of few other new technology in mobile application development trends that will make an appearance this year which include: • Predictive Analytics for mobile UX: Uses data, ML, and AI to make predictions and provides those answers to app users. • On-Demand Apps: Apps that have pricing right away. Food and transportation are examples of apps that provide services and pricing on demand. • Blockchain: provides higher quality security because it makes it difficult for hackers to tamper with data. Blockchain is fantastic for any payment system that is being used in apps. • Enterprise Mobile Management: EMM is great for businesses as it helps streamline business processes better and securely. These are the app development trends. Many of these you’ve probably heard of but not as much in mobile apps. There are millions of apps in the marketplace, many of which do the same thing but are still hugely popular. Whether your app is going to be unique or not, or just a simple enterprise app for employees, these trends should be taken seriously. It’s all about improving how apps are made and how the end user experience is. With all that in mind if you have any further questions about mobile app development you can contact us today or call us on +1.408.621.8481.