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With 2022 getting closer, all companies begin to plan their next move in the new year. Additionally, many of them are also keeping an eye on the latest trends – the marketing landscape changes almost every day, so if they want to stand out, they’ll need to know what is “in” and what is “out” these days.
Mobile apps will be definitely one of the “in” things in the new year – 87% of smartphone users spend most of their mobile time on apps, with nearly half of them opening apps more than 10 times a day. But as the mobile app development industry is constantly evolving due to improved technology and growing consumer demands, it can be quite challenging to keep up with the industry trends.
You can get a head start, though, by looking at our list of 11 app trends services destined for success in 2022.
Will mobile app development still be in demand in 2022?
Mobile apps and development services for mobile devices have never been so popular. The number of smartphone users grows from year to year, and the coronavirus pandemic has only accelerated this trend.
Right now, we already have 6 billion smartphone users, which means 80.69% of the world’s population currently owns a smartphone. And with more users accessing the internet from their mobile devices than ever before, that naturally increases the demand for mobile apps – consumers are expected to download 258.2B mobile apps in 2022. And one of the apps they download might be yours. Want to have your share of the $808 billion in revenue mobile apps are expected to generate by 2022? Incorporating one of the below trends for 2022 might just give a competitive edge here, so look closely.
What are the hottest mobile app development trends of the upcoming year?
AI/ML-based apps
Machine learning and artificial intelligence will play a significant role in many industries in 2022, including mobile development. As a result, the global AI market is predicted to snowball in the next few years, reaching a $190.61 billion market value in 2025. What might be even more interesting is that an average company is expected to have 35 AI projects in place during 2022.
What changes in AI and machine learning can we expect to see in 2022? Mostly, further improved search suggestions and product recommendations would allow users to complete their daily tasks faster and easier. In addition, many companies are also working on virtual assistants that would interpret the user’s mood based on his voice and react accordingly.
What’s in it for businesses when it comes to using AI and machine learning? A good example of how useful this technology might be for the company are virtual assistants and chatbots. Using an AI-powered chatbot, your customers could get the answer to their issue or question straight away, without waiting on hold to be connected to an agent. As the chatbots can also gather and analyze plenty of data about the users, it would make it far easier for businesses to predict the users’ future behavior and provide more personalized services to them. What’s more, as chatbots can keep working all day and night, adding one could make it easier for your customers to contact you at any time of the day or week.
Smart chatbots and virtual assistants with voice recognition could also make the user experience even smoother. The app user would simply need to tell the assistant what they need, and the assistant would give them the answer immediately. And that’s without involving anyone from the support departments.
When asked which technologies most improve customer experience, 34% of sales and marketing leaders believe AI is the biggest game-changer – so we will only see the demand for AI uses growing.
Cloud-based applications
Our mobile devices’ capabilities and storage size may keep growing, but so do the demands of modern mobile apps. That’s why one of the challenges of mobile development has been to create apps that don’t need as much computing power but can still work efficiently. Cloud-based applications might exactly be the solution here.
As they use virtual servers to store everything they need to function, they don’t need to rely as much on the device’s hardware. That means that the application can be downloaded and used without affecting your device’s internal memory. Users can also use the apps on any device they want and easily switch between them, as they only need to log in to a server rather than install the app.
But cloud apps can also mean visible savings for businesses. First, it can give businesses the option to access customer information from smartphones and tablets at home or while traveling, as well as quickly share that information with other parties anywhere in the world. And if you need extra bandwidth for your app, a cloud-based service can meet that demand instantly without forcing you to go through the painful process of updating your IT infrastructure.
Thanks to the various benefits of cloud services and the spread of new and improved wireless communications such as 5G R16 and R17, Gartner’s spending on public cloud services will exceed $480 Billion in 2022.
M-Commerce
With regular stores closing overnight because of worldwide lockdowns, customers flocked to the web and mobile apps for all their shopping needs. In 2020, over two billion people purchased goods or services online, and during the same year, e-retail sales surpassed 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide.
Shopping through their mobile phone turned out to be especially convenient for smartphone users. More than half of consumers who say they shop online every day rely on their smartphones to do so. And if you look closely at the stats, you’ll see that users actually pick their smartphones as their preferred shopping device more than all other devices combined!
Why are m-commerce apps so popular? As they make it much easier to browse and search for products, users can quickly find what they need. In addition, since the application collects information about a customer, it can later show them personalized offers that the customer is more likely to click on. Dedicated shopping apps also allow businesses to offer a fast and convenient service for their customers whenever they need it. One-click ordering, omnichannel retail, cryptocurrency payments, and voice search are just some of the features that we will likely see growing in popularity next year.
Mobile wallets
With the rise of e-commerce and m-commerce shopping, the demand for quick and contactless payments grew as well. In fact, frictionless payment methods are one of the major things that today’s customers would love to see in the mobile apps that they use. That’s why mobile wallets (smartphone apps where you can store all of your payment methods) are growing in popularity worldwide. Thanks to their convenience, speed, and increased security, nearly three billion people are expected to use Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay by 2022.
The main benefit of these apps is that customers do not have to enter any personal information while shopping. To pay for their bills purchases, all they need to do is take out their phone and open their mobile app. And you don’t even have to touch a keypad or use cash. Just showing your phone to the merchant allows the transaction to go through, and you can leave the store with your purchases.
IoT-enabled mobile apps
In their 2021 survey, Deloitte found that an average American household had more than 25 smart devices. Looking at how many devices are “smart” now, the numbers shouldn’t be anything surprising. In today’s world, everything can be equipped with sensors to collect information about its environment – from everyday objects like coffee makers to industrial sensors and controllers, to even cars.
But the true power of IoT lies in the dedicated smartphone app for each device. By connecting IoT devices to our smartphones, we can easily control how those devices work even remotely. This could not only solve several small but everyday problems (like forgetting to turn off the central heating) but will also save regular users and businesses huge amounts of money.
Based on this growing demand, Bosch predicts there will be approximately 14 billion connected devices* worldwide by the end of the year 2022, from a starting point of more than 2 billion at the end of 2013.
Cross-Platform App Development
When building mobile apps, native apps are still a top choice for many businesses. But as there is a vast range of operating systems available now, optimizing and coding applications for each platform is becoming tougher and time-consuming for developers. Not to mention, the cost of creating two or three native apps is astronomical.
That’s why the industry is now slowly moving towards creating cross-platform apps. What are those? Cross-platform SDKs such as React Native, Flutter, and Xamarin help developers build mobile apps which can run seamlessly across multiple platforms. In this way, app developers can develop mobile apps that work on iOS, Android, Windows, and even the web without needing to write new code for each.
Since most of the app code is reusable, that also means that cross-platform apps can be created much faster and cheaper than native ones while offering similar performance. This has led to an increase in companies interested in building cross-platform apps.
Product Discovery services
With thousands of apps coming out every month in the app store, it’s becoming harder and harder to catch users’ attention. So what can you do to ensure your app is as successful as it can be? In addition to coming up with a great idea, you should also do some research on your potential user base – here’s where Product Discovery can come in handy.
Product Discovery is the first stage of mobile app development, during which you identify your target audience and ensure that the app you’re going to build fills a void in the market. This allows you to pinpoint the features of your app that would make it appealing to more users, find out how exactly they would use your app and test your idea and see how well it will perform in the marketplace.
Once you clearly understand what your audience wants, you’re much more likely to develop an app that meets their needs.
Improving mobile app security
Investing in cybersecurity used to be seen as something only for large companies. That’s sadly no longer true. The ransomware global attack volume increased by 151% for the first six months of 2021 compared to the first six months of 2020.
According to various reports, cyber threats in 2021 alone caused $6 trillion in damages, making it the biggest economic disaster in history. In fact, if growth continues at its current rate, cybercrime could reach $10.5 trillion by 2025.
With so much at stake, it’s no wonder businesses of all sizes look for ways to protect themselves and their customers.
One of the solutions that could help companies fight the number of attacks is using voice biometrics. By verifying a person’s identity using the unique characteristics of their voice, voice biometrics could eliminate the need for passwords and PINs. Moreover, as each human voice is unique, it’s nearly impossible to fool voice biometrics, making it currently one of the most secure methods of authentication.
Wearables
We can also expect to see a rise in wearable mobile app development. Since these devices have a user-friendly interface, are easy to carry, and offer personalized insights to their users, the number of people using them only keeps growing. By 2022, the number of people using wearables connected to a 4G network will reach 900 million.
But the modern wearables aren’t only limited to just monitoring your heart rate or measuring the number of steps you take. The current hectic & fast lifestyle has made people more conscious of their health & fitness, and as a result, smart clothes and footwear are gaining popularity.
Basically, intelligent clothes are garments like shirts, socks, and shoes fitted with sensors and computing devices that track body activity and health statistics like heart rate, skin temperature, oxygen saturation, etc. The data is then gathered and sent to an app on your smartphone. These intelligent clothes make it possible for users to track their health even more effectively than with a regular health app, so for many people, this is a technology of the future.
Instant Apps
Instant apps are a mobile development trend everyone should watch for in the coming year as it’s likely they will become standard in the future. The Android Instant feature allows developers to offer a slimmed-down version of their apps on the Play Store or their website and let the users decide whether or not to download and install the full version.
After selecting an instant app, Google Play will automatically send only the files needed for that particular feature to your device and launch it immediately. No downloads, no installers, and, most importantly, no waiting. Thus, you could test several apps before deciding on the one that works best for you.
This type of apps would be especially useful for companies that have applications with large file sizes since it would allow the users to preview the product before installing and try out all the available options.
Betting apps
Betting is the fastest-growing segment in the global gaming industry, according to Statista. Sports betting is expected to reach $92.9 billion by 2023 and that number will only grow as more regions legalize sports betting.
There are several reasons why people use their smartphones to place bets instead of using the typical betting places. First, betting online is simply much faster and easier than traditional sports betting as they can get anywhere and at any time.
Various online betting apps allow players to test their betting skills first by offering free or low-cost practice games. It is a great way to learn about new games, bet types, and betting markets without risking anything.
Traditional brick-and-mortar betting places accept only cash to fund your account when you place a bet, but most online sportsbooks accept a number of payment methods, adding flexibility to your account.
Conclusion
Staying up-to-date with the latest trends as well as technologies will help you to keep up with ever-changing customer demands as well as competitors. After reading this article, you should gain a good understanding of mobile app development trends for 2022 and find something that might work for your brand.
If you need help deciding which of all those mobile app development services might be right for your business, why not reach out to us?
