Decoding the mobile app development trends in 2021!

Did you know that there are about 2.87 million apps available on the Google Play store? Amazing, right?

All of us owning a smartphone will open up an app at least once a day. Be it a simple weather app, a messaging app, networking app, an exciting game app, or financial trading app – we all open up an app the moment we lay our hands on our mobile device. Stats say that an average user interacts with ten apps in a day.

The mobile app market is very promising, with a predicated valuation of $935 by 2023. Besides providing entertainment and acting as utility tools, mobile apps have also extended to become another medium by which businesses reach out to their consumer base. The ongoing digitization of every business sector has also pushed companies to offer their digital services via their native apps. As such, the mobile app industry keeps evolving and advancing into new territories and trends every year.

Being aware of the upcoming mobile app development trends in 2021 will give you an edge over your competition. It will help you develop better apps that can easily connect with your users. Here are some top trends you should be following up.

Mobile Application Development Trends in 2021

Subscription-Based Services

Subscription-based services became part of the mainstream app development since 2019 with the launch of apps like Netflix, Prime, Google Workspace, and Spotify. These apps act as an interface for subscription-based business models and hence by default, include the subscription feature.

And now, the rest of the apps are also catching up, given the lucrative nature of subscription-based service delivery. For instance, the gaming industry is leaning towards developing cloud-based mobile apps that can take away the hardware restrictions required to play high-level graphics. The launch of 5G in the upcoming months would also serve as one piece of the puzzle to truly implement a cloud-based subscribable mobile app development.

 Faster Networking

Speaking of 5G, you will have to consider the resulting implications on your network speed and the overall app performance. 5G could drive up app development to lean more on the networking side as it could enable up to 1Gbps of data transfer with a latency of 1 millisecond. When you have such a high-speed network to rely on, you can expect app development to take advantage of it. Streaming services, IoT integration, and wireless communication and autopilot features can all get a boost and become part of mainstream mobile app development.

Mobile eCommerce

While retail businesses and physical stores suffered the most during the pandemic, online stores and eCommerce sites enjoyed the right level of growth for most of the year. This trend ought to continue to 2021, given the convenience and ease of use provided by online seller apps. Statista predicts that mCommerce apps could contribute about $3.5 trillion in value to the overall global eCommerce sales.

While websites may still be the primary channel through which digital stores would continue to operate. Mobile apps present better opportunities to increase brand loyalty and be engaged with your customers.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a groundbreaking technology. It allows you to carry out immutable transactions over the internet and is the technology behind the popular bitcoin digital currency.

More and more people are starting to realize the potential of blockchain technology in an increasingly digital world. It helps carry out secure transactions at reduced costs and inherent transparency, making it a perfect technology for use in apps like eWallets, digital lockers, retail apps,  asset trackers, trading apps, productivity apps, and more.

IoT

IoT continues to a buzzword and is still yet to hit its peak. There is so much potential in the IoT space where apps can be integrated with all your digital gadgets, from wristwatches to your home’s Air conditioner machine. IoT is what a sci-fi writer would have envisioned his future world to be a few decades ago. By interconnecting multiple devices from home appliances to your personal gadgets, IoT enabled mobile apps to let you control everything from your handheld smartphone.

AI systems like Alexa, Google, and IoT can now make it possible for you to voice control most of your home appliances. This has given rise to a new wave of smart appliances in every space.

All latest home appliances are shipped with their own mobile app. They help control their configuration and operations through the user’s smartphone itself.

Instant Apps

This feature though first introduced in 2016 by Google, is now catching up in the mobile app development space. Instant apps can be previewed and used with limited functionality without necessarily downloading and installing them on your mobile devices. These apps can be an alternative to resource-intensive apps as they occupy very little memory and storage space in your devices. Many mobile gaming and eCommerce apps can benefit from using this feature.

Artificial Intelligence

While AI and machine learning have been part of mobile app development for years now, you can expect their penetration to get even higher in 2021 as well. AI can ML-based applications can have a wide range of use cases. Starting from face detection, gaming, security apps, image editing apps, speech recognition, predictive maintenance, sentimental analysis, and more.

Augmented Reality

The most popular mobile app that used AR in recent times was the Pokemon Go gaming app. But in reality, there is so much more potential that this feature can bring to various types of apps. For instance, clothing retail businesses can use the AR feature to visualize their product catalog better. There are many photo filter apps and virtual makeup apps making use of AR technology as well.

Google Maps has also recently added a new feature called Live View. It embeds AR to show directions onto real-world images.

On-Demand Apps

As mentioned earlier, this has been one of the fastest-growing trends as more and more businesses enter into the digital space. From food delivery to salon services, everything is available to the user through a mobile app interface. Users can request a service through the mobile app and get it delivered to their desired location.

These types of apps, in general, include several features like payments, wallet integration, location tracking, order systems, and more. They act as digital appendices letting businesses connect directly with their consumers. While there are multiple food delivery, grocery delivery, and taxi apps already available on the market, you can expect on-demand apps for other services like laundry delivery, domestic help, housekeeping, home appliance repairs, babysitting, and more.

Your Turn

As you can see, the mobile app industry has just started growing and will likely achieve new milestones very soon. The need of the hour is to follow the mobile app development trends in 2021. Do you have a great mobile app idea? Talk with our mobile application experts to bring that idea to life. Contact us today.