Top 10 Mobile App Development Trends up-coming in 2022 and beyond

The mobile app development industry is evolving at a break-neck speed and it can quite often feel like your being left behind. To not only thrive survive but thrive in this new digital era, you need to learn about the changing mobile app development trends.

1. 5G

As you know, 5G technology has existed for some time now, though it has not had the attention it needs due to its slow rollout to certain areas. So, what does this mean for mobile apps?

5G is the next generation of telecommunications and a major network innovation that supports far more advanced applications in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), streaming higher quality videos such as 4K and 360 view videos, and interconnected IoT devices. Compared to 4G, 5G can be up to 100x faster which can massively increase the functionality of newer and more advanced apps.

2. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) integration

Using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, e-commerce businesses can showcase their products and services, they can give their potential customer a complete view of their services and products without them having to see them in person. VR and AR are beneficial to both sellers and buyers with customers being able to try on a piece of jewellery or clothing virtual before purchasing it going them a good idea of what the product will look like before they buy.

Along with the e-commerce benefits, AR and VR can improve learning experiences and make mobile apps more engaging, too.

3. Apps For Foldable Devices

Over the last decade, mobile phones have gone exclusively to touch screens. Long gone are the times of having buttons on your device. But over the past few years, we have heard the whispers of foldable phones again, and contrary to the skepticism of the market, smart foldable phones are now becoming a reality with consumers quickly adopting them again.

This means sooner, rather than later a big consideration for app development will be adapting to these screen sizes and the capability of these devices.

4. Wearable Technology

Another thing we are going to witness over 2022 will be the continued rise in wearable mobile application development. Users love wearables because they are easy to use, easy to carry, and offer individualised insights. Not just talking about smartwatches. Wearable technology refers to any device that can be worn on the body or attached to clothing. For example, wearable devices such as smart jewellery, watches, and display devices like Apple Glass are becoming quite popular with a lot of early adopters already using these advanced devices.

5. App Development for Multiple Platforms

Cross-platform development comes up time and time again with development in Flutter and React Native. With cross-platform development, you can create apps that will run on different operating systems without changing the codebase too much. Find out more about these in our other blogs.

Simply put, you can build apps that are compatible with iOS, Android, Windows, and the web with one codebase and only a few adjustments to match the native feel for each platform.

6. Mobile wallets

Going back to e-commerce, another up-and-coming trend is digital wallets which are becoming more popular in this digital era we’re living in, right? As a secure and convenient option for making purchases, digital wallets are increasingly used by consumers. You have probably already heard of MobilePay, PayPal, ApplePay, and GooglePay, and you already know how popular they are.

But now most banks also have their mobile wallet where you can easily perform all sorts of financial transactions, from bill payments to online transfers to online shopping, even use your digital wallet in supermarkets and physical stores as a replacement for your card. This will continue to gain popularity and more support will be needed.

7. Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce)

Continuing with commerce. E-commerce and M-Commerce often get mistaken for each other. But e-commerce describes the sale or purchase of goods and services through the internet. Whereas, m-commerce or mobile commerce is only an extension of e-commerce. M-commerce has been an extremely growing trend for the past three years, and it will continue to be so in 2022. While the last couple of years has pushed mobile commerce, more and more users have adopted it, which means the trend of shopping via mobile devices will not stop anytime soon.

It is estimated that mobile commerce will reach $22 billion by 2022, representing a steady rate of growth. And because of the constant growth of this trend, mobile app developers also have added pressure for better performing applications and even native applications for e-commerce.

8. Beacon Technology

Numerous industries already utilise beacon technology, e.g., healthcare, eCommerce, museums, hotels, etc. Although it was introduced a while ago, it has only recently become popular. By using this technology, online and offline worlds can be connected in quite a unique way. For example, beacons allow you to better understand the behaviour of your customers by analysing how they interact with your mobile apps at your physical stores. Among the beacon technology trends will be beacons for mobile payments, AI-enabled chips, and AI and ML tools which allows businesses to monitor their consumers better.

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Mobile phones have already begun to use AI and ML for facial recognition quite some time ago. But, this feature is increasingly being incorporated by application development companies to enhance user security, better functionality, and overall a better user experience.

Mobile app security has been redefined thanks to this trend. Among the online payment solutions that make use of facial recognition and biometrics to identify users and protect them are PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

10. Blockchain

Blockchain technology is among the newest mobile app development trends of 2022. There has always been a big concern among app users about their security and misuse of data. Blockchain solves these problems- this technology allows you to create decentralised databases, which is why it is an emerging trend. To put it simply, a decentralised database does not need a single service provider or company to act as the gatekeeper.

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