13 TOP MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN 2022

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October 2021

Mobile application development is an area of endless opportunities, a place to breed ideas and let innovation drive creativity. But at the same time, it has become an area of disrupting technologies, changing requirements, and trends for the companies operating in the market. This period should be known as the period of uncertainty yet creativity. 

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been turbulent for many businesses, the mobile development market continues to make strides, with the global revenue estimated to hit $44.3 trillion by 2027.

The lockdown resulted in a period of change in preferences. People are more focused and attracted towards mobile-first, contactless, and connected services. This calls for an update on the latest trends, what’s working and what won’t work, the practicalities of the changing trends, and why you should know about them. This article will highlight all of this and much more.

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Here are 13 Mobile app development trends for 2022 that you should be aware of:

5G the New Normal

5G is the new hype in the internet world. Mobile companies are rolling out a phone that has 5G and it has been used as a marketing tool to increase sales. The increase in sales shows that consumers are interested in 5G technology and therefore mobile app development should incorporate 5G into their apps. 5G is promising as it has awfully superb downloading speed alongside other features. 

In fact, Opensignal reports that 5G was between 1.6 and 15.7 times faster than 4G on download during trials. 5G has improved security features and an increased number of connections per square kilometer, support for this will come out to be the hottest mobile app development trend in 2022.

5G proves to be the trend everyone will be picking on because it will enable the incorporation of new functionalities into mobile applications. Industries like gaming and the ones that require high-speed internet can leverage 5G to promote and come up with improved mobile apps.

It will impact AR/VR technologies, live streaming, the IoT industry, and many more but in a positive way.

 

Voice Technology to Give the Touchless Interface

No one would have predicted voice technology to come such a long way and become the most look-after trend in 2021-2022. It has grown to make to the list of most anticipated trends in mobile app development and especially in the IoT industry. 

Why do users love it so much?

Voice search has become the go-to feature for many users. Voice search is a dream for all the people who never liked typing and have smart speakers. It has made life convenient for them as they can just search for anything literally without having to type for it. It has made browsing a pleasant experience for shoppers and enhances retailers’ marketing.

VUI or the voice user interface, is changing the traditional ways of approaching UI. It combines voice recognition with predictive learning making the app interactive for the users. They can interact with the app using their voice. This makes the whole experience more personalized for the consumers and customer retention increases.

Shopping consultants are consultants that help you during shopping. They help you find stuff in the marketplace, discounts, and coupons, answering queries, and helping users with suggestions. 

During the lockdown and the period after, people started relying on voice devices such as Alexa and Google Nest. In the U.S., about 66 million people have smart speakers at home and the audience for voice solutions is expected to grow.

It is pertinent to cater to this growing trend if you are looking to capture the market and earn customer satisfaction.

 

The Growing Audience for Instant Apps and Progressive Web Apps

The world of mobile applications is tricky and always changing. High conversion rates and maintaining those can be a pretty tough task to achieve in such an unpredictable world. You don’t get much time but seconds to convince users to install and keep your mobile application. 

Instant apps are the growing trend of 2021 which enables the users to try an app without having to download it first. They save your data capacity and users aren’t required to install anything to make them work. It opens up simply by clicking on the link that the developers post and there you have it. 

NY Times along with some others are using instant apps to stay at the top of the mobile app trends.

Accommodating Foldable Devices

The return of foldable devices has shifted the focus of mobile app development to make uniform apps across all screens. Mobile companies are producing foldable phones that are highly-priced but it has successfully piqued people’s interest. If you don’t know already, foldable devices have the functionality to work as a phone as well as a tab and you can adjust it accordingly. 

Industry giants like Samsung have taken up to the foldable mobile devices trend and so have Huawei, Motorola. People have exhibited great interest in Samsung’s Galaxy Z fold series and this calls attention to the emerging trend surrounding it.

This trend presents a challenge for mobile app developers as they have to make apps considering the folding devices and how the app is going to function on their chosen device. This presents an opportunity as the devices get more reasonable prices, the mass population will consider using them. Businesses should cater to this trend and make their apps uniform across all screens to keep the customers. 

Biometric Identification/Authentication

Biometric authentication is the use of fingerprint or facial recognition methods to identify the user to maintain the user’s privacy and security intact. Recently, companies have started using the technology to provide more security to the users when they use wallets, etc. 

For instance, apps like Apple Pay and PayPal use facial recognition to provide customers with an extra layer of security to keep their accounts and information secure. 

If you work in Fintechhealthcare, or any of the app industries, an added layer of security for data and money protection will win your customers’ trust and loyalty. 

 

Wearables 

According to Statista, there will be 1.1 billion connected wearables in 2022. This shows a great opportunity for the mobile app development industry. Websites and apps work uniformly across desktops and mobile phones and in the same manner, should cater to this growing trend and work seamlessly with wearable devices too. This is a generational change as desktops have become passe compared to smartphones and smartphones will become the same as wearables in the future. 

Wearables have gained extreme popularity during the pandemic as they can detect symptoms and served as the early detectors of symptoms for the covid cases. Smartwatches are equipped with features that continuously monitor physiological data in real-time which highlights early detection of deviations from an individual’s normal health. 

In May 2020, Northwestern University unveiled the first wearable COVID-19 monitoring device. The project earned them a staggering amount of $2.4 million from the US Department of Defense, which will be used for its further deployment and development.

 

Beacon Technology 

Beacon technology from its inception in 2013 has come a long way. It has grown exceptionally in recent years with 400 million deployments in 2020. It is an exploding trend that people are catching up with because of the newness it has; combining the online and offline experience together. 

According to GeoMarketing, there currently are 3.9 million proximity sensors deployed globally that use beacon technology. These are small transmitters that connect to smartphones via Bluetooth. They can give a more personalized experience and can be installed at airports, shopping malls, hospitals, and other places. It works to make the whole experience more personalized and convenient for the customers by giving them the exact information on their phones when they enter these places. They can receive real-time navigation, discounts, promotions, and suggestions on mobile apps. 

Beacon technology is already being used in Apple’s and Macy’s stores and the apps work in synchronization with what the brand has to offer. 

Mobile app developers should take up this challenge to develop apps that bring offline and online experiences together to enhance the overall experience of the customer.

Beacon technology can also be used to track the spread of Covid-19. Google and Apple have devised a mechanism to track the number of positive cases.

 

Recreational Mobile Phone Usage

People used to be less on their phones before the pandemic. They used to spend like 3 hours on their phones daily which went up to 4 hours and 6 minutes during 2021 and most of the time was spent on mobile apps rather than browsing. Leisure was the first area that did go digital and people really got hooked up to it and aren’t willing to give up on it. 

This is an area that presents an opportunity for businesses as users prefer to spend time on mobile apps more than any other platform. 

 

Debunking Fake Information 

Recent years have seen the rise of false/fake information masquerading the truth on social media and it doesn’t seem that enough is being done to counter the spread of false information using these platforms. People can’t possibly filter out the information being presented to them and it falls on the apps to introduce mechanisms to filter out the right information from false information. 

The most needed and hot trend of mobile app development, therefore, is the implementation of fact-checking algorithms into social media mobile apps. Media platforms have been asked by the concerned organization to introduce such a mechanism and that’s why businesses would have to come up with solutions addressing this very issue. 

AI-based solutions are in-demand but it still is a work in progress and an opportunity for developers and creative heads to come up with something that can cater to this issue faced by the majority.

 

The Reemergence of On-Demand Apps

The pandemic has caused the reemergence of on-demand apps. The apps that lie dormant in people’s phones unless they need to use them for the purpose they serve. 

Some of the most known and widely used on-demand apps are the following

UberA widely used ride-hailing app.

Rinse, a laundry service app.

Grubhub, an app for food delivery as Uber eats.

Instacart, a grocery delivery app.

Airbnb, an accommodation booking app.

And there are countless others that serve the same purpose. 

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Neomorphism in UI Design

The plain UI with minimalistic design is considered standard in app design but that won’t keep the consumers hooked for a long time. Designers are always on the lookout to add new forms of Interface aesthetics into their design. One of these is “Neomorphism”.

Neomorphism allows imitating three-dimensional objects with the objective to enhance aesthetic impressions of the software products. Though it can enhance aesthetics, it makes the UI more difficult to scale. The reason why neomorphic rarely takes place in mobile app development but pseudo-3D elements are mostly added to enhance the plain minimalistic interfaces.

It is a growing trend in mobile app development to make the interaction between the app and the user more wholesome and fulfilling.

 

The World of Gaming is Changing

Video games have maintained their popularity over the decades. From being extremely simple to extremely interactive, games have come a long way. The reliance on games has increased manifolds during the pandemic when many of the famous YouTubers started live-streaming games and people started playing in groups. 

The popularity of games like PUBG can be attributed to the interactive UX and UI. These games have allowed people to kill their boredom by bonding with people from around the world and playing games together in teams. This trend is going to get bigger and anyone who is going to be clever about it will see huge success.

 

The Newfound Reliance on Online Shopping

M-commerce or online shopping is not a new thing but definitely something which has picked up exponentially during the pandemic. It has to be the one area in mobile app development that has seen the most growth during the pandemic with a 25.5% CAGR

The lockdowns and the pandemic have forced people to buy online and many of these new users will keep buying online even afterlife gets back to normal. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that online shopping has become the new normal and will continue to reign even after the pandemic recedes.

From the success of online food and grocery delivery apps to retail apps, this trend in mobile development is not going anywhere any time soon. It has come out to be one of the most promising and steadfast trends in mobile app development.

 

The Final Takeaway

These are some of the growing trends in the mobile app development world. The pandemic has increased the reliance on online far more than anyone would have imagined in the normal world. The social behaviors and attitudes have changed and people will continue to rely on these apps to deliver them the essential services as they did during the pandemic. 

This has opened an opportunity for businesses to come up with new and innovative ideas that can add to people’s convenience. Anyone centering their ideas around the customers is one shot away from success.

author

Fahad Ali, Author

Fahad is PM at ARFASOFTECH but has a knack for writing. He enjoys writing about the latest technologies and evolving trends. Most of his writings revolve around trending technologies and their integration into operations.

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