Mobile app predictions for 2019

Tue 1 Dec 2020

With the popularity of mobile applications continuing to soar and consumer spending at app stores increasing year-over-year, the future looks bright for app developers. In 2017, consumers downloaded 178.1 billion mobile apps and this figure is projected to grow to 258.2 billion downloads by 2022. So what advancements can we expect? Here are some of the mobile app development trends that are likely to dominate in 2019.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

With digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa becoming ever more advanced, there’s a high probability that our reliance on robots to carry out our day-to-day activities will only increase. Businesses are replacing customer service staff members with chatbots to save operational costs and increase productivity, and we are seeing a rise in more personal user experiences that involve in-depth, predictive app performance (think personalised menu suggestions and automated ordering procedures from coffee chains and restaurants). Functions such as GPS tracking, face and voice recognition, and predictive text will continue to increase the usability of mobile applications.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Since Pokémon Go took the gaming world by storm by launching its augmented reality app in 2016, various social media channels have followed suit. Snapchat and Instagram both offer popular filters that enable users to add digital features to their photos, massively boosting user engagement rates. Industry experts predict that mobile AR (including Apple ARKit, Google ARCore, Facebook Camera Effects, and Snap Lens Studio) could hit 900 million installed by the end of 2018 and reach three and a half billion by 2022. Prepare for lots more flower crowns and face warps.

Wearable app technology

Curious how well you slept last night, how far you’ve walked today, or how many calories you’ve burned so far this week? Wearable devices that monitor every aspect of our health and fitness are expected to sell well over 250 million units in 2019, fuelling a corresponding growth in custom apps for wearables. Advances in sensor technology, smart fabrics, and cloud computing will likely result in new and innovative types of wearable devices – think camouflaged jewellery that can assist potential assault victims or smart googles that can track swimming performance.

Cloud storage

One of the biggest limitations for mobile phone users is the restricted storage space on their devices. With big data storage abilities, cloud-based applications offer a solution for this issue, while simultaneously offering a far safer method of storing confidential data than their onsite counterparts. The global mobile cloud market was estimated at $24.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $94.8 billion by the end of 2023. Future mobile app software will almost certainly offer cloud storage and support features – cloud apps are expected to drive 90% of all mobile data traffic by 2019.

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