21 Striking Mobile App Trends That Will Rule 2021-22 {Infographic}

It has been a little more than a decade since mobile apps were introduced in the world.

And in these 10 something years, they have changed how the world works. 

The phenomenon that mobile apps have proven themselves to have not just maintained their status quo from the end-users’ front but also at the back of businesses who have come to realize their necessity.

The technology sub-set is continuing to offer new value and experiences to its stakeholders: An event that is keeping it several steps away from bursting the bubble. 

Here is a Mobile app trends 2021-22 infographic looking into the slew of offerings that we are going to witness in the coming year. 

1. Increased Mobile App Usage

The first prominent mobile app trend that 2021-22 will witness is increased mobile app usage. 

Mobile apps have grown to an extent where every digital use case has a place for them. The rate at which mobile applications are being used and adopted has given birth to a time where there is not even a single business domain that wouldn’t have thought about investing in mobile applications. 

The trend which is already operating on a high note will continue to rise as time moves. 

2. Beacon 

Beacon technology has already proved itself to be an excellent marketing tool connecting the offline and online world, especially in a retail setup. 

2021-22 will see the technology making its presence felt in the hospitality and healthcare domain and in some extent, the entertainment sector as well. 

3. 5G

5G is one of the mobile app trends 2021-22 that would change every mobile application development strategy. With the power of extremely fast internet speed in users’ hands, they will be expecting zero lags and loading time. This will translate into the fact that businesses will have to plan for high concurrency. In a proactive response to what is to come, businesses like Verizon and Samsung are already gearing for the launch of dedicated 5G-capable chips.

5G technology is also bound to change the grounds for technologies and industries like AR/VR and Gaming. 

4. Wearable 

Although IoT is there in our list of mobile app trends 2021-22, we want to give a separate focus on wearable as one of the major app market trends. What got famous with Fitbit, wearables are continuing towards popularity with the passing time. Today, with the help of cross-platform mobile app development, wearables are finding themselves to be a part of a number of industries and across a wide variety of use cases. 

The time to come will see the technology reaching its zenith stage, both in terms of use cases and the number of devices. 

5. AI 

2019 saw Artificial Intelligence mature. The year saw Robotics and Smart Cars coming on the forefront and businesses finding use cases for the integration of AI with mobile apps offering. While the role of AI has mainly been limited to improving the customer experience till now, the time to come will see the technology impacting the future of mobile application development processes. It will also play a bigger contributory role in shaping the internal processes of a business as well, in addition to the offerings.  

6. Instant Apps

Instant apps are the solution that mobile app development companies offer to the users who work around the perils of low storage space. Announced back in 2016 by Google, Instant Apps have been playing a major role in the life of users who operate entry model devices. 

While living in a hushed corner for some time, the news of Hollar and InnoGames witnessing an increase in their conversion rate brought them to the forefront. 

Here are the different benefits that come associated with Instant Apps: 

• Small size
• Presence of website’s functionalities
• Lack of usage of the device memory
• Elimination of the need to install. 

7. App Clips 

At WWDC 2020, Apple announced App Clips. Taking inspiration from instant apps, Apple launched App Clips as a portion of your application that can be made discoverable when it’s needed. Right from ordering a take-out to booking an UBER, users get the accessibility of completing the tasks without having to open the application. 

In addition to being one of the biggest iOS app trends, App Clips play a major role in increasing the discoverability of an application, helping businesses acquire more customers. 

8. Android App Bundles 

In addition to Instant Apps, there are other Android app trends in making. One of the most promising ones for developers is Android app bundles. 

It is a publishing format that consists of your application’s compiled resources and code while deferring APK generation. Within this new format, Android mobile app developers will no longer have to develop, sign, and manage multiple APKs for optimizing support for multiple devices, while users will get more optimized smaller downloads. 

9. IoT 

Brands like Google and Amazon have been constantly firing up the competition present in the IoT sector. What started as wearable – as an example of the use of IoT in mobile apps – the technology has crossed several strides to make itself a part of several industries. And today, the use case for the Internet of Things for mobile app development can be seen in not just the business sectors like Healthcare, Education, etc. but in economies in general, in the face of Smart Cities. Something which is in line with the trends that IoT had formed for itself. 

10. AR/VR 

AR/VR based mobile app development has been witnessing stable growth since 2018 and Pokemon Go. While operating in the backdrop for many years, AR/VR is set to become one of the biggest mobile app development trends of 2021-22. On the development front, it is not just the developers and designers who are working on their AR/VR capabilities but also tech giants like Google and Apple are coming up with solutions to make the technology mainstream by adding it in their service offerings like Map and Search. 

11. Chatbots 

It is estimated that by the time we reach 2021-22, more than 85% of the interactions made with businesses will happen through chatbots. One of the most prominent mobile app development trends is established on the grounds that the innovation is designed to make businesses 24*7 and non-time-bound. 

The impact that the technology carries on businesses is bound to take it outside of a website’s landing page and bring it on every platform where the business is present and active.  

12. Cloud 

Cloud technology already carries a massive impact on mobile app development technology. Time and again, developers have been creating cloud-based mobile apps to save on the size of the application and for saving the data, so that the application’s speed can remain high. 

In the coming time, the cloud computing mobile app trends will look like this:

• Quantum computing
• Hybrid cloud solutions
• Evolution of cloud services and solutions

13. Edge Computing 

When we list down the trends in mobile apps, it is difficult to not think of edge computing. The technology brings data storage and computing capabilities closer to devices that are gathering or using it instead of depending on some centralized server that might be thousands of miles away. 

The biggest benefit of the system is to eliminate latency issues which can have a dire impact on the app’s performance. Its active role in bringing data closer to the device makes it one of the most promising IoT trends.

14. Blockchain 

After a widespread adoption, Blockchain technology has crossed the stage where there was confusion around What is Blockchain and what it stands for. While the technology comes with its own set of trends, when combined with mobile apps, the adoption and revenue charts take a steep turn upwards. 

The growth line that blockchain has charted for itself has everything to make it one of the top mobile development trends. 

15. Low Code Development 

It is the one up-and-coming facility that is poised to become a major mobile app development industry in the 2021-22 trend. With the cost of mobile app development continuing to increase, the focus is now shifting to low or no-code solutions that would enable companies to keep the development part of the solution in-house. 

16. Personalization 

A number of companies have shifted their focus on offering personalized experiences to their end-users. They have realized the importance of the role that personalization plays in bettering their overall omni-channel customer experience. 

The focus on offering a unique experience is so much so that a number of successful mobile application companies have made the practice an important part of their marketing strategy. And it is not just the mCommerce companies that are focusing on the practice but several other sectors as well, like Finance, Education, etc.  

17. Voice Search 

If there is anything we have witnessed so far, it is the fact that people are getting fond of talking and bossing around their devices to perform menial tasks for them. The trend that started with Siri on Apple devices has taken many forms and is set to take many others to become one of  primal mobile app future trends. The impact will not only be on the end consumers front but also on businesses and industrial levels. 

18. PWA 

Coined in 2015, PWA gives businesses the functionality to work offline, offers push notifications, get hardware access, and creation of user experience which is similar to the native apps that run on mobile devices and desktops. 

There are a number of businesses that have taken the PWA route to date and the number is only going to increase in 2021-22 and the rest of the future to come. This makes PWA one of the major mobile app trends in 2021-22. 

19. Foldable Devices 

Over the last few years, foldable phones have started making a comeback. 2020 saw a number of foldable devices making an entry into the mobile space – Huawei Mate X, Samsung Galaxy Fold, Motorola Razr, etc. these smartphones are designed to give users a seamless experience whether they are using the device in its folded form or open. 

From the mobile app industry trends front, we will see every mobile app development company adding developing apps for foldable devices in their list of mobile app development services offering.  

20. Greater Focus on Security 

For every mobile app development agency that had been keeping security as the last process of app development, 2021 is going to be a tough year. As one of the major app development trends of 2021, the security-first approach will rule the app domain. 

The year already started with AppleiOS 14  limiting the IDFA reach to prevent unfair user data exchange between devices/ apps and businesses. But this is only the beginning. The year will see both Apple and Android strengthening their security policies ensuring that users’ safety becomes a crucial element of user experience. 

21. Expansion of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Technologies

Every sound mobile app development company under the sun will tell you how fast the cross-platform app development platforms are evolving. The days when users experience used to dramatically change between native and cross-platform application is now passing by. 

By adding the facility of OS and device-specific widgets and expanding the deployment abilities from smartphones to desktop and web, frameworks like React Native and Flutter are proving to be the future of development.

These mobile app trends 2021-22 are a testament of big the app industry is now and how much more expansive it is going to become in the time to come. As an entrepreneur looking to enter the flourishing sector, it would help to find use cases for incorporating these technologies in the process – simply to become future-focused. 

[Also Read: Mobile App Trends that Dominated in 2018]

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