15 Emerging Trends for Mobile App Development in 2020 and Beyond

The usage of mobile apps has exploded over the past few years. With the ever-growing adoption of modern smartphones, more and more consumers are using apps to order their favorite food, book tickets, perform banking transactions, listen to music on the go, etc. Today, our world is a digital sphere, where keeping in touch with friends across boundaries is no more a chore, and as the number of mobile apps keeps on increasing, so does our ability to perform hitherto difficult tasks. This article looks at some mobile application development trends to look out for in 2020.

The growing demand for more functional apps has also resulted in widespread interest in mobile app development, especially amongst independent and freelance developers. Since an operating systems' mobile app store is a level playing field, anyone can create an app which could become the next smash hit. Flappy Bird, the indie game, raked in $50K daily at the height of its popularity, resulting in the immense success of its small-time developer!

There are quite a few interesting mobile app development trends for 2020 that mobile app developers should keep a lookout for. From brand new technologies to older ones finding their feet and a spurt of new programming languages, 2020 has a lot in store not only for consumers but for developers as well.

15 Emerging Mobile App Development Trends

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Will Continue to Grow

   

   Artificial intelligence is not something new and will continue to be adopted by more sectors in the coming years. The International Data Corporation estimates that the AI market will touch $40 billion by 2020 while IDC says that global spending on Artificial Intelligence and cognitive systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022!

2. Blockchain Technology Will be Increasingly Adopted

   

   There has been further enhancement of blockchain technology in recent years and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years as well. Major financial institutions and investors have already reaped huge benefits from this technology, especially when it comes to their assets. Transparency Market Research estimates that the market for blockchain technology will hit $20 billion by 2024. This indicates that mobile applications will increasingly capitalize on this mobile application technology in 2020 and beyond.

3. Increase in On-Demand Apps

   

   On-demand apps act as mediators between providers of different services and customers. The app world is going to be more interesting in 2020 as more and more providers offer on-demand apps in the market. Uber and Taxify are some companies that have gained a lot of popularity in recent times from on-demand app services. Appinventiv says that the on-demand app market reached $206.83 million in 2017. Tech analysts say that this will only increase going into 2020 and beyond.

4. Chatbots Will Find Widespread Usage

   

   The latest trends in mobile apps indicate that Chatbots will take over several different communication lines in the mobile app world. Part of this increased chatbot adoption is attributed to the need for real-time interaction between service providers and customers. It is important to note that this technology circumvents the need for human-to-human interaction.

   Gartner says that chatbots will be behind 85% of all customer service interactions before the end of 2020. Another interesting (or worrying) prediction is that the average person will begin to have more interaction with chatbots than with their partners.

5. Increased Dominance of Wearable Apps

   

   Wearable technology is seeing increasing adoption all around the world. Statists predicts that the number of wearable devices will reach 929 million by 2021, up from 453 million in 2017. You can expect wearable devices and apps to soon become an important part of everyday life.

   App developers are expected to continue to develop apps for wearable devices, which are dominated by smartwatches. 2020 promises to bring to market more wearable devices featuring increasingly more sophisticated apps and technology, right from fitness bands to watches and movement trackers, among others.

6. Instant Apps will Proliferate

   

   Mobile apps definitely bring to mind user-friendly and memory-efficient services. Instant apps are native mobile applications that are more user-friendly, smaller in size, and more convenient than traditional apps. This is because, with instant apps, there is no need for downloading. Just as the name implies, these apps are available and accessible without the need for downloading the specific app.

   With increasingly more users continuously demanding better user experience and quicker load times, 2020 will certainly see more widespread proliferation of instant apps, thus reducing or even eliminating the wait time required for app installation.

7. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Will Find Wider Adoption

   

   Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are here to stay, and 2020 will see more widespread adoption and proliferation of these technologies. Trends in mobile apps indicate that AR and VR technology are not just bettering high-quality gaming applications, but also being taken up for several other use cases.

   In 2020, you can expect mobile app developers to create more stunning mobile experiences in AR and VR, and with better and more compatible hardware entering the market, the party is only just getting started.

   Statista predicts that the global AR and VR market will skyrocket to $209 billion in 2022, up from $27 billion in 2018.

8. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Development Will Speed Up

   

   Accelerated mobile pages (AMP) is an open-source initiative spearheaded by Google and Twitter to improve the performance of web pages on mobile devices. The technology behind Accelerated Mobile Pages allows lightweight pages to load more quickly in smartphones and tablets. You can expect mobile app developers in 2020 to make more use of this technology to speed up load times in mobile devices.

9. More Mobile Payment Services Will Proliferate

   

   The demand for mobile wallet apps and payment gateways saw huge increase in demand and supply in 2019 and this trend looks set to continue into 2020. The frictionless payment methods that mobile wallet apps facilitate is a favorite of mobile phone users and all kinds of apps are now integrating payment gateways, which is essentially changing the way customers shop.

   Emerging trends in mobile apps all point to further proliferation of mobile payment services such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal One Touch, Venmo, and Square Cash. At present, every successful and popular mobile app includes a minimum of three or four valid payment methods, such as credit/debit cards, gift cards, and mobile wallets. Expect to see further proliferation of mobile payment services in 2020.

10. IoT will Open Even Newer Possibilities

    

    IoT, or the Internet of Things, is already quite established, and over the next five years, more than 5 billion people are expected to be using an IoT-driven technology in some form or the other. Today, IoT is present in modern wearable technology, smart thermostats, smart bulbs, dimmable streetlights, etc.

    In the coming year, mobile app development articles expect this technology to be rapidly adopted for mobile application development, while allowing for more personalized user experiences across a variety of devices.

11. Cloud Storage Platforms Will Continue to Rise

    

    No surprises here. From the average consumer to the tech professional, everyone has heard about the benefits of cloud technology, and how it can help to change our collective lives. Today, cloud computing is not only fast, easy to deploy, and inexpensive, but also makes a good working argument for both large-scale enterprises and small mom-and-dad joints. 2020 will see more cloud application development and emerging technologies will increasingly adopt cloud technology.

    Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive are just the tip of the iceberg. In 2020, we can expect new powerful apps which directly run on the cloud and take minimal space in mobile phone storage. Syncing data - working on an app on the phone and then continuing it from a tablet or desktop will also become increasingly more widespread.

12. Enterprise Mobile Apps Will Get a New Lease of Life

    

    It's not a secret anymore that more and more developers are gravitating towards developing enterprise mobile apps. One major reason for this is that such apps make it easy to keep large teams connected, as well as track key metrics and KPIs, which are now required by almost every small and large business to some extent.

    43% of enterprise app developers earn more than $20,000 per month, as compared to the 19% of the developers who develop consumer-focused apps. Enterprise app stores are also predicted to become the next big thing, as with more B2B interaction, a tremendous opportunity will be offered to new developers.

13. Location-based Wi-Fi Services Will Become Commonplace

    

    Mobile location services and Beacon technology are now starting to blur the boundaries between online and offline advertising, especially in the retail sector. Apple had already integrated the technology within iBeacon, and in 2016 Android followed suit.

    In the following years, Wi-Fi will be used for more than just internet access, as more and more public hotspots also double up as location access points. App developers are also expected to follow suit, by building apps which take advantage of such location-based Wi-Fi services.

14. m-Commerce to be the Next Great Opportunity

    

    As e-commerce giants such as Amazon and eBay flourish, the usage of m-Commerce apps is also expected to increase in the coming years. With more smartphones featuring technology such as NFC, Fingerprint recognition, etc., using a mobile phone to pay for transactions, amongst others, will also find ready acceptance. Developers will also have the opportunity to build m-Commerce apps which can provide additional functionality to the consumer.

    Read our article which describes the models, benefits, and future trends of mobile payment solutions.

15. High-quality UX to be the Norm of the Day

    

    Besides a nice look and feel, smartphone users today expect their apps to be more intuitive and provide more relevant content suited to their own likes and dislikes. In the coming year, developers will have to focus more on answering burning customer questions such as whether the app is secure enough or whether they need too many user permissions, etc.

Other Services You Can Benefit From