Blog

7 min read

Mobile app development trends to watch in 2023

Mobile development

Eugene Shapovalov

Head of Mobile

Date: Dec 29, 2022

Upd.: Dec 29, 2022

It is difficult to keep up with all the innovations that emerge in the mobile app development industry since it is evolving rapidly. However, you must know its most promising trends to survive and thrive in these digital jungles. To ensure the success of your future app, let’s discuss the latest trends in mobile app development that will transform the tech world in 2023.

App categories to dominate the market

During the COVID-19 pandemic, world’s interest to mobile applications has increased as never before. Interactive games, photo-editing apps, social media, business apps for people working from home enjoyed a massive jump in their downloads and made the virtual world people’s new reality.

However, the situation will significantly change in 2023. Since people are trying to find the comfortable ways to communicate with offline world and are steadily coming back to their usual life they had before the quarantine, there’s a need for products that will make their socialization much easier. That’s why airline, ticket services, and attraction/tour booking apps are the ones to watch in the upcoming year.

AR mobile app development on the rise

According to statistics, the AR & VR market’s revenue reached US$25.21bn in 2022. This number will continue to grow in 2023, giving you a great chance to leverage this mobile app development trend and bring a game-changing experience to users.

With smartphones becoming more powerful and equipped with more features than ever, developers can create truly unique user experience, boosting customer retention and engagement. For example, Ikea launched an AR app that quickly became popular in the market due to its ability to virtually place 3,200 Ikea products into their homes. Such experiments with decor in Ikea Place app before you make a purchase help avoid poor design choices and thus increases customer loyalty to the brand.

There are already a lot of examples how AR enables to experience fashion in a fun and unique way. PICTOFiT Shopping app lets you see how you’d look in different outfits. Apart from that, you can get accurate recommendations by specifying your body type, skin color, and personal preferences.

There’s hardly anyone who doesn’t remember Pokemon Go’s enourmous popularity in 2016. The mind-blowing fever among people worldwide living their childhood fantasies in augmented reality has marked the era of the sparked public interest in augmented reality technology as a whole. We bet year 2023 is the right time to create something as catchy as this mainstream app.

ML will change mobile landscape

Mobile technology is constantly evolving, and the mobile landscape will soon change dramatically. This rapid change means businesses must adapt their strategies to stay competitive, and ML will be a big part of this transition. ML can help companies reach new customers more personally while increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

ML in healthcare: data analysis

Machine learning is already implemented in mobile healthcare. By coping the functions of human brains, it uses neural networks to identify the changes that the human won’t be able to see. Here are some examples:

Drug discovery. One of the first successful implementations of ML is precision medicine. It is a new method of sequencing to ensure drugs have the right effect on the patient.
ML helps discover drugs and learn how to use them properly in treatment;
ML enhances to generate personalized treatment based on a patient’s medical history with little risk;
ML notifies about the changes in daily activites and warns about the dangerous ones from the long-term perspective;
ML helps keep medical records in order and effectively classify data using OCR recognition techniques;
ML monitors changes in behavior and helps to reveal what’s important for health of this particular patient.

There’s a good example of how a mobile application can save life of those suffering from diabetes – MySugr. Now patients have better control over their condition by logging their data on a daily basis. Doctors benefit from it as well, since they can review data and suggest better treatment.

ML in media: image recognition

Machine learning has significantly contributed to the evolution of image recognition applications. Today the demand for such applications is higher than ever due to the increasing amount of data on the internet and these apps’ unique ability to entertain and make life easier for people and businesses. The market for image recognition applications is forecast to hit $81.8 billion by 2026. This is an up-and-coming feature that, in the future, will become an essential one for every industry. Image recognition technology has become so advanced that it can now be used to identify people, objects, and even brands in videos and images. This may soon lead to the use of ML for content analysis and advertising purposes.For instance, Google Lens has transformed the way people discover the world around them and opened new digital horizons letting users get things faster with just the help of their phone camera or photo. There’re a great number of examples of how Google Lens can be used effectively: quick text translations, accurate identification of plants and animals, immediate scanning of QR codes. Based on your references, it helps you find the things you like by searching similar ones on the internet.

ML and question answering

Question answering is commonly used in social media applications and chatbots. Its well-deserved popularity manifests itself in its ability to give users a quick relevant response, thus saving them time on an in-depth search. Therefore, implementing such a system is an intelligent decision for all spheres.

ML and recommendation systems

Personalized content is the number one goal for every application in 2023. This is due to the increasing popularity of online tools that allow users to control their own content and communicate with others in a more personalized manner.

A recommender system is another app development trend that has drastically changed how users interact with digital products. It filters the user data and presents only the most relevant information that should be the perfect match. One great example is Netflix application that helps users worldwide choose the right movie for them, thus increasing their loyalty to the brand and making them return.

Super app development is booming

Social networks, like Facebook or Snapchat, were mainly used to keep in touch with friends and relatives. Now they’re growing in popularity for having additional features, such as shopping, banking, and entertainment. Meituan is a good example of how the app’s functionalities may expand within one product. It started as a food delivery application but now it is a major shopping platform. After they added an option to book hotels, they become a dominant player in the marketplace. What’s more is that Meituan integrates completely with WeChat enabling users to pay directly through WeChat Pay. Speaking of the latter, WeChat app started off as a messaging app is 2011. Now it’s become an inseparable part of everyone’s life in China: one use it to message their friends, buy groceries, call a taxi, and even book a doctor’s appointment. There’s practically no life outside WeChat app in China. What’s more interesting – no Western app analog has been developed yet, which makes this trend even more tempting to consider first. Super apps have become increasingly popular in recent years as they offer more and more features for the user. With these apps, users can access their digital needs with one login and only enter their payment information when needed. This makes it easier for users to manage their finances, stay connected with family and friends, and make purchases.

Emphasis on secure app development

As mentioned above, people are looking for better mobile solutions to meet their daily needs, and super apps might be the answer. However, there is another factor to consider – mobile app security. Most digital fraud happens on mobile devices. This is because people are more likely to use their mobile devices to access the internet and make transactions than they are to use standard web browsers or email clients. According to a study by McAfee, the number of crimes committed through mobile devices has tripled in the past five years.

Every customer understands the risks and will choose a highly secure app to save personal data. That’s why building a secure application is as fundamental as building a user-friendly or multifunctional one.

Accounting for POS terminals

Today there’s a high demand for POS terminals as a new way to handle payments, track sales, or manage customers in your store. They’re not only a bridge between hardware and software that creates a complete transaction process but also are helpful with tracking sales data and collecting customer information.

Being cloud-based and run as apps, they offer enormous resources to small and medium-sized businesses without a significant investment. Personalized customer experience, flexibility, quick access to accurate data, and the ease of use of POS systems enable companies to operate as efficiently as large brands. For example, an advanced POS system allows restaurant owners to update their menus in real-time, manage reservations, integrate online orders, process different payment methods, etc. It’s another great mobile trend to consider if you aim at increasing efficiency and customer loyalty.

Previously, payment terminals merely supplemented existing point-of-sale equipment. Android is a game-changer because it allows acquirers and value-added providers to develop their own apps. By replacing multiple devices in-store with their own apps, merchants and acquirers can reduce their total cost of ownership and enhance customer loyalty. In addition, Android has a large developer community, and POS systems based on Android can run various applications. In addition to front-office features such as store applications, loyalty, click and collect, and tickets, apps can also provide back-office capabilities such as staff management and reporting. Alternative payment methods can be accepted by leveraging extended device capabilities, such as cameras, scanning, and NFC. Besides traditional payment methods, Android allows you to easily port new apps, including QR codes and digital wallets.

Surging popularity of voice recognition apps

There should be more voice recognition applications in 2023. The market for this technology reached over $10.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow by $27.16 billion by 2026. The popularity of voice search is easy to understand, as it is much easier and takes less time than manual typing.

Adding a voice recognition app to your portfolio will be a smart decision users worldwide will highly appreciate. For example, our mobile developers have built an Android app that ensures a safe car ride and provides quick access to the necessary functions: maps, calls, messenger, music player, and an “emergency button”. The app’s popularity is due to its “Driving Mode” functions and its built-in ability to control them with voice commands.

Focusing on gamification

Another app development trend worth watching in the upcoming year is gamification. It has proven to be the most appealing app feature that increases user engagement and drives conversions. The global gamification market reached $11.94 billion in 2021, up $7.03 billion from 2016. Considering these incredible numbers, it’s no surprise that companies are willing to invest a lot of money into gamification for their apps and enjoy all its benefits.

Newly appeared crypto and super apps have already integrated gamification, confirming their popularity worldwide. For example, Stepn – the largest application that pays users for walking, running, and jogging. The rules of the game are simple: you purchase NFT in the form of sneakers from Stepn marketplaces, connect them to the app, and start being physically active to earn token.

Mobile wallets booming

Apps that let you store and access your money on the go are a new trend, and mobile wallets are one of the most popular options. These apps allow users to keep their money safely and securely without worrying about losing it or forgetting it. Check out our recent blog article about building digital wallets.

Mobile wallets are the advanced mode of online payment that more people are turning to for convenience and security. In addition to being used for daily tasks, mobile wallets allow users to access bank accounts and make purchases without a physical credit card. So it’s the right time to acknowledge that mobile wallet apps are a promising niche in mobile development that is worth special attention.

Rise of low-code or no-code platforms

Low-code or no-code platforms are wrapping up our list of up-and-coming trends in mobile application development. The reasons why companies prefer to switch to these platforms are simple: they serve to accelerate and ease the development process. Being time-efficient and enhanced with a plug-and-play approach they help with the quick capitalization of new trends in the market.

Take the low-code Mendix platform, for example. It eliminates the need for a development team or dedicated technical testers. It also replaces the project manager and speeds up the development process while keeping everything under control. PowerApps, Zoho Creator, OutSystems, Appian – all perform the same role, helping you create MVPs from scratch within time and budget.

Bottom line

There are 6.29 million apps in Google Play and the App Store combined. To stand out in this tough competition, you should embrace the latest mobile app development trends and offer a seamless digital experience to your target audience. That’s how you’ll win the hearts of your customers.

If you feel like it’s the right time to discuss a robust and feature-rich app of the future, Innowise Group is always at your assistance.

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Mobile app development trends to watch in 2023

App categories to dominate the market

AR mobile app development on the rise