The Future of Digital App Development

Aysha
Aysha
Nov 7 · 5 min read

Digital app development is the new culture of the mobile app industry. Nowadays, users spend most of their mobile time on apps instead of web services. No wonder, businesses are looking forward to developing user-friendly apps that could be helpful to the end users. Furthermore, the inception of new and enhanced technologies has a strong impact on digital app development. These technologies have really transformed digital app development.

Smartphones outnumber the people in the world. We are more amiable to mobile devices than we are to desktops. There is a cluster of mobile apps in the Google Play store and the Apple Appstore for almost anything and everything. We are rapidly approaching a time when desktops will be considered old-fashioned or obsolete.

The need for mobile apps is largely driving new and innovative approaches in digital app development. Traditional and modern development stacks are changing every day. The average smartphone user in the United States looks at their mobile devices 47 times a day. This shows how mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives.

Quick notes on why mobile apps are becoming extensively popular among businesses:

  • Exposes business to a larger audience
  • Improves visibility and brand awareness
  • Helps increase customer engagement
  • Cost effective and provides higher return on investment (ROI)
  • Offers personalization

Digital app development, in the coming decade, will not be the same. Businesses have already started to adopt new and innovative technologies to make apps more functional than before.

Let’s throw some light on a few trends that will transform digital app development in the future.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

AI is creating quite a buzz in all disciplines. High levels of personalization can be achieved with AI. Artificial intelligence brings a perfect balance in personal and professional terms.

Apps that are built on artificial intelligence have an upper hand in giving a unique experience to the individual because the app offers personal recommendations based on individual preferences. Both the frontend and backend will become more personal because AI goes hand-in-hand with machine learning to teach machines to act like the human brain.

Artificial intelligence is changing app development in historic ways. Digital app developers have the option to deploy innovative code more frequently thanks to the flexibility of AI, creating a shift in the way mobile users gather and access information. App developers use AI to automate repetitive tasks, software testing, etc.

AI technology has seamlessly settled in our lives. According to a Hubspot survey conducted this year, 63% of people aren’t actually aware they use artificial intelligence technology.

Netflix follows this same AI technology giving you personalized recommendations about the shows and movies you would like to watch.

Augmented Reality (AR):

In simple terms, Augmented reality is the combination of real and virtual worlds.AR adds advanced components like sound, pictures, videos, images, motion along with GPS data to make the user experience more alluring. It represents a changed view of reality by augmenting the elements or contexts to the environment.

Augmented reality has become the next big move in digital app development. In terms of growth, mobile applications in augmented reality generated revenue of $ 884.1 million US in 2017. It is expected to reach $ 6,218.23 million by 2020.

With AR technology, the user finds herself in the middle of a digitally manipulated and interactive environment. Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game, gained a lot of popularity due to its engaging and interactive gaming interface.

As of now, almost every industry like gaming, education, healthcare, etc. benefits from augmented reality. And that is the prime reason why AR app development is seeing its rise in today’s market. At the rate at which augmented reality is moving forward, the time is not far when augmented reality constitutes a billion dollar industry.

Low code with the drag and drop interface:

Low code is a software which allows to build an application via a graphical user interface like drag and drop with minimum coding involved. Low code became popular in app development for its versatility and the USP that, even a noncoder can create an app with this software.

The rise of low code in digital development has put to increasing power and flexibility in the app development. Low code with the combination of the visual drag and drop interface is doing wonders for digital app development. Low code uses visual models to represent logic and abstract ways from the underlying code to a visual level that can be understood by non-coders.

Stat alert: Research by Forrester estimates that the total market for low code development platforms will grow to $15.5 billion US by 2020. Garter published an evaluation of enterprise high productivity application platforms (HPaPaaS) in April 2018.

Internet of Things (IoT):

Internet of things is the next big thing in digital app development. In simple terms, IoT is a computing concept that describes the idea of everyday objects connected to the internet that can identify themselves on other devices.

Experts believe that the Internet of Things will include 34 billion connected devices by 2020. This represents $6 trillion invested before the end of 2021. IoT is a technology that has Integration #1 SendGrid

IoT is a real opportunity for growth, especially for businesses with the infrastructure necessary to support quality app development. It is not a stretch to imagine that the most successful app development in the future will be positioned for IoT.

Beacon-based technology:

Beacon technology is the sophisticated and updated version of Bluetooth. Beacon-based technology can be used in the following ways for digital app development:

  • Resource tracking
  • Navigation purposes
  • Interactive tours
  • Education
  • Shopping and retail

Blockchain:

This concept is applied in app development for its distributed database. Blockchain being free from government control and regulations is less liberal in payments.

The key takeaways in blockchain in-digital app development include:

  • Protection of data
  • No hassle of passwords
  • Data transparency and validation
  • Securing the infrastructure

The concept of blockchain in digital app development has high hopes. App developers are trying to look beyond blockchain’s potential in terms of finances. App developed with blockchain will be focused on building disruptive, new solutions that enable micropayments, smart contracts or end imitation in the supply chain.

Conclusion: Apart from these, there are many new developments in the already present concepts and in the future of digital app development, like more advanced cloud-based tech, chatbots, data, and security, etc. With the changing scenarios, lifestyle, and demands of individuals, it is quite a mystery what the future of digital app development holds. But, nonetheless, the future of digital app development is very promising and businesses should leverage the above mentioned tech in their app development strategy to provide user-friendly apps to users.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade