As we all know, the usage of mobile apps is all the rage. And almost every business is trying to have an engaging as well as a unique app for its audience.

And, they need to follow recent mobile app development trends. Otherwise, one will risk being left behind. Yes! And, the reason is everything is changing at a great pace. So, if you are a startup, a product company, or a mobile app developer, you should know about the Mobile App Development Trends for the upcoming future.

So, to save your time from vast research for amazing mobile app ideas, here we have compiled a complete list of mobile app development trends to watch out for in 2020.

1. Augmented and Virtual Reality

If there is a facility of a VR app, would you ever download any regular app? Well, the latter gets to be picked obviously.

And, this is an undeniable fact that more and more mobile apps are choosing the augmented reality and virtual reality in 2019, and these apps aren’t just limited to just gaming.

In applications, every business of various sectors is trying to incorporate the real-world experience. App Store and Google Play Store are full of AR and VR apps.

And Pokemon Go is the best example of an AR app. It has made a revenue of $1.2 billion as per the stats, and that’s not it because it has also been downloaded more than 1 billion times. Another most interesting fact is that it has near about 5 million active users all over the world.

Several brands like Sephora and IKEA have incorporated AR in their apps, improving and boosting the experience hence increasing conversion rates.

Though VR technology is yet so uncommon, it is surely going mainstream soon. Apps such as Google Cardboard and Tilt Brush offer a 360-degree experience.

Also, there’s a Daydream VR of Google. Even though its headset is somewhat pricey, still the quality makes up for the price factor. It only supports the new smartphones(Android) like Motorola Moto Z, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, etc.

2. Internet of Things

IoT technology, an acronym of The Internet of Things, is not just a buzzword but more than it. It is constantly improving, evolving, the way we live & connect with the world.

Guess what! To create intuitive and interactive platforms to control devices and equipment other than IT via apps, app developers are already using this technology. Almost every second tech giant you might name has initiated developing and investing in IoT-capable apps.

What many people are saying is, IoT investment is presumed to rise to $120 billion by 2020, and also it has something for everyone because the market for IoT is huge. And, that sounds quite true because the Internet of Things devices is already executing everything smartly, ranging from vehicles to home appliances.

Based on the market analysis of firm Machina Research, nearly 90% of all the latest cars will connect to smartphones. And by 2020, there will be around 20 billion connected devices according to the several other reports. The number of associated devices is increasing, indeed!

Based on several reports, it could be said that within the next five years, billions of dollars will be invested in the domain, and global revenue for IoT will make it to $7.065 billion by 2020.

3. The Prominence of Wearable Devices

There is no doubt that this is the era of wearable tech. Yes, one can see fitness bands, smartwatches, trackers, and smart rings in more than 50% of people’s hands. These wearable devices are somehow dependent, and we need apps to operate it on nowadays. Hence, wearable apps are something that we have already experienced in our daily lives.

As per market coverage, it has been observed that wearable is creating a strong future-base and has created $33 billion in revenue in 2019.

Apps are contributing highly, as every wearable device needs a platform base technology to run. Moreover, wearables take different platforms- Android Smartwatches, Apple Watch, and many more have made a strong base in the future for app development.

According to the surveys, some of the wearable trends observed for 2020 show that there will be a rise in fitness trackers and people less dependent on the smartphone.

4. 5G Technology

The wait is over as 5G is here! One might have fast internet before, but guess what now you’ll have even faster internet. 5G technology is on top of the app development trend list for the year as it is a hundred times faster than 4G.

Apps that take you 5-10 minutes to download presently will hardly take seconds with 5G technology. That lag you encounter while doing some complex work on the Internet? Well, with 5G, latency is no longer an issue, so say goodbye to that.

Want to know exactly how fast is 5G? Well, prepare to have your mind blown with these stats:

i. With 5G, your internet runs at 10 to 50Gbps – and even higher in some case scenarios
ii. On the other hand, 4G is an average 20 Mbps worldwide (except Iceland & Norway being at 65Mbps)
iii. And the speed 3G technology offered was/is 2Mbps.

The interesting fact of all is, 5G was recorded at 1terabit per second, in a test environment, being 65,000-folds faster than 4G. Sounds cool, right?

So, to boost app performance in terms of speed, augmented reality, data security, and 3D gaming app, developers are already taking 5G mobile technology into account. Hence, 5G phones have already made their way to the market.  Yes, several giants like Oppo Samsung, Sony, Huawei have already launched devices that are 5G-Capable, and many more are on the verge of launching.

5. Instant Mobile Apps

Well, it is something like a summary of the whole book. Yes, you got that right. It is surely quicker, but of course not the whole package. Instant Mobile apps give you an idea of what the app may be like. It’s just a trial before download. These subset apps offer basic functionalities without you having to download them on your device, and also they are comparatively smaller in size.

Are you thinking- why would anyone download instant apps?

Well, one of the biggest benefits associated with instant applications is application demos. As far as users are concerned,  it makes it easier for you to decide what the app is like before tapping the download button as it gives a taste of the fuller version of an application.  And if we talk for the companies, an instant application has paved a better plus a newer way of reaching out to users who don’t have it on their devices and convincing them into getting it. So it could be said that it’s a win-win invention for both users and the companies.

Moreover, sometimes, your phone doesn't have the kind of space an app requires, as some apps are too heavy to download. So, for instant apps, this kind of situation is ideal. Also, there are times when you may have a one-time use for the app, so you might prefer to access it without installing or downloading it to your device.

According to the reports, in the coming years, markets are expected to witness plenty of ‘instant’ apps. Many app developers are already playing around with cool features. Like, Google announced the ‘Google Instant Apps’ technology at a conference in 2016. And,  it officially permitted other businesses to use the technology in 2017.

Apps like NYTimes and Hollar, for instance, witnessed an improvement in their conversion rate by 20% and 27% subsequently, simply by choosing for instant mobile apps.

6. Blockchain

Blockchain is not just an IT jargon or cryptocurrency because there are people who associate this brilliant technology with cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. It has made its way to mobile app development arsenal, as well. But what is it?

Well, in layman terms, it is a decentralized database: a chain of blocks concurrently existing on more than one computer. All these blocks - where each block has a timestamp - grow continually as new data is recorded. And, everyone gets a copy of the entire database; the old blocks are saved as new are added. Besides that, this technology makes it impossible to fake or cheat documents or alter data. Moreover, it is traceable, even if someone makes the mistake of doing so.

Many e-wallets and smart ledgers are based on this technology, and many are in process. So if you’re someone who is bothered by cross-border payments or reluctant to make payments via credit cards, then you no longer have to worry. Because now, due to the facility of Blockchain, you can use blockchain-powered mobile payment applications.

Companies like Align Commerce, Abra, and Bitspark are already working on solutions and working on end-to-end blockchain-powered services.

In 2014, Santander was the first to add the blockchain feature to a payments app, which resulted in customers making international payments within 24 hours a day.

7. Artificial Intelligence

Well, AI, the acronym of Artificial Intelligence, is at the core of the evolution of several new technologies. All those movies with amazing self-aware robots don’t seem like an impossible reality any longer. AI not only matured as a breakthrough technology, but it is also boosting the growth of many other technologies as well.

Moreover, to improve the customer experience, many businesses are integrating AI in their applications. And, it could be possible that consumers, too, would rather use apps featuring AI on day to day basis.

Apps such as Google Assistant and Cortana are two very popular and successful examples showing the power of AI. Plus, there are many other great apps as well that are using AI at best, such as Elsa Speak, Hound Robin, and so on for educational purposes.

Furthermore, many app development companies are using AI to analyze how it can be beneficial to industries existing in several domains. AI isn’t exactly expensive to integrate within apps, unlike AR and VR; therefore, the mass adoption by a good number of big and small companies. You wouldn’t want to get left behind in a competitive world while your competitors embrace this cool tech. And, to create your own AI app, there is no better time than right now.

8. Cloud-Based Mobile Apps

Cloud technology is something that is employed to store huge amounts of data across industries. If we talk about the features of Cloud computing, it is faster, easy to deploy, secure, and also less expensive. To ascertain a boom in 2019-20 or upcoming years, this is one of the trends.

A software system program that’s designed to be accessed over the internet by many types of movable computing devices is what we call mobile cloud computing. In mobile software development, native apps run on one specific mobile device or platform and are downloaded and installed on the mobile device.

The technology shares a number of the mainstream techniques out of the various benefits that include streamlined operations, enhancement in storage capability of apps, reduction in hosting and equipment costs, increased collaboration, and productivity.

Besides all, Cloud computing integration assists mobile apps in storing a huge amount of data efficiency plus carry out complex tasks. Many of the mobile apps, especially with bigger databases, are using the AWS (Amazon Web Service) as their cloud computing backup. This also helps in increasing the reliability, processing power, speed, and security of the apps and enables it to deal with a great amount of data.

9. Chatbots

This is the era when Chatbots will play a vital role in mobile applications. It is now an easy job to integrate chatbots within apps with the help of the advancement in AI, even without involving intricate coding. It could be said that your business is not so much success without Bots nowadays. Not only companies but the chatbots are being appreciated by the users also due to their quick & precise answers whenever they needed.

Somehow, Chatbots are now acting as virtual assistants within mobile applications. Without involving intricate coding, it is now an easy job to integrate chatbots within apps, thanks to the advancement in AI. As many as 50% of B2B consumers like self-service CRM, according to a rather interesting infographic Digital Commerce. And, these Chatbots are nothing but a new way to enhance that kind of customer relationship management.

Furthermore, many industries are already taking benefits from Chatbots. Yes, mobile apps with services like online shopping, cab services, and food delivery are working on integrating the chatbots to their apps. They use them to help the consumers in getting their frequent queries resolved by the bots, even without calling customer support. And, in 2019-20 and the upcoming future they will be deployed to serve many latest features which will simplify people’s lives by assisting them in their day to day tasks.

Final Words

Well, the above trends show how the mobile app industry is growing at a high pace. Along these lines, you have to get the required changes to the procedure to stay aware of the regularly expanding customer demand.

So, every app development company should follow the above mobile app development trends because that will boost the app development industry in 2020 plus will raise their business’ revenue bar high.