According to one recent study, the average American has about 80 different apps downloaded on their phone at any given moment. That makes sense, given the fact that there are an estimated 5.7 million apps on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store combined.
Steve Jobs disrupted and revolutionized a lot of things when he first walked on stage and introduced the iPhone to the world in 2007 – and the hardware itself had little to do with it. Apps have changed the way brands communicate with consumers, how people communicate with each other, and how we live our lives.
That’s why paying attention to the top mobile app trends for 2023 and beyond is so crucial. They can help give you an incredible amount of insight into just how far we’ve come… and where this all might be headed before you know it.
Essential Mobile App Trends: Breaking Things Down
Maybe the biggest trend in mobile app development for 2023 is actually contrary to why this type of software became popular in the first place.
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, desktop applications were the “Swiss Army Knives” of software. They did as many things as humanly possible, all from a single screen. Then, mobile apps debuted as a straightforward alternative. Instead of doing 100 different things moderately efficiently, they were instead dedicated to doing one thing incredibly well.
As they say, “everything old is new again” – and the era of the “Super App” may be upon us. Indeed, Super Apps are single applications that perform a variety of functions, all within the same piece of software. Sound familiar? It should.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you want your mobile app to become bloated. You never want to be looked at as a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None.” But if you can solve multiple problems for your users within a single piece of software, you should take the opportunity to do so as this is what people are looking for more and more.
2023 also looks to be the year when the marriage between mobile apps and voice technology is finally ready for prime time. People have had voice assistants like Siri on their phones for years, but recently more and more industries have started to take advantage of this to create better experiences on behalf of their users.
If you open your bank’s mobile app right now, you can send a payment to someone in a matter of minutes. Or, you could tell your voice assistant to send the payment in seconds and you don’t even have to pick up your phone to do it. You can have a voice assistant make a purchase on Amazon, send a message to your spouse, and more – all without physically interacting with your device. This, too, is a feature set that people are looking for more and more.
In the end, it’s important to acknowledge that the way we think about what a mobile app can be is constantly changing. Once upon a time, they were seen as little more than a minor convenience – a way to check your email or watch a video while on-the-go. Flash forward to today, and Reddit users literally employed the Robinhood app to disrupt just about everything we know about the stock market. That’s no longer a minor convenience – that’s a legitimate way of life.
Therefore, it’s always in your best interest to pay close attention to where things are and how far they’ve come. Once you understand why today’s trends have been able to make such an impact, you’re in a better position to anticipate where things might be going tomorrow, a year from now, and beyond. At that point, you’ll be able to get there before any of your competitors have a chance to do the same – which is a very exciting position to be in.
Leave a Reply