The year 2017 was exceptional in terms of mobile app development. It witnessed a lot of innovation and creativity and also brought a lot of industries to the realization that a mobile strategy was no more just an optional investment. The overall usage of mobile devices too saw a significant increase.

Based on everyday needs and behaviour, mobile app trends keep changing and new ones are constantly being introduced. These trends basically define what kind of interactions do users of the modern mobile age prefer. In order to have a better impact on their target audience, businesses are required to keep up with these trends and deliver exactly what their users need.

Given below are 7 of the biggest mobile app trends that will thrive in the year 2018 and build up over the foundation they created in the previous years.

 
1.AR/VR apps

Pokemon Go fired up the augmented reality trend and has seen a growth ever since. Initially, it was limited to entertainment and gaming sectors. However, with the growth in consumer demand and more compatible technology, this year will see a significant rise and expansion in the AR technology. So you better get to hiring AR app developers for your business quick.

Virtual Reality too possesses a fate similar to AR. Although,VR would probably still be the focus of the gaming industry, it will experience an exponential rise in usage this year. 2018 will be the year in which the AR and VR trend become more mainstream.

If you’re still under the belief that this trend is just a hype that will die down eventually, you haven’t been paying attention to the developments in the past year. A lot of businesses in a variety of industries have already incorporated this and many others are following up.

 
2. Android Instant apps

Android Instant apps were a concept introduced in 2016 and soon enough, the concept was adopted by some of the most renowned organizations like The New York Times, Red Bull, Buzzfeed etc. Android instant apps are a highly effective way of marketing and reaching out to your target customers.

Now that instant apps have the attention, businesses from all around the world are seeking ways to incorporate it in their mobile strategy. Within the first few months of the new year, Google Play Store is bound to see a drastic increase in the availability of such apps.

Instant apps require no downloading or installation which makes them incredibly easy to use, share and engage new users. This makes it the perfect promotional tool for your business. This year will undoubtedly see Android Instant Apps being used extensively by both small and large businesses.

 
3. Wearable apps

Wearable apps that power wearable technology have been around for quite a while now. The only difference is that previously, wearable technology was limited to fitness and activity trackers, but now, it has expanded to many more domains.

The past year has seen a number of startups venture into the wearable tech domain and lot of them already have their products ready for launch this year. Wearable tech and apps are evolving by the day to work more seamlessly and in tandem with other devices.

With the increase in demand of multifunctioning wearable tech, 2018 will see a blast in the launch and sales of such gadgets. This will be the year in which wearable apps move on further to a higher level of application.

 
4. On Demand apps

On-Demand apps are those that provide various services on demand with a simple tap. Uber is a shining example of an on-demand app that also paved the way for a lot more apps of the same sort. On-demand applications will witness an exponential rise this year and the services offered won’t be limited.

The convenience and easy availability of on-demand services have created a large market for such apps. This has led to the growth of on-demand applications in a variety of sectors like food delivery, cleaning, laundry, fitness etc.

The demand for these apps has seen a growth due to the the increasing mobile dependent population and since the overall number of mobile users is growing exponentially, so will on-demand applications.

 
5. Lazy loading

The one thing that people do not like in this quick driven world is waiting. Patience has flown out of the window nowadays and users expect to see the results of their requests rather quickly. A simple way to speed up the operations is by lazy loading.

Lazy loading is a concept in which the loading or initialization of an object is delayed until the point it is actually required. So if you’re reading an article with a lot of images, instead of having to wait for all images and text to load first, the images will only load as you scroll down to them so that the article is fired up and can be read quickly.

Lazy loading is one of the most important development trend that will become a rather common concept. Lazy loading can help businesses reduce their bounce rate significantly and that is something no business would want to ignore.

 
6. AMP

Another upcoming trend to increase the speed of operations of web apps and mobile sites. Accelerated Mobile Pages is an open source initiative led by Google which aims to improve the performance of web content publishing.

AMP provides quick loading pages which decreases the wait time significantly. In 2017, according to Google, over 2billion AMP pages were published globally. Websites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, eBay etc. include AMP pages.

Following these top websites, a plethora of other domains too will follow the trend of AMP for better mobile engagement leading to the AMP trend becoming one of the most popular mobile trends of 2018.

 
7. Cloud-based apps

Cloud driven mobile apps will see a drastic growth in both development and usage. In the past few years, cloud technology has seen a major rise in usage because of a number of factors. This in turn has driven the demand of cloud based apps especially in the case of enterprise apps.

Cloud based apps provide easy access to data without affecting the physical memory, are faster and also keeps the data very secure. This makes such apps the prime choice for enterprises that have a lot of key data that needs to be kept safe.

Studies predict that by 2019, over 90% of the mobile traffic will be driven by cloud apps. The same traffic in 2018 will be around 87% to 88% which still is a very large percentage.

So these were a few growing trends you will be witnessing this year. In order to make sure that your mobile strategy has the desired impact on your customers, it is paramount for you to keep an eye out for these trends and also make sure to implement them as soon as possible. With the current rate of evolution of mobile apps, you can not stick to the old methods and hope for success. You have to evolve with the market.