We have stepped into a brand new year. Yes, we have bid a goodbye to 2016 in order to welcome the new year. We tend to step into each new year with lots of expectations. Have you spent the entire last year thinking about building an effective mobile app for your business? Well, if so, then this is the time when you should stop thinking and take some actions. If you want to start the new year with profits, then go for developing a suitable mobile app for your business.
The number of business apps is increasing rapidly. Naturally, the competition is rising in a parallel way. Mobile app trends are changing every day. The developers are upgrading their techniques to keep the mobile app in harmony with the advanced technology. Obviously, you should not expect huge profits through an app based on the older technologies. Then what should you do? Well, wise businessmen always try to predict the future and act accordingly. You should try to know what trends are going to hit the year 2017. Then, you should ask your developers to build your mobile app as per the predicted trends for the upcoming year. But, the trends obviously should be relevant to your business.
Let’s have a look at some mobile app trends that are going to rule the year 2017.
1. Dominance of augmented reality apps
Nowadays, go anywhere, you will hear about Pokemon Go. Everyone is captivated by Pokemon Go. The success of Pokemon Go indicates further imitation and innovation in the upcoming year. People find the augmented reality apps mind-boggling. Basically, this AR (augmented reality) is a blend of virtual reality and GPS. Market experts have opined that the list of augmented reality apps is going to be further longer in the year 2017. AR will not be limited to funny apps and games. These apps are heading towards the industries including life science, manufacturing, and retail.
2. Integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence
According to the report “Internet of Things (IoT): Number of Connected Devices Worldwide from 2012 to 2020 (in billions)” by Statista, the number of individual but connected devices will reach almost 28 billion in the year 2017. The revenues and profits from the Internet of Things industry are remarkably surging since the year 2015. A large group of marketers have opined that these revenues will be doubled by the second half of 2017.
As an outcome, the demand for apps having smart device sensors will be remarkable. Don’t forget to ask your developers to build your app based on smart device sensors. This kind of apps separate content delivery from sensors and add a thinking element. Machine learning and artificial intelligence process the context of the individual or sensors, and produce recommendations. It is expected that the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into simple apps will be huge in the year 2017.
3. Use of UX as a kind of art
User experience is perhaps the most important indicator of the success of mobile apps. And this trend is going to remain same in the next year. Certain features of UX which you can find now as trendy will become an integral part of UX in the upcoming year. Throughout the year 2016, the designing of an extended background had become a basic requirement for mobile app development. This kind of background is expected to include call-to-action-buttons, and areas that are easy to tap. This background helps the users to concentrate on the main feature with minimal distractions. Graphic designers and artists are going to give UX a form of art in 2017. As the days of flat apps are gone, you should look for grid-based interface design, splash screens, and visuals, parallax graphics, split-screen and micro-interactions in order to gain sufficient traction.
4. Interactive push notification
We know very well that push notifications offer a number of ways to communicate with users. Apart from this, push notifications possess a feature that provokes the users for taking an action (for instance, reacting to a particular message even without going to the app). This feature saves both time of the users and battery of their devices.
5. App integration
Several apps are integrating with other apps. As for example, you can find Uber integrating with a navigation and messaging kind of apps. Due to the increase of this tendency, the icon number appearing on the mobile screen is found to be decreased. It helps the users to get rid of installation of additional apps.
Final words
If you want to re-energize your business in the upcoming year, you should launch a mobile app that is suitable for your business. When you go to consult mobile app developers, don’t forget to consider the features and trends that are going to rule the year 2017.
Sudeep Banerjee
Sudeep Banerjee is the Founder and President of Mobixed, the leading mobile apps development company of California. A visionary entrepreneur, Sudeep's expertise lies in various fields including web development, digital marketing and app development. He believes that apps would act as powerful vehicles to drive sales for businesses in the near future.