The story about the latest mobile app development trends should start from Q1 2020. All of the numbers above are from that period, the time when COVID-19 paralyzed the world. While the health situation was worsening every second, people staying indoors got acquainted with their mobile devices. And they loved it! The world began using mobile applications 40% more than ever before to order food, train, work, contact their dearest, and buy anything necessary when the lockdowns were put up. This period would probably be marked as the turning point for the current trends in mobile app development. Since then, the health regulations have eased in most countries, and the overall mood of society has improved. Yet, nothing has changed in the mobile apps world. To keep up with the increasing demand for new tech miracles, the market of mobile app development continues to advance in giant strides.
Here we will talk about Android and iOS app development trends that continue to evolve. But before we do that, let’s see why it matters today.
Why is thinking ahead the right strategy?
2022 is not actually promising any drastic changes in the latest mobile app development trends. It will still be about AR and VR development in mobile applications, greater commerce implementation, and IoT in the widest possible understanding of the term. Nonetheless, these trends are worth being focused on. And here are a couple of reasons for it:
- The mobile app development market continues to grow not only in terms of the demand but also the offer. More young people join the forces of experienced mobile app developers hence increasing the pool of skills for selection.
- In February 2021, there were 85,500 applications released to the Google Play Market. Thus, the competition grows for the final products as well.
- In the 21st century, a company can win the race by delivering a new and relevant product to the market first because the next ranks don’t matter.
By knowing the upcoming trends and following the changing market demand, a company or an individual developer can adjust their skillset to the needs and remain relevant in the market for as long as possible. Furthermore, trends might change your mind for full-scale development, and you might consider checking your mobile app idea through an MVP. And keep in mind that sometimes the market might get overfilled with similar ideas or just be not ready for your disruption; in such cases, postponing the release might become the best solution for your business.
Top current trends in mobile app development 5G
You might say that 5G is not new, and you’ll be right. The technology behind it has been in the market since April 2019, when Verizon released it to the world. Yet, considering that it is still not widely used, it is among Android app development latest trends for 2022. 5G network surpasses the existing 3G, 4G, or LTE ones in four ways:
- Speed: over 100 times faster than LTE (Qualcomm’s research provides that 90% of users had download speed at least 100 Mbps on 5G vs. 8 Mbps on LTE)
- Latency: Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) can help mobile apps run in real-time with 5G
- Connectivity: over 2,000 devices in the round of square kilometer can work simultaneously on the same network with no lags or breaks
- Bandwidth: better bandwidth on bands of low-, mid-, and high- ones improves the previous point of connectivity
While the features of 5G sound genuinely unique, it might still be unclear how it affects mobile development, except that the apps could work faster.
The combination of high latency with extra connectivity provides IoT mobile app development companies with the new food for thought. Developers can accommodate low bandwidth while offering high-efficient applications that could withstand voluminous user traction and expansive operations, such as live VR/AR or the computational power of AI. It means that:
- the quality of in-app video streaming can go as far as 4K;
- the GPS-based applications can identify locations with greater precision;
- there can be more streamlined access to cloud services that will help customers and developers avoid hardware limitations relying only on cloud-based components.
As you can see, even though 5G is not among the latest mobile app development trends, it is definitely one of the central ones for 2022.
Apps for wearables
Fitness with bracelets, payments with phones, and texting through watches – all these methods of incorporating wearables in daily activities are already here. The annual spending for wearable devices in 2021 is expected to reach $81.5 billion, while 2022 will beat the number by ten billion – $93.86. So the tendency to use a more convenient tool for everyday tasks instead of a phone is on the uprise. And considering that we are waiting for the market to outrun itself in 2022, app developers definitely have a thing or two to review.
Besides the everyday benefits, the pandemic found another bonus hidden behind wearables – early detection of diseases. COVID-19 health risk made the world consider how to detect the virus at early stages and treat light-symptomatic patients before the extensive disease progression. Since COVID-19 is still here, and it is expected to last through 2022 (at least), Android and iOS app development trends keep up with the tendency. Here is a table with the potential mass application of apps in wearables for healthcare.
| Purpose | Description |
| Heart rhythm monitoring and restoration | The wearable device constantly controls the heartbeat of a patient to avoid severe cases of arrhythmia and tachycardia and restores it to the regular rhythm. |
| Intelligent asthma monitoring | A simple wearable that is connected to a mobile app constantly controls one’s breath and pulse. Any abnormality gets detected at an early stage and signals about it to the device owner via an app. It helps to avoid severe asthma attacks. |
| Movement monitoring and adaptation | Apple Watch Health can monitor any abnormal movements, tremors, and other dyskinetic symptoms. Then it writes down the charts of better and worse times and displays them to the person. By monitoring their schedule closely, people with Parkinson’s disease can plan their daily activities. |
| Coagulation monitoring and reporting | There are people with blood coagulation irregularities who need constant monitoring and verification of their coagulation speed. A wearable device does so and automatically sends results to the healthcare specialist saving a patient the hospital trip. If a patient forgets to do the check-up, the application will send a reminder. |
| Depression monitoring | Through their Apple Watches, patients are to track their mood daily while the watches record their answers and vitals. Any deprivation brings up an alert to the patient. Potentially, it should alert the doctor as well. |
| Hearing aid | It is one of the most prosperous and promising Android app development latest trends. Apple has already released the Live Listen feature for AirPods allowing users to enhance the sounds and hear the interlocutor’s speech even in noisy areas. Android tries to keep up in this respect, but it is a task for 2022. |
The list of medical implementations for wearables can go on and on; you will literally be tired of reading, so we are focusing on the key latest mobile app development trends. Nonetheless, every new wearable device requires a strong force of developers for the software to work, have regular updates, and provide readable notifications on one’s condition. And even though COVID-19 might not need the high-level diagnostics right away, many other diseases and conditions do. It is why the medical application of mobile app development in 2022 and further will continue to evolve.
mCommerce
All current trends in mobile app development are driven by the changing market needs. And eCommerce is the best way to demonstrate this rule.
- It is expected that mobile e-commerce will take over 72.9% of all sales in 2021.
- mCommerce sales are set to grow by 22.3% in 2021, which is $640 million more than last year.
- In the past half a year, almost 80% of mobile phone users made a purchase via their mobile devices.
This is not just the market demand; it is a necessity to develop, improve, and reinvent mCommerce in the world. But since the term has quite a wide scope, let’s break its current trends in mobile app development into groups.
- Mobile payments via beacons and wearables. This trend overlaps with the topic above. Nonetheless, app developers will continue getting more demand for mobile payments improvement as it is not only wearables and mobile phones that should allow for payments, but also e-wallets and even small in-body chips.
- AV/VR expansion. Both of these technologies are not the know-how in 2021, so they won’t become an innovation in 2022. However, following the example of IKEA, many brands like Sephora or H&M began implementing them into the “store-native” mobile apps. AR development would definitely go one step ahead since more and more companies are integrating this feature into their cross-device experience.
- User experience. This is the central pillar of mobile commerce. In fact, UX is the reason why it appeared as people want to get a more convenient shopping experience. In 2022, the trends provide that UX experts and customer success specialists would be like hot buns in a morning restaurant.
- On-demand apps. While the Guardian calls it ‘laziness,’ the world calls it convenience. Frequently, people don’t have time to do their grocery shopping, so they pay others to do this chore for them. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that sometimes there is a considerable need for this service, especially if you are in quarantine or self-isolation. That is why on-demand commerce apps will continue to flourish in 2022. This year, buyers have already enjoyed the benefits of on-demand groceries delivery or clothes pickup, so there is no chance that this new trend in mCommerce gets shut down in the foreseeable future.
The bottom line
Even though 2022 is not projected to turn the world of development upside down, the latest mobile app development trends clearly state that businesses will be amazed next year! New implementations of AR, greater attention to the medical wearables, and improvement of their programs, not to mention the speed and opportunities offered by 5G technologies, all these are not already a distant future, but a close tomorrow. Surf through the article, get an idea that fits your interests and business plan, and get to it! You still have some time until the end of 2021 to become the mobile app development leader next year.
Swag Soft tip for Android app development latest trends
We know that coding an application from scratch or improving a legacy code is not an easy task, especially if you have used the service of enterprise app development in the past and don’t know the code. But lucky you, 2022 will offer one more trump card – low-code mobile apps. There are special low-code apps, platforms, and frameworks that can help you create an application via the drag-and-drop method.
The latest mobile app development trends talk about using your resources wisely, so go for it! Get your MVP running in no time to test an idea internally or externally before you invest lots of time and money into the full-scale mobile app. And keep in mind that you do not need any specific coding knowledge to make your next low-code app in 2022.