Interactive apps are one of the most innovative modern-day applications. In a saturated and competitive market, they need to be revolutionary and inventive if they want to survive. And with a proven short lifespan, users inevitably get bored of them and crave something new. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that many app trends (we expect) will die out before the end of 2019, but we should also expect to welcome many modern, fresh developments before the year is up too.
With the rise of augmented reality and artificial intelligence in our day to day life that we never thought we’d see 10, or even 5 years ago (such as interactive doorbells and ”˜smart lights’ for example) – it’s safe to say that digital is unpredictable. Looking at trends over the past few years, however, we’ve been able to make projections as to what we think will happen over the next 12 months. And not only this, but we at Tecmark can help keep your app on-trend, current and to help it survive.
Our IOS and Android App Trends 2019
Artificial Intelligence will become more prominent
AI is already built into our smartphones. (“Hey Siri” or “OK Google” ring a bell?) but not many big players in the app industry make full use of it… Yet. We predict that in 2019, we’ll see more interactive apps introducing features that incorporate AI.
Source: Cult of Mac
Artificial intelligence, despite what many Hollywood movies would have you believe, is just a program or machine’s ability to learn and think for itself. And though this might sound scary to sceptics, its purpose is none other than supporting and enhancing human activities – making it an incredibly handy feature to integrate into your smartphone app.
The likes of Netflix, Gmail and Amazon are already using artificial intelligence in their app features. Though not always completely obvious – once you realise it’s there you can’t help but notice it. If your Amazon app has ever suggested you make a purchase, or your Netflix has ever told you to watch a certain show (and you’ve loved it) then AI has helped you along the way in allowing you to get the most out of your smartphone app.
Some of the main themes circulating CES 2019 include: What’s Next for AI? And AI’s Economic Impact, demonstrating a serious spike in the technology, and positioning it as a trend to keep an eye on this year.
Not all apps use AI, however, and some use it sparingly. With the benefits endless and the trend growing, we predict that Artificial Intelligence will see a huge increase come to the end of the year.
Brands will make more use of augmented reality
Following the trend with ”˜smart software’, we also believe that augmented and virtual reality will be of a heavier prominence in smartphone apps in 2019, too.
Augmented reality or virtual reality is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. In layman’s terms, it makes things appear that aren’t there. Often, it’s used for gaming but can be used for other software too.
For example, though not an AR-centric software, Google translate uses an element of it in its interactive app. Amongst many other nifty features, you can also wave your camera over a snippet of foreign text and on your screen will appear the same text, but translated to your requested language.
Source: PetaPixel
Gaming, and slightly more whimsical apps such as Pokemon! Go and Holo make creative use of augmented reality as a feature and reap the benefits of doing so. Both are extremely popular and this is thanks to their inventive and unique nature – which comes off the back of AR.
We expect to see many other gaming apps follow in the footsteps of these two examples in 2019. And we also expect to see productivity apps follow in the footsteps of Google translate, too.
Once you know how augmented reality can take your interactive app to the next level – all there’s left to do is implement it and the rest, as they say, is history.
Chatbots will become more common
Interactive messengers, otherwise known as ”˜chatbots‘, are already pretty customary on big websites and for large corporations. They’re not so widely incorporated however in interactive smartphone apps, and we expect that to change this year.
Chatbots are programs built to automatically engage with received messages. For brands, they’re commonly used to try and solve user problems before the individual has to go through to contact a real customer service representative. Chatbots can be programmed to respond the same way each time or to respond differently to messages containing certain keywords. The smartest among them can even use machine learning to adapt their responses to fit each situation.
Source: Pandorasbots
Chatbots leverage mediums such as text messaging, website chat windows and social messaging services such as Facebook and Twitter to operate. And in 2019, we predict that they’ll begin to appear in apps too. And to find out why we predict this, you need to look no further than the data recently released by Facebook regarding chatbot usage:
- 2 billion messages are sent between individuals and businesses monthly.
- 56% of people would rather message than call customer service.
- 53% of people are more likely to shop with businesses they can message.
Service-led apps will continue to grow
And finally, we believe that the type of app that’ll be the most progressive in 2019 will be the ”˜service-led’ style app. With 197 billion apps downloaded in 2017, it’s evident that there’s a strong user need for them. And as they become more intelligent, we can only predict that more and more users will turn to interactive apps to solve their problems as opposed to going online or picking up the phone.
Some breakdown cover companies, such as Green flag, for example, have already made excellent use of smartphone apps. Cutting the call traffic to their call centres by providing software that allows you to request a rescue by inputting the details of your issue and sharing your location. Easier for both the user and the company, this solution is all-around positive. And because of this, we expect hearty growth in service-led apps such as these in 2019.
Source: Google Play (Green flag)
Key-takeaways
Though the world of digital is unpredictable, we’ve set out our forecasts. In short, we expect to see four major trends this year (although we wouldn’t be surprised to see many more revolutionary changes branching off from these). To summarise, they are:
- Artificial intelligence will become more commonplace in innovative apps.
- Augmented reality will be used more readily, especially in productivity-centric apps.
- Chatbots will be integrated into brand apps to help customers make conscientious decisions and to solve any problems they may encounter.
- Service-led apps will grow in popularity, both by business and consumer. Businesses will want them, and consumers will seek them out.
And if you’re reading this thinking “well, my business could lend itself to something like this” then we may have the solution for you.
If you want to take your business to the next level, an interactive app could certainly work for you, come and find out if your brand can benefit from one. For no-fuss app development from an agency with a 10-year strong background in the field, give us a call or get in touch today and we’ll talk to you through the process.
