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There are many trends in mobile app development for this year. However, we chose only the most essential ones to create this ULTIMATE LIST!

1. AR/VR Are Moving One Step Forward

Since the screens became compact and with time it wasn’t simple enough. It’s time to take the experience a little bit “beyond the screen”. Already not-so-futuristic Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technology take the lead in mobile.

AR is no longer just filters on Snapchat or Instagram. VR is no longer about games. They are often used in the manufacturing industry, social media and in strengthening sales as well.

Do you want to know more about how AR will change sales? Read our article here.

Other industries are appealing for these technologies, from engineering, through medicine, tourism to the real estate.

Thanks to ARKit on iOS and ARCore on Android, we are going to see further progress in this technology this year.

The development of applications for HoloLens or Google Glasses is predicted to be at a huge level as well. This also applies to other wearables itself: smart glasses, fitness bands, movement trackers or smartwatches.

Definitely one of the strongest points on this strong list.

2. Mobile Payments & Beacons Take It All-In

First barter, then cash, cards, non-cash transactions later, and now? Mobile Payment, gateways and beacons, which are making our lives easier.

Customers have moved to online and are looking for several safe and secure payment options on their mobile phones that will enable effortless and complete transactions.

The growing popularity of mobile payments and gateways (such as Amazon Pay, Google Wallet, PayPal, etc.) is becoming increasingly significant. Hotel bookings, travels, rentals, e-commerce all depends on mobile transactions. That’s why it’s important to keep them safe.

An increase in mobile payments will have an impact on security because brands will have to provide secure encryption when deploying mobile wallets and payments in their applications.

So to speak, security will become an essential element of app development in 2019.

3. Mobility and Acceleration (AMP and EMM)

We have more and more information and less and less time. It is no different on the Internet. The speed of loading pages is still a key factor for mobile phone users.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are innovative technologies that can speed up the loading time of mobile websites.

What is Google’s AMP? It is an open source project aimed at improving the comfort of mobile web browsing. That’s why web developers will certainly pay attention to this solution in 2019. It does not only improves the comfort of use on a mobile phone but it is also an important factor in terms of SEO (AMP sites occupy a higher position in Google).

Interestingly, the development and maintenance of AMP are cheaper than building a native or hybrid mobile application. That’s why Application Performance Management listings were integrated into Google search in 2016 and developers are only moving forward with this.

Another trend in the IT sector is EMM, which is an abbreviation for Enterprise Mobility Management.

It helps to manage overall mobile solutions and embraces both people and technology. EMM helps developers to integrate with business processes and improve management. It manages application security as well as finance and application maintenance.

4. Internet Of Things – Smart Revolution

Having mentioned wearables and beacons, we can not forget about Internet of Things.

IoT is growing at a huge pace. Companies all around the world have found out about concepts connected to intelligent device networks. Many of them, especially recently, can be controlled via smartphones and mobile applications.

The concept has been implemented in a wide range of industries (from healthcare, e-commerce to construction and transport, and the public sector) and is expected to grow enormously in many areas.

Recent years have seen the development of intelligent homes, but the IoT goes a few steps further. Smartphones – devices that we keep in our hands every day, will play a huge role in the development of intelligent networks.

With a view to next year we are also talking about retail or the development of intelligent cities and improving the living environment. Specialists also expect solutions to improve e.g. infrastructure in cities.

5. Boost For Instant APPs

They take up less space than normal applications, they are simple, native, and provide excellent UX. Instant apps (introduced by Google in 2016) will grow more and more in the coming year.

Not surprisingly, they are also easy to share with others and do not take up a lot of memory on your smartphone.

What will show the possibilities of this technology better than an example? Vimeo, using Android Instant Apps, limited the memory taken up by their installation package from 15 MB to 4 MB. Thanks to this improved user experience, the company recorded a 130% increase in the number of video sessions played.

6. Finally Flutter 1.0!

For web developers this is an absolute breakthrough – Google finally starts with Flutter 1.0.

This is a new approach to cross-platform mobile development awaited by many. Thanks to Flutter it is possible to create native applications on iOS and Android with one code base.

Powered by the “Dart platform” has a concise syntax, fast performance enabled compilation and simple tooling. It is suitable for reactive programming, has familiar object orientation syntax and structure, as well as portability.

In addition, it allows developers to use Android Studio, Visual Studio Code and IntelliJ to achieve optimal tools.

Will it be a turning point in mobile app development next year? All signs are there.

7. AI and Machine Learning

OK, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are not new ideas. So, why are they on our list?

AI has been and will continue to be the dominant technological trend for a long time, and certainly in 2019. Even after a long time, AI still has several aspects to explore so that companies can benefit from it in many ways.

AI and machine learning have become a permanent feature of mobile app technologies. Chatbots are a good example of AI, while for ML, the self-learning assistants Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant.

What will the new year bring us? Most likely, these ideas will be implemented in more and more cases, especially in the case of an intelligent assistant or should we say a simulated human friend. Need some good examples of an AI app? Check the Replika.ai!

8. Chatbots Take The Lead

Since we have already touched upon the subject of AI. Let’s go to the chatbots. And even more – to their approaching popularization.

Chatbots is mainly a new way to expand customer relationship management. Therefore, their use of mobile applications will be most often associated with the e-commerce market.

Want to know more about upcoming trends in the market? See this report, in which you’ll find out that more than 50% of customers want more DIY customer service tools to speed up their online purchases.

Chatbots have proven to be an efficient self-service system that provides users with personalized answers to their inquiries in real time.

Initially, they were most commonly used in messaging applications. However, advances in AI have made it easier for companies to integrate chatbots with their native apps.

One of the biggest advantages of today’s AI chatbot in mobile applications is that with every interaction with the user, the application will only be more accurate in delivering results.

9. Even More Cloud Integration

Storage limitations on devices have always been a problem, but this is applicable to mobile devices more than to any other devices.

It is very easy to see why practically everything is stored in the Cloud today. In case of loss of the device, the data would be practically impossible to recover. Another thing is that more and more often we want to have everything at hand. Photos from the smartphone on the tablet, from the tablet on the computer and so on. It’s also a large storage capacity available in any place with Internet access.

No wonder that companies are increasingly opting for the integration of their systems in the cloud. In 2018, a significant part of their IT budgets was spent on integration, which has already become a trend and will continue in the coming years as well.

Another trend is mobile cloud computing (MCC), which aim to offer rich mobile applications and seamless use of different devices. This is beneficial for companies that want to serve their users on mobile devices, but whose applications require more computing power.