Diving into the Future: Mobile App Trends 2024 Will Usher in

The first smartphone was released for purchase in 1994, and within just 30 years, these gizmos had totally conquered the world. They are the first thing modern people grab, opening their eyes, and the last thing they touch before going to bed. Naturally, their status as a basic necessity has turned the mobile application industry into a bonanza for developers and investors. 

Two years ago, the total app market revenue topped $420 billion, almost 40% of which was generated in China. Together with India, where the government's initiative Digital India sets the pace, these two countries are swiftly becoming the world's locomotives in market size and smartphone usage growth prospects. Yet, the domination of North America in the mobile app domain is still undisputed. Due to the concentration of the industry's behemoths (such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Hewlett Packard, and more), increasing in-app consumer spending, and the boom of paid mobile game downloads, this region is the primary target for mobile app creators. 

All these factors open bright vistas before the global mobile app market, which is expected to display a solid CAGR of almost 10% during the next three years and approach the breathtaking $674 million by 2027. If you want to carve a share of this enormous revenue pie, you should keep abreast of mobile app development trends 2024 will herald.

Top 10 Mobile App Trends to Watch for in 2024

Let's scrutinize the tendencies that will shape the face of the industry in the near future.

Privacy-centric development

As our lives are becoming more digitalized, we entrust an ever-growing amount of personal information to online resources. At the same time, people are getting increasingly concerned about the safety and inviolability of such data (for instance, Google searches for "data privacy" have increased by 78% within the last five years). As a result, a survey by Cisco identified 32% of consumers who switched service providers whose data security measures seemed to them inadequate.

Witnessing such anxiety of the audience, companies integrate privacy features into their product as underlying UX/UI design principles. They are absolutely transparent about data handling details, simplify consent management, and adopt granular permissions to let users decide what kind of information they agree to share with the company. 

Mobile app development should also comply with data protection regulations adopted on the national and international levels. In the EU, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and ePD (Electronic Privacy Directive, nicknamed EU Cookie Law) are the main standards for organizations working with personal data whose security they are mandated to safeguard. In the USA, the corresponding regulation that performs the same function is CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).

The advent of 5G

This internet standard is only making its tentative way into the digital world, yet the future definitely belongs to it. The technology will not only ensure a greater speed of connection and download but also will accelerate app performance immensely. Besides, 5G apps will be able to handle more data and consume less power, allowing users to enjoy interactive features, seamless streaming, and a smooth gaming experience.

Voice Interface Integration

Currently, there are 4.2 billion devices with voice assistants, and their number is predicted to double next year. Another astounding number is 1 billion voice searches registered every month. These figures are clear indications that voice-enabled applications will continuously grow in popularity. The sophistication of the technology will enable the assistant not only to understand the commands it receives but also to capture contextual nuances, thus turning the user-device interaction into a more natural and fluent conversation. And when voice recognition and natural language processing are combined with the IoT, such apps will give their creators a strong competitive edge.

Broad accessibility

Equipping your app with voice commands has one more advantage: it brings it into compliance with accessibility regulations (European Accessibility Act (EAA) and its US counterpart ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)). Other features that can enhance the user audience of mobile apps are screen readers, haptic feedback, keyboard navigation, alternative text for images, etc.

Enhancing AI’s role

Artificial Intelligence is boldly pushing into new IT domains, and mobile application development will become one of such niches in 2024. What are AI's major use cases here?

The first is predictive analytics. By analyzing consumer demographics, user preferences and pain points, their historical engagement, buying patterns, and dozens of other parameters, AI-powered apps will anticipate clients’ needs and select the best time for sending push notifications, automating tasks, and doing other things with an awareness of what is going to happen. 

The second is the extension of the first. The collected user behavior data is leveraged to provide personalized experiences, which is mission-critical for some fields (for instance, online shopping). The power of AI will allow apps to dynamically adjust to the individual preferences of every client and tailor product recommendations, promotions, advertisements, and other content correspondingly, thus delivering personalized customer experience to each consumer.

Emphasis on app security

AI can also be highly instrumental in building more secure applications, primarily via facial and voice recognition methods against unauthorized penetration attempts and other forms of cybercrime. Moreover, machine learning algorithms will improve AI-fueled security mechanisms in the process of functioning directly on the device where the app is installed.

But even without AI, mobile app security can be essentially strengthened by providing robust encryption, biometric authentication, passwordless login (via social media page), and secure coding practices. The complex of such measures is vital in such industries as finance, healthcare, or commerce to augment user privacy and guarantee pickproof protection of all digital transactions the smartphone user is engaged in.

Enterprise mobility management (EMM)

Today, many organizations employ professional apps to streamline and facilitate their pipeline routine and customer service. The reliance on such apps will intensify in 2024, putting at stake the security of enterprise data and gadgets utilized in the process. Alongside other elements of EMM strategy (such as mobile device management, mobile content management, and identity and access management), mobile app management enables companies to monitor the state of the devices personnel leverages, configure their settings, control data flows, and empower the mobile workforce for performing shop floor activities.

Sustainable and eco-friendly apps

While ecological awareness of humans grows apace, they increasingly pay attention to digital product sustainability. On the one hand, users express readiness to shop at environmentally-conscious app stores, prefer digital products with energy-efficient software design, and follow sustainability ratings of apps where the leaders tend to manifest high user retention indices. On the other hand, the contemporary eco-drive witnesses a spike in demand for specialized apps that allow people to track their carbon footprint, prioritize digital receipts, promote a sharing economy, and foster environmentally responsible lifestyles and habits in other ways.

Social media elements

In the age when almost every person has at least one social network account, ignoring this fact in mobile application development is a felony. That is why integrating social media features in your app is a must-have in 2024. App users must be able to enjoy in-app content creation, sharing, and moderation, start a chat, make a video call, launch or join groups, communities, and message boards, etc. Otherwise, they will abandon your app and opt for the one that offers these capabilities.

Innovative UI/UX design

The current minimalist design trend will persist throughout 2024, focusing on clean interfaces where bold typography and vibrant futuristic colors grab the user’s attention. Neomorphism will stay all the rage in UI development that gives dials and buttons a realistic effect by combining flat and three-dimensional designs. 

Another design trend is related to emphasizing microinteractions. This concept includes small yet significant UX details (a miniature visual cue, a charming sound effect, or a subtle animation) that all come together to delight the user. The secret of their success in creating a satisfying UX lies in the personalization power microinteractions wield. They can be uniquely customized to make the app more engaging, provide unique feedback on every person's action, and leave them feeling valued and captivated by the app.

Summing It up

The global ubiquity of smartphones and the exponential growth of their usage (especially in India, China, and across North America) have turned mobile app development into a lucrative business niche with mouth-watering revenue prospects. To maximize their chances of success, entrepreneurs in this field should consider the trends dominating the industry in 2024. They should focus their efforts on app security and privacy of customer data, leverage the power of AI, integrate voice interface and other accessibility features, include social media elements, pay attention to eco-friendly practices, employ innovative design with an emphasis on microinteractions and minimalism, and prepare for the advent of 5G. 

Naturally, the implementation of all these aspects calls for a qualified workforce. CleverCrew will help you hire high-profile specialists to tackle any IT project within time and budget and deliver a top-quality product. Contact us to obtain an app that will take the current market requirements in its stride and dovetail into your business strategy.