DEV Community

Apiumhub
Apiumhub

Posted on • Originally published at apiumhub.com on

Mobile app development trends of the year

This past year shaped up to be a phenomenal year for the app economy, and 2018 is set to be another gorgeous year. Mobile is more mainstream than ever, and businesses from all industries are relying on this channel to boost existing revenue by meeting customer demands. Mobile app development trends change a lot and 2018 promises to see the continuing emergence of new, cutting-edge techniques and tools, along with growth in traditional technologies and approaches. But now, let’s look at top trends to focus on next year.

 

Top mobile app development trends

 

AI

AI will make a mark in both the construction techniques of mobile apps and in boosting their capabilities. Through the use of advanced analytics, cognitive interfaces into complex systems, and machine learning techs, AI will provide business users access to powerful insights never before available to them. Due to these advantages, big players like Google, IBM, eBay, Facebook have started investing and acquiring startups those who are experts in Artificial Intelligence.

 

AR & VR

If you are a little aware of modern mobile app development trends, then AR and VR apps are nothing new to you. They have been revolutionary in gaming and entertainment industry. VR devices like Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift are gaining popularity. And games like Pokemon Go, iOnRoad, Sky Siege and myNav are bright examples of AR games. Dominating the App Store, these mobile games prove AR technology has great potential to influence consumers in engaging and meaningful ways.

 

IoT

This year we have noticed that smart homes get much more interactive. Nest and ecobee are two companies that have trail-blazed smart home technology. For developers, integrations involve complex mobile platforms and backend infrastructure that can communicate and share data between all devices for a unified experience. Data analytics also becomes key here since all the data that is stored and shared needs to be accessed easily and efficiently. The Internet of Things is shaping mobile app development trends  since almost every IoT solution needs a dedicated application enabling users to manage smart devices. Although building IoT-related software is not that different from what developers have been doing for years, most Internet of Things solutions are innovative by default and often require integration with third-party or niche devices and services.

 

Mobile App Security

The security of a smartphone has become more crucial than ever because of the quantity of personal user data it houses. Apps with built-in security features can make a large difference in the app space. Coding for Apple’s iOS is now moving from Objective-C to Apple’s own programming language, Swift. More developers will be adopting the use of this platform, providing better UX with more security features.

 

Best languages for mobile app development in 2017

 

There are many programming languages used for mobile app development these days including Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, Swift, Objective C, etc., but let’s look at the best ones this year!

 

1. Swift

Apple wanted to simplify the learning curve and workflow for developers and released it’s own programming language for iOS and OS X called Swift. Most of the mobile app developers say that Swift is much easier than Objective – C. Also, Swift eliminates the possibility of security vulnerabilities that tends to arise with Objective-C. And as it’s a newer programming language with a lot of growing hype around it, Swift is one of the valuable languages to learn to be an in-demand developer.

 

2. Kotlin

On 17 May 2017, Google announced that it was adopting Kotlin as a high-level language for Android development. And I am very happy about this fact because it was developed by JetBrains, in Saint – Petersburg and I am from there! This open source language is based on Java Virtual Machine and can also be compiled to JavaScript source code. Basically, Kotlin made software developers enter a New Era in Android App Development. What is also good about it is that it can co-exist with its elder sibling Java on the same project. In fact, once software developers compile their project using both the languages, it will be difficult for anyone to say which section is done using Kotlin and which one using Java. Kotlin allows software developers to use its features and ease of operation without switching to a new project or changing the codes for the present project.

 

3. Java

Java is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world with an estimated 9 million software developers. It is easy to learn, easy to read, it reduces errors and gives clear explanations and suggestions. This object-oriented language gained popularity because of its versatility. For building a common code that can be run on multiple platforms, Java is a great choice.

 

I hope you found this article about mobile app development trends interesting and useful! If you want to receive monthly updates about new trends in the tech scene, I highly recommend you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter here

 

Btw, if you found it interesting, you might like…

Top software development books

Blockchain technology: use cases, statistics, benefits, startups & events 

Barcelona – one of the best smart cities in Europe

NLP projects & start-ups to watch this year 

Charles Proxy in Android Emulator

Top software development blogs 

Top software testing techniques & tools to use

 

The post Mobile app development trends of the year appeared first on Apiumhub.

This post was originally published on apiumhub.com

Oldest comments (13)

Collapse
 
zecelmanatad profile image
Zecel Manatad

Great and what we should also have in mind that being a mobile developer requires knowledge on fast incrementing upgrades on each os they should always be updated on what is available and the tools to be used.

Collapse
 
alexd10s profile image
alexd10s

Congrats for the article, I am newbie in mobile development and I found this article really interesting.
As you talked about the top trends to focus on next years, what is your opinion about the best languages for mobile development on next years? Are going to be the same that you list in 2017? Or is going to switch into Cross-platform frameworks?

Collapse
 
suntecmarketing profile image
SunTec Marketing

Targeting the audience will be easier through mobile applications as people are more active on mobiles nowadays, this will increase the demand for mobile app development

Collapse
 
olivias97037757 profile image
Olivia Smith • Edited

Thanks for sharing valuable information! You have listed top mobile app trends including AR, VR, AI, and IoT. Really, Artificial Intelligence is one of the trends which is mostly adopted by several industries. At other hand, the combination of AI and IoT is also very powerful which can help to create a personalized experience for users and make your app successful. For building any result-driven mobile application you can contact the leading Mobile App Development Company.

Collapse
Collapse
 
digitalinfoways profile image
Digital Infoways

Thanks for sharing valuable information. your article is truly interesting and too useful for a mobile app developer. nowadays mobile app development, Web design, and mobile app marketing are trending.

Collapse
 
ecaterinateodo3 profile image
Ecaterina Teodoroiu

thanx for your interesting article. I wrote a new article in this topic. If you are interested, pls. read it