The Most Popular Android App Categories in 2024

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If you are looking to build an app in 2024, you need to look at what the data says about the most popular app categories. There are app categories where the competition is quite fierce but the market size keeps growing. Other categories are relatively small and competition is not too much of a concern. In this article, we highlight the 20 most popular app categories on the Play Store for Android devices.

Gaming

Gaming apps have been the most popular app category over the last decade and there is good reason for it. The most popular gaming apps offer an immersive experience for users which increases screen time and total revenue generated. As processors have become more powerful, games have improved user experiences to mirror what users would experience on dedicated gaming consoles. Better screens, battery sizes, and fast charging capacity have also contributed to phone gaming becoming more ubiquitous.

Mobile phones have long overtaken consoles in terms of revenue generation, mostly because phones are much more accessible than consoles worldwide. Consoles are also not as portable as phones and tablets.

There are numerous categories of games with casinos, puzzles, adventure, and strategy-based games leading the way. Games have built communities through leaderboards, in-game communication, and online events helping popularize games even further.

Ride-Hailing

Ride-hailing apps are still a popular app category on the Play Store in 2024. These apps present several advantages for users including being able to use one of several payment methods. In addition, users appreciate being able to see the exact cost of their rides beforehand, the expected length of their journey, and the location of their driver prior to and upon request.

For businesses, such an app is great for fleet management because it would have a dashboard to view revenue generated, driver statistics, and a lot of other management-related metrics.

Business Apps

This is a broad category encompassing all apps geared to facilitating business-related work. For instance, Skype, Google Meet, and Zoom can be classed as business apps because they are mainly used by teams working remotely. Besides the meeting feature, these apps have inbuilt features such as document sharing, meeting moderation buttons, and even integration with scheduling apps such as Calendly to ease appointment bookings.

Other business apps such as Slack are used for workflow management, especially in team settings. Managers can assign tasks, people can submit their portions of a project, and there can be channels for discussing different matters. Upcoming deadlines are also easier to track with dedicated work management applications.

E-commerce apps

The e-commerce space continues to grow as more shopping happens online rather than in-store. There are multiple reasons why e-commerce makes sense for a lot of brands. First, apps can use personalized user profiles to avail targeted catalogs of products for customers to view. This means what users see on their homepages is what they are most likely to be interested in. In addition, users can add items to a cart and complete their purchase later.

With a smooth checkout process, e-commerce apps improve the likelihood of converting users who download an app into buying customers. Apps also allow stores to run promo campaigns for all or a section of customers depending on intended goals.

Medical Apps

With an increasing demand for wellness-related information, users find it worthy to have applications where they can find factual and up-to-date information. Medical practitioners can build medical apps as part of their business. Some practitioners may even carry out consultations via video (telemedicine). Such apps have other features such as physical appointment scheduling and tracking of personal health information. Other apps can be purely dedicated to information sharing through videos, articles, research papers, and other useful mediums of information sharing.

As time goes on, medical apps will have more utility as people embrace wellness and realize the power of being able to get accurate information in real time.

E-learning Apps

The internet has democratized access to information and people can now learn most skills for free. E-learning apps organize information and package it in a manner that is easy for users to follow and track progress. In 2024, the demand for e-learning apps will continue to grow as more people seek to upskill to progress their careers or to simply explore new hobbies.

According to Statista there, e-learning apps receive over 400 million downloads every year. The industry is now worth more than $200 billion and has grown by over 900% since 2000. The search for learning apps-related keywords has also been rising year-on-year for the last decade. This goes to show that there is indeed a demand for quality learning apps. The most popular learning categories are IT and web development, business and finance, marketing, art and photography, languages, and gaming.

Health and Fitness Apps

Health and fitness apps continue to be a popular app category in 2024. Fitness has become an aspirational thing for a lot of people in this decade. The growth of the fitness-dedicated wearables market is a testament to this growth. Fitness apps provide tools such as workout programs and meal plans for users depending on personal goals.

Apps can either be driven by a celebrity trainer or by the quality of the information being availed to users. Apps can also differentiate themselves through a high-quality UI and integration with other apps to enhance the overall experience for users.

Travel and Navigation Apps

This broad category includes all apps geared towards helping people plan trips better or find interesting outdoor activities to take in a particular area. If an app is targets travellers and adventurers, creators have the arduous task of finding interesting places to review and add to their app. By enabling users to comment and make recommendations, these apps can quickly build user communities.

There are other apps meant solely for information crowd-sourcing. Here, people simply post reviews and recommendations about places to stay, places to eat, and how to move around when visiting a particular city as a visitor.

Social Networking

While it may feel like the biggest social media apps have taken up all available market space, there is still room for new social apps. Their growth is highly dependent on the ability to create new experiences for users. TikTok grew so fast through short videos, prompting all other popular platforms to prioritize short videos over other forms of content being shared there.  Virtual reality could be the next frontier for social networks. Still, there are other important discussions such as content moderation and user privacy that could create room for new social networks to emerge and grow.

Streaming

Livestreaming has become commonplace is a wide range of industries owing to the reduced cost of broadband access all over the world. Brands are taking advantage of being able to interact live with their clients to create value opportunities. Therefore, building a live-streaming app remains a viable opportunity if well executed.

The sports industry has embraced live streaming on official apps as a way to fight illegal streaming while widening access to their content. Gyms have begun live-streaming classes for subscribers who cannot make it physically to the gym. Other gyms have opted for a class-on-demand approach, similar to what content streaming platforms such as Netflix do.

Live stream shopping is a very interesting emerging sector too. Here, brands go live and showcase new products or review existing ones while allowing customers to comment or ask questions. It’s a great way to sell limited-edition merchandise or build excitement about new items.

Finance and Banking

More people are embracing the power of having control over their finances using their phones. Finance and banking apps can be broken down through the various purposes they may be serving. First, budgeting apps help people to have a better view of their spending patterns through expenditure tracking. Through interactive dashboards, such apps help users to set goals such as cutting down spending or saving for a holiday.

Some finance apps are more geared towards helping people invest in regulated financial products. These apps are owned by licensed investment banks or exchanges. The apps place great importance on securing user information, providing a smooth experience, integration with multiple payment methods, and maintaining high

News and Information

The popularity of social media means that a lot of people get information from their phones as opposed to traditional sources. However, social media also presents the challenge of trying to separate what is true and what is misinformation. High-quality news app is a category of applications targeting discerning people who want well-researched information about subjects they care about. These apps therefore serve a dual purpose of cutting out the noise and providing detailed information. In certain cases, these news apps will charge a premium for access.

An example of such an app is Ground New Pros. The app curates news articles, mainly political, and gives a summary in a few sentences while allowing you the option to open the entire story. Interestingly, the app has a feature that indicates whether a new story has a right-leaning, center, or left inclination politically. This helps users know which articles may be there to sway readers.

Food and Cooking

Food and cooking apps serve several purposes. First, there are apps made for users who want to learn to cook at a professional level. Such apps could be categorized as educational too. However, a large number of apps in this category offer cooking tutorials for people who want to explore new recipes for fun. Through AI-powered recommendations, these apps could help users develop a wide and rich palette by combining foods and drinks from different cultures.

Food and cooking apps could also come with auxiliary features such as being able to order ingredients from particular stores that may in fact own or advertise on the app.

Self-care Apps

Self-care apps are increasing in popularity as the world becomes more aware and receptive towards the mental health of people. People are seeking apps that can help them become more mindful and aware of their moods, sleep patterns, and potential anxiety triggers.  Some apps provide guided meditations, daily affirmations, and other helpful resources. In addition, some apps could incorporate the ability to book a consultation session with certified counselors and psychologists. In fact, remote therapy is becoming more popular as people seek to incorporate regular sessions into their routines.

Home automation apps

A lot of automation apps have come up in the past few years to help people exercise more control over their home devices that are part of the Internet of Things. A popular goal among these apps is to help people save energy by providing data-driven suggestions such as when to switch off devices. People can also set up routines on these apps. For instance, you may want all lights to switch off or turn to a dimmer color at a particular time of night.

NS804 App Development

There are indeed multiple categories of apps that an entrepreneur can decide to build in 2024. The average person today has over 20 different apps installed on their mobile device. The app market is worth well over $400 billion and is growing yearly. Artificial intelligence, together with augmented and virtual reality, will spearhead the growth of the market over the next 10 years. To unlock this market, a business needs to build a truly world-class app that has a unique value proposition for the target audience. Picking the right app development partner is an important first step.

At NS804, we help our clients build their apps from end to end. The process involves conducting a thorough analysis to determine the viability of a proposed app project. We help clients put together features to include in an MVP given the resource constraints present in any app-building project. We have a well-skilled team to take on any project and execute it to world-class standards.

For more information about our services, reach out to us through our website today. A member of our team will be in touch for a detailed discussion.

6 Reasons To Use Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps

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AI or artificial intelligence in mobile apps has many appreneurs, businesses, and developers asking questions. Many of these questions surround the feasibility and implementation of this trailblazing technology in today’s apps. There are also concerns that artificial intelligence is currently in a hype bubble. 

The good news is that leading large language model (LLM) platforms like Bard, ChatGPT, and Copilot make implementation easy via their well-documented application programming interfaces (APIs). But the bad news is that there’s significant hype driven primarily by AI evangelists and the media. This hype often misleads users, developers, and business leaders into thinking that AI is a silver bullet to their problems.

While there’s little doubt that AI can radically boost efficiency, productivity, and workflows, it won’t necessarily deliver the desired results. You can use ChatGPT to write an elaborate blog post about any topic imaginable, but it won’t always be factually accurate or contain the most up-to-date information. You’ll still need to fact-check all the information in your post, read through it a few times, and make several edits before you have an article that’s worth publishing.

As you can tell, some level of human intervention is still necessary regardless of how well LLMs have advanced. But you should still use artificial intelligence in mobile apps to deliver solutions that will make life easier for your customers, employees, and users. The solutions will automate arduous tasks, minimize business costs, and help users boost their creativity.

Mobile apps that facilitate the right mix of human interactivity and generative AI output will change the game in 2024 and beyond. Here’s why you should use AI in your upcoming app project.

1. Stay Ahead By Implementing Artificial Intelligence In 2024

The media may make you think generative AI is enjoying wide adoption, but this isn’t the case. It’s still an emerging technology that had a breakout year in 2023 but hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet. Will 2024 be the year that this happens, or will the pundits be proven wrong?

Forrester analysts provide several predictions and arguments in favor of adopting generative AI soon:

  • More than 90% of enterprises plan to implement generative AI for internal uses and customer service. 
  • Almost 50% of enterprises predict that generative AI will help them attain their productivity objectives. 
  • Approximately 60% of employees will undergo prompt training in 2024. 
  • Bring your own AI (BYOAI) will become commonplace in many enterprises in 2024. 
  • AI will heavily impact the human resources (HR) departments by analyzing employee data. 
  • AI bots and tools will continue to enhance developer productivity, but companies should not ignore potential security issues.
  • Data protection and privacy will play a central role in 2024 as authorities push for legislation to deal with the risks associated with AI. 
  • Governance is essential to deal with copyright violations and to ensure a safer and more ethical environment involving generative AI. 

2. Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps Facilitates Efficient Content Creation

Businesses, marketers, and influencers must post regularly on social media to build and sustain a reasonably-sized following. Back in the early days of social media — this was easy — due to the minimal availability of feasible mainstream platforms. Just posting on Facebook and Twitter (now X) was enough to gain visibility. 

Nowadays, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have become indispensable for targeting Millennials and Gen Z consumers. So, you must be constantly active on at least five platforms to maximize your reach. But that’s demanding, as you must also post quality content relevant to your audience. Can you do this consistently while running your business or leading a team?

You’ll likely burn out wearing multiple hats during the workday, negatively impacting your health and productivity in the long term. One solution is to hire social media marketing experts to handle all your social channels. They’ll create content, post regularly, and engage with your audience, but all this is costly. Expect to pay between $500 and $5,000 monthly for these services. 

If you’re a small business owner or starting as an influencer or creative, even a $500 monthly fee may cause you to overshoot your budget over a long period. However, generative artificial intelligence in mobile apps can lead to a remarkable content creation and social media posting solution. If you team up with a reputable studio like NS804, you can build a generative AI-powered app custom-built to your needs. 

You may use multiple generative AI platforms to train your models based on your own text, images, and videos. Then, by inputting a sequence of prompts on your custom-built app, you can generate and post on-brand marketing copy, images, and videos across all your social channels with minimal work.

3. Create High-Quality Videos With Generative AI

We’ve already discussed why you should utilize more social media platforms, particularly the newer impactful ones. But you must create distinctive and humorous short-form videos to make it on TikTok and more in-depth and professional-level videos to captivate YouTube fans. For professional results, you must invest in video production equipment and lighting. Then, learn the skills to use these effectively with video editing suites. 

But that’s not enough, as you’ll still need to write a video script, build a set, and hire a cast and a crew. Of course, you can outsource most of this work to a professional video production company. Depending on the quality and length of your videos, you could pay as little as $500 and possibly over $100,000. Some production companies will work with you on yearly contracts and charge between $15,000 and $100,000.

As you can tell, it’s cost-prohibitive to compete with top trending video content creators and deep-pocketed enterprises. However, things have changed, especially after OpenAI announced Sora — a trailblazing text-to-video tool designed for generating intricate scenes. 

Sora shocked and amazed the entire video production industry and even caught the attention of Tyler Perry. The world-renowned filmmaker decided to stop the expansion of his studio since this would no longer be necessary with generative AI tools like Sora. He reportedly claimed that these tools save costs but will cause many job losses in the film industry.

While this sounds grim, Sora and similar tools will democratize professional video production soon. And this is an excellent reason to use artificial intelligence in mobile apps aimed primarily at video generation. These apps will find traction in most business environments but also with content creators seeking cost-effective solutions that simplify the entire video production process.

4. Generative AI Enhances The Employee Experience

As a business leader, you want your employees to perform at their best, even when facing organizational change or unsatisfactory task distribution. In more extreme cases, you want employees to perform adequately when key staff members aren’t available. So, you’ll need to implement the tools and methodologies to ensure all your employees stay on track under these scenarios.

Implementing communication and project management platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Trello is a first step. But your business is unique, so you still need a custom solution that addresses all its needs and covers the blind spots other platforms miss. That’s why you can’t ignore the power and versatility that generative AI brings forth. 

You can train your generative models on employee data by including their work roles, productivity, and skills. Your AI model will help you look at your employee data holistically and help you pinpoint any potential productivity bottlenecks or staff shortages early on. Be sure to comply with data and privacy legislation in your region when collecting and analyzing employee data. 

Another benefit of analyzing employee data is you’ll detect notable workforce trends that impact your organization. If you employ a large workforce, it’s often difficult to accurately determine employee retention rates and the overall success of your human resources (HR) department. Traditionally, you’d hire expensive consultants to figure this out for you — but now — your generative AI model will deliver detailed reports in record time and at little cost. 

Building a custom internal app allows your employees to collaborate and complete all their tasks, and you can pull all this data in real-time. The app can also let your employees provide feedback that will help you improve work conditions and the overall employee experience.

5. Use Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps To Transform Customer Service

It’s no secret that AI chatbots are very effective at offering customer service around the clock. But how well do they resolve customer complaints and deliver satisfactory service to rival a human agent? It ultimately depends on the capabilities of the AI chatbot platform you decide to use. 

You can choose from several notable chatbot platforms available today, like Botpress, Dialogflow, and UChat. Botpress is ideal for creating conversational chatbots for organizations of all sizes. Dialogflow is Google’s feature-rich solution for building versatile and scalable chatbots and voicebots. Then, there’s UChat, aimed at digital marketers and small business owners who want a simple solution that integrates with all their social channels.   

Of course, there are many more AI chatbots in the marketplace. But instead of trying to find a solution that’s a good fit for your organization, you could always build a custom solution that addresses all your needs. Moreover, you can avoid the monthly fees and limitations these chatbot platforms will subsequently impose on your organization. 

More importantly, you have some control over the intelligence of your custom AI chatbot solution. Before the availability of generative AI chatbots, traditional chatbots weren’t particularly smart since they followed set rules. Thus, these could never convince anyone that they were nothing more than customer-facing bots. 

Once the GPT-5 LLM is available, convincing human-like interactions will become the norm. But you can achieve impressive results depending on how well you train your AI chatbot using GPT-4. You’ll need to collect large datasets of human interactions and then prepare these for training by removing unnecessary datasets. After you train your model, evaluate the results before deploying to all your customer-facing channels.

6. Improve Order Fulfillment With AI

While your organization doesn’t have control of the entire supply chain, it can impact the order fulfillment process. And this segment of your business should run like a well-oiled machine that responds to all types of scenarios like delays, stock shortages, and logistics issues. As a first step, you must implement an order management system (OMS) that’s right for your company structure. 

Then, you’ll need to pick an order fulfillment strategy your organization can handle. For example, if you have enough storage space, employees, and skills, you’ll go with an in-house order fulfillment. But if you don’t have these resources, it’s better to outsource fulfillment to a third party. 

Regardless of your strategy, you should become proficient in forecasting and planning every step to avoid wastage and costly interruptions in order fulfillment. However, you can drastically reduce the guesswork by integrating AI into your order fulfillment operations. Of course, it’s best to do this from day one of your operations, but there’s little harm in integrating AI in due course. 

Using artificial intelligence in mobile apps that aid order fulfillment will help your staff quickly ascertain all current and future inventory levels. They can accurately predict when they’ll run low on inventory and when to order from suppliers. Thus, your company won’t have to turn away customers due to unavailable stock. 

AI-powered order fulfillment is essential for large organizations, but small retailers benefit also. For sustainability reasons alone, retailers must reduce inventory waste. A well-trained inventory model will alert them when they’re ordering too much or too little of a specific item. They can further improve the accuracy of this model with sales and store visitor data.

The Bottom Line

The hype surrounding generative AI is astounding, but so is the technology. We expect future iterations of LLMs to improve and impact even more industries. Also, we expect the use cases to grow exponentially as appreneurs, businesses, and users embrace AI in 2024. Contact us today to learn how NS804 can help you build and use artificial intelligence in mobile apps that will drive growth from now on! 

10 Kinds of Mobile Apps with Artificial Intelligence

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Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that simulates human intelligence in machines to help machines perform certain tasks that require human intelligence. For instance, these tasks may include learning, decision-making, and problem-solving. In the context of mobile applications, AI is revolutionizing how users interact and adapt to their apps. This is achieved by building apps that can communicate, interact, and engage with the end user, all while responding diligently to user requests and input preferences.

Artificial intelligence in mobile apps captures a wide range of domains. For instance, these domains include: voice recognition, natural language processing, predictive analytics, computer vision, and machine learning. These technologies enable mobile apps to learn user behavior, interpret complex data, and make decisions.

Importance of Artificial Intelligence in Enhancing Mobile App Experiences

Artificial intelligence has improved the performance of mobile apps, delivering unprecedented levels of convenience, usability, and personalization. Some of the key ways artificial intelligence enhances mobile app experiences include:

Personalization

AI analyzes user behavior, interactions, and preferences to deliver personalized content, services, and recommendations. AI-powered mobile apps adapt to individual user preferences, making the user experience more engaging. Whether it’s suggesting workouts, curating menus, or recommending relevant products and services.

Predictive insights

AI enables apps to anticipate user needs and tailor proactive solutions. By analyzing past behavior and contextual data, AI-powered mobile apps can predict user behavior, automate tasks, suggest next steps, and streamline user experience. All while saving valuable time for other tasks.

Natural language understanding

Natural language processing algorithms enable mobile apps to understand and respond to human language inputs like text inputs, voice commands, and conversational interactions. Virtual assistants like Google Assistant and Siri leverage natural language processing algorithms to understand and respond to human language inputs and commands. This offers an intuitive and natural interaction model.

Enhanced functionality

AI enables mobile apps to perform functions and tasks that were once impractical. From image recognition and real-time translation to augmented reality and sentiment analysis. AI-powered features expand the capabilities of mobile apps, allowing them to address a broader range of user scenarios and needs.

Continuous improvement

Machine learning algorithms allow mobile apps to learn and improve based on user feedback and data insight. AI-powered apps can adapt to changing user preferences, technological advancements, and market trends. This is done by iteratively refining their algorithms and models. By its adaptive model of continuous improvement ensures that the user experience remains valuable and relevant.

10 Kinds of Mobile App with Artificial Intelligence

1. Personal Assistant Apps

Personal assistant apps have become commonplace on mobile devices. Their popularity is fueled by their ability to offer users a more convenient way to interact with smartphones, perform certain tasks, or access certain information through voice commands and text inputs. Examples of popular personal assistant apps include Google Assistant by Google, Siri by Apple, and Cortana by Microsoft.

These apps serve as virtual assistants, capable of performing a wide range of tasks, including sending messages, setting reminders, checking the weather, searching the web, and making calls. They utilize AI technologies such as natural language processing, machine learning, and speech recognition. This is done to understand voice commands and message inputs.

How AI Powers These Apps to Understand and Respond to User Requests

AI lies at the core of personal assistant apps, allowing them to understand and respond to user requests intelligently.

Here’s how AI powers personal assistant apps:

  • Natural language processing. Personal assistant apps leverage natural language processing to analyze and understand human language inputs, including voice commands and text inputs. These algorithms parse the syntax and semantics of user queries. They extract keywords, phrases, and entities to infer user intent accurately.
  • Machine learning. Personal assistant apps utilize machine learning algorithms to improve their understanding and response over time. These apps can learn to recognize speech patterns, understand context, and predict user intent more accurately. This is done by analyzing vast amounts of user data, including past interactions, preferences, and behavior patterns.
  • Speech recognition. AI-powered speech recognition algorithms allow personal assistant apps to transcribe words accurately into text. These algorithms can recognize and differentiate accents, languages, and dialects. They allow users to communicate with their devices effectively through voice commands.
  • Contextual understanding. AI-powered apps allow devices to interpret user queries within the appropriate context. They do this by taking into account factors such as time of the day, location, and user history. This contextual understanding allows the apps to provide more relevant and personalized responses, enhancing the overall user experience.

3. Virtual Health Assistants

AI-powered health apps have emerged as valuable tools for individuals willing to check and monitor their health and wellness. Additionally, these apps leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide personalized insights, recommendations and support across a wide range of healthcare spectrum. They offer users convenient access to health information, monitoring capabilities, and proactive interventions. This helps empower users to take control of their well-being.

Features of Virtual Health Assistants

Symptom checker

AI-powered health apps often include symptom checker functionalities. These functionalities allow users to input their symptoms and receive potential diagnoses or recommendations. These apps rely on machine learning algorithms fetched from a large medical dataset to analyze symptoms. These algorithms further help determine severity and provide guidance on the next steps, such as seeking medical attention or self-care measures.

Medication reminders

Most AI-powered health apps come with medication reminders to help users adhere to their medication regimen. These apps send reminders based on individual medication schedules, dosage instructions, and refill dates. They help reduce the risk of missed doses and medication errors.

Fitness tracking

AI-powered health apps often include fitness tracking capabilities. These capabilities enable users to monitor their exercise routine, physical fitness, and overall fitness levels. These apps may utilize wearable devices or built-in sensors to track metrics such as calories burnt, heart rate, steps taken, and sleep patterns. AI algorithms analyze this data to provide insight into users’ activity levels, progress toward fitness goals, and recommendations for optimizing their workouts or lifestyle habits.

3. AI-Powered Navigation Apps

Navigation apps have emerged more significantly with the integration of artificial intelligence to provide users with more accurate and efficient route guidance. These apps utilize AI algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data, including real-time conditions, historical traffic patterns, and road closures. These apps provide users with the fastest and most reliable directions.

AI-powered navigation apps leverage machine learning techniques to continuously learn and adapt to changing traffic conditions, environmental factors, and user preferences. By processing and interpreting this data in real time, these apps can dynamically adjust routes, and predict traffic congestion. These apps offer alternative paths to help users reach their destinations with ease.

Benefits of AI in Improving Navigation Accuracy and Efficiency

Enhanced Accuracy

AI-powered navigation apps utilize advanced algorithms to analyze and interpret complex data. This leads to more accurate and reliable route guidance. By considering factors such as traffic conditions, road infrastructure, and user behavior, these apps can provide precise directions tailored to individual needs and preferences.

Improved Efficiency

By providing real-time traffic updates and optimizing routes, AI-powered navigation apps help users save time and fuel. This helps minimize vehicle emissions and reducing travel time. In addition, users can avoid unnecessary delays and congestion, resulting in more efficient and environmentally friendly transportation.

Enhanced User Experience

AI-powered navigation apps offer a seamless and intuitive user experience. They do this with features such as interactive maps, voice-guided navigation, and personalized recommendations. These apps make it easy for users to navigate unfamiliar territories, explore points of interest, and plan for multi-stop trips. They help enhance the overall travel experience.

4. Language Learning Apps

Language learning apps have undergone a massive transformation following the infusion of artificial intelligence. These apps offer learners personalized and adaptive learning experiences tailored to their individual needs and proficiency levels. Language learning apps leverage AI algorithms to track progress, analyze user behavior, track progress, and deliver targeted content that’s designed to optimize learning outcomes.

AI-powered language learning apps use machine learning techniques to adapt to each learner’s learning style, pace, and preferences, offering personalized learning to each student or learner. These apps can dynamically adjust lesson plans, provide customized feedback, and recommend supplementary resources. They do this by simply analyzing data such as performance metrics, user interactions, and proficiency levels.

5. AI-Enhanced Photo Editing Apps

Photo-editing apps have evolved with the integration of artificial intelligence, offering users the ability to edit apps with unprecedented ease and precision. These apps leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and AI algorithms to analyze images, identify scenes and objects, and automatically apply enhancement and corrections to achieve professionally-quality results.

AI-enhanced photo editing apps employ a wide range of techniques, including image recognition, semantic segregation, and neural style transfer to streamline and automate the editing process. By analyzing vast amounts of datasets and learning from professional editing techniques, these apps can intelligently enhance photos and provide users with creative tools to express their artistic vision.

6. AI-Powered Virtual Shopping Assistants

Virtual shopping assistants leverage AI to provide users with personalized recommendations, guidance, and support. These AI-powered assistants analyze user preferences, browsing behavior, and purchase history. Essentially, they mimick the role of an in-store shop associate in the digital realm.

By using predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms, virtual shopping assistants can understand individual user preferences. Additionally, they can identify browsing patterns, and anticipate user needs and preferences. These assistants use this information to recommend products that align with users’ tastes, preferences, and needs. In short, they enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of product recommendations.

7. AI-Based Financial Management Apps

AI-based financial management apps revolutionize the way people manage their finances by using artificial intelligence to provide personalized budgeting, financing, and savings advice. These apps analyze users’ spending data, income sources, and financial goals to offer tailored advice and recommendations aimed at improving the users’ financial health.

AI-based financial management apps utilize predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms to forecast future cash flows, identify trends in spending behavior, and optimize budget allocations to help users achieve their financial goals. These apps may also provide investment advice based on users’ investment objectives, risk tolerance, and market trends, enabling them to make informed decisions about their finances and investments.

8. AI-Driven Entertainment Apps

Entertainment apps have optimized artificial intelligence to deliver personalized and immersive listening experiences to users. These AI-driven apps leverage sophisticated algorithms to analyze user preferences, and user behavior, enabling them to recommend content, customize experiences, and enhance engagement across various forms of entertainment, including video streaming, music streaming, and gaming.

By harnessing data analytics and machine learning techniques, AI-driven entertainment apps can understand users’ tastes and preferences, enabling them to curate personalized content recommendations, tailor user interfaces, and optimize user experiences. These apps strive to create a more engaging and enjoyable entertainment ecosystem by leveraging AI to anticipate and fulfill entertainment needs and preferences.

9. AI-Powered Security Apps

AI-powered security apps leverage artificial intelligence to help with threat detection and intrusion prevention, safeguarding users’ digital information and sensitive financial information against cyberattacks or unauthorized access. These AI-powered technologies employ advanced algorithms to detect anomalies, analyze patterns, and identify potential security threats, enabling proactive mitigation measures and ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of users’ data.

By using natural language processing, machine learning techniques, and behavioral analysis, AI-powered security apps can identify emerging threats and detect suspicious activities. These apps provide users with comprehensive security solutions that combine malware detection, threat intelligence, encryption control, and encryption, and access control to protect digital assets and identities.

10. AI-Powered Mental Health Apps

Mental health apps leveraging artificial intelligence have emerged as valuable tools for providing emotional support and cognitive therapy to individuals coping with mental health problems. These apps offer a wide range of features and functionalities tailored to individuals suffering from mental health problems, including stress management, mood tracking, cognitive behavioral therapy, and personalized interventions.

By using AI models and algorithms, AI-powered mental health apps can analyze users’ behaviors and emotions, and provide personalized recommendations, coping strategies, and therapeutic interventions tailored to their unique needs. These apps offer a convenient and accessible way for individuals to manage their mental health and track their progress over time.

What’s The Future of AI-Powered Mobile Apps?

Looking ahead, it’s clear that the future of AI-enabled mobile experiences is boundless. As AI technologies continue to evolve and mature, we expect to see even more innovative advancements and innovations in mobile app development. From more sophisticated personalization and predictive capabilities to seamless integration with IoT and augmented reality (AR) experiences. AI-driven mobile apps will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, revolutionizing the way we talk, work, communicate, interact, and entertain ourselves on the go.

NS804 – Delivering Superior, AI-Powered Apps

NS804 is a leading provider of custom-built mobile app solutions. The company understands the changing landscape of mobile app development and offers superior AI-powered apps designed to suit your business needs. Whether you’re a small start-up or a large organization seeking a robust app with AI capabilities, we have you covered. We offer superior, excellent, and affordable mobile app solutions that are tailored to your individual needs. Our commitment to service excellent and unwavering dedication to customer service ensures that we offer a timeless app that solves real problems.

Contact us today for inquiries and questions about our AI-powered mobile apps.

iOS App Development Trends in 2024

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iOS app development continues to evolve in the face of advancing technology and changing user preferences. Developers in 2024 find themselves with a myriad of possibilities in what they can build but also high user expectations on app quality, interactivity, and data privacy. In the iOS space, the biggest conversations are around what the Swift development language is now capable of, AI integration in apps, improving privacy, and virtual and augmented reality features.

In this post, we highlight what we at NS804 consider the biggest trends in iOS app development in 2024.

New Possibilities Unlocked through Swift 6

Swift is a popular programming language for building iOS apps. It was initially popularized by Apple before becoming an open-source project with a strong community of users. Swift 6 promises a range of improvements for the benefit of programmers. It’s likely to be even more interoperable with other languages such as C and C++. Further, the development team promises better error-handling support, easier debugging, and more efficient memory management.

Through abstraction, code written in Swift 6 is likely to be even more readable. An easy-to-work-with programming language is likely to make it even easier to build more apps.

Building On-Demand Apps

On-demand apps are not just a fad. 75% of people in the USA were using at least 1 on-demand app before 2020 and this statistic certainty rose during COVID. People today want to feel in as much control as possible by being able to request food, drink, taxis, groceries, healthcare, and other essentials from their phones. The on-demand app industry is still quite young and revenues are likely to rise to over $335 billion in 2025.

Some sectors where on-demand apps are exploding include gift deliveries, pet care, home chore services, and craft products.

Apps that leverage 5G

As the 5G network grows across the world and more people acquire 5g G-enabled devices, developers have the opportunity to build more data-heavy applications. For context, 5G could unlock 100x greater download speeds than a 4G network. Gaming applications and conferencing apps will benefit immensely from higher network speeds and reduced latency. Other features that could become more common include augmented reality and smooth HD video streaming in areas where this was not possible before.

Another important development that 5G will unlock is more edge computing. This refers to the processing of requests on devices as opposed to sending requests to a cloud server. Features such as voice command can benefit from faster computing leading to more natural interaction between voice assistants and the end-user.

Greater AR Integration into Apps

In 2024, we will see more apps adding augmented reality features to enhance user experience. Apple’s ARKit is specifically built to allow developers to add AR features to their projects while protecting the privacy of the app’s end users. Augmented reality takes advantage of a device’s camera. Through motion tracking and scene recognition, a variety of useful features can be added to an app.

Businesses in multiple industries have taken advantage of AR with gaming, education, retail, and healthcare being at the forefront. In healthcare, for instance, apps meant to train doctors can create more immersive experiences for trainees through AR to foster better symptom recognition and description. Visualization can also be used for better patient education with proper approvals from authorities, of course.

In education, AR will make lessons more interactive and foster content retention amongst learners. A good example is being able to superimpose what is virtual onto the real world to teach otherwise abstract concepts such as eclipses or anatomy.

Cloud Integration

As more businesses appreciate the advantages of cloud-based apps, more of these apps will likely be built in 2024. The benefits of cloud integration include flexibility be being able to use an application seamlessly across apps. There is also an added layer of security whereby only authorized people can access sensitive information. Information backed to the cloud is also safe in case of a disaster or loss of a hardware device.

Apple has CloudKit, a set of tools for use by developers who choose to build apps on Apple’s cloud server. CloudKit APIs and tools ensure proper data syncing, data encryption, and setting up of automated actions by developers.

IoT Dependent Apps

The Internet of Things will continue to expand rapidly in 2024. This is the network of things that can send information over the internet. This includes sensors on home utility devices, cars, production plants and so much more. The low cost of computing today means that data collected through IoT devices can be used to create value.

iOS developers continue to build applications that rely on such data. A good example is health and wellness apps that rely on information from wearable devices to give insights to users. As smart homes become more of a reality,  more apps have come up to allow people to create routines to save energy or simply feel a greater level of control and security by being able to monitor their home devices remotely. Certainly, more opportunities lie in that space for developers to pursue.

Sustainable iOS App Development

There is a growing need for app development teams to consider the ecological footprint of the applications they are building. Sustainable app development is about finding strategies to reduce the environmental impact of the app being built. One of the hallmarks is to build apps that run efficiently thus minimizing energy consumption.  Removing redundant code, reducing network requests, and using caching mechanisms can massively reduce an app’s energy consumption.

This coupled with durable hardware reduces electronic waste. While a single app may not have a visible impact, it makes a big difference at a global level considering there are billions of smartphone users today.

The Importance of Privacy in iOS App Development

Security has always been an important element in iOS development. However, as more privacy laws come into effect across various jurisdictions in the world, the importance of privacy has only increased. App users are now more cognisant of the risk that comes with using unsafe apps.

Now, there are some best practices that developers must implement whenever they are building apps today. First, all user data has to be encrypted at rest and while in transit. Further, there has to be two-factor authentication for logging in before granting access to other sensitive information stored in the app. Some developers are also building a feature that forces users to change passwords regularly as an added layer of security.

The average cost of a data breach in the US is over $5 million. Firms cannot afford the legal risk and reputational damage that comes with it. At NS804, we understand the importance of building proper security features and regular security updates for the apps we develop.

App Clips

Apple developed App Clips as a way to allow developers to showcase a small part of their app to users as a demo. Through App Clips, users can experience one full feature of an app before installing the full app. For instance, a user can make a food delivery request from an app without downloading the entire app. They can sign in with Apple and pay using Apple Pay.

App Clips offers developers a method to increase visibility and grow their conversion rates. When a user completes an action, they are offered the option to install the whole version of an app. There is no doubt that 2024 will see more apps take advantage of this feature from Apple.

Mobile Wallets

Mobile wallets are applications that allow people to store their cards in one place. This includes credit cards, debit cards, and even loyalty cards. While this trend was first popular in China, it’s becoming ubiquitous in the developed world too. Now, more apps are being built to accept payments using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PayPal too. The advantage is that users do not need to enter their card details on every app they are using. It also feels safer to pay using these wallets.

From a user experience perspective, these wallets facilitate a smoother checkout process when making purchases, which has a net positive effect on sales volume.

Super Apps

China and India have been the premier markets for massive super-apps with WeChat, Alipay, and Paytm. These super apps bring together a range of services including messaging, e-commerce, and money transfer. Successful super apps become a central part of people’s lives in those markets.

Super apps promote efficiency and security by bringing multiple apps into one.

The race for super apps in other markets is on. We will likely see attempts by major companies try and build more services into their existing apps. Platforms that already have billions of users may be well primed to introduce their users to new revenue-generating services such as payment processing solutions. A good example would be sending payments within a social media network.

Swift UI

Besides Swift 6, Apple have also availed Swift UI as a framework to help developers build user interfaces for iOS and Mac-OS. The framework has been around for over three years and its intention is to reduce the amount of code developers have to write by having preset layouts for content presentation. The syntax is also easier for developers to get right and build apps that feel native across all Apple platforms. In 2024, it is expected that even a greater number of UIs will be built using this framework.

Gamification

iOS app developers are finding ways to incorporate elements of gamification in apps that people would not traditionally expect. The goal of gamification is to increase user engagement which translates to retention. Many fitness apps have achieved success by introducing new challenges for users and including redeemable rewards. Other apps have leaderboards to make users feel like they are part of a community of people with whom they share common interests. A lot of learning and self-development apps have streaks showing the number of consecutive days a user has logged on and put in meaningful work. These corporations make users feel good about themselves. It’s also a way to nudge users towards premium subscriptions or in-app purchases to unlock more features or renew streaks.

Siri Shortcuts in more Apps

Developers are taking more advantage of Siri shortcuts to increase the amount of interaction users have with their apps. With hands-free commands, users can interact with apps even when going about other duties. The power of voice assistants lies in natural language processing and behaviour learning to correctly tell a user’s intent. For example, users today can make food delivery requests with voice assistants through Siri shortcuts. This requires well thought out implementation on the part of the food delivery development team including accepting payments through a mobile wallet such as Apple Pay. A user making such a request would expect feedback from the app on the expected delivery time of the order or an alternative response when what they ordered is unavailable.

Work with Us

There are numerous trends in iOS app development in 2024. The launch of iOS 17 will only increase the amount of features developers can incorporate in projects. Still, there are broad themes that will dominate conversations in the app development space as pointed out in this article.

First, app data security will remain a key interest area. Artificial intelligence and machine learning-dependent features should deliver more powerful and useful features for developers to incorporate within their apps. Easier payment processing, 5G download speeds, and more cloud-based apps will be quite popular going forward. The race for super apps is also likely to take shape in western countries.

At NS804, we remain focused on making use of current developments to deliver cutting-edge iOS app projects for our clients. If you are thinking about building an iOS or cross-platform app for your business, reach out to us through our website. A member of our team will be in touch for an extended discussion.

The NS804 Process for Custom App Development

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At NS804, we are fully committed to delivering the highest quality applications possible with every custom app development project we undertake. When clients commission us to build custom mobile applications, we know they expect world-class solutions to the problems they want to solve.

Custom app development projects are quite different from off-the-shelf solutions. First, they provide the chance to capture a brand’s image in the UI/UX of the application. There is also a match between the resources available at hand and the solution to be built. At NS804, we understand the ever-present problem of optimizing resources for utility purposes. Each project is unique because of the industry, problems at hand, client requests, and numerous other variables.

In this article, we discuss our approach to custom mobile application building. Clearly, it is never a one-sided effort. The general framework is meant to foster continuous communication between the team and the client until project delivery.  We can break down the process into six stages, although some activities could feature in more than one stage.

Project Discovery

The project’s first stage begins when a client gets in touch regarding an app idea they have. A series of discussions follow to establish the scope of the problem at hand and whether a singular app can solve all of them. It may require that we conduct interviews with several stakeholders in the client’s business.

The first stage can last weeks and sometimes months to gather sufficient information. There may be a need to conduct fresh market research to understand competitor strengths, market size and gaps, and even the feasibility of a product in a new market. It may be prudent to enlist the services of people with particular domain knowledge when it is not available in-house.

Getting things right in terms of product-market fit is very important. It can save enormous resources that would otherwise be used in rebuilding a  product in cases where market research was not done comprehensively.

Planning and Design

The second step in our process involves starting to bring ideas to life, at least on paper. At this point, the team begins to visualize what the solution might look like. However, we must first determine the project scope. Not everything that was mentioned in the discovery phase can go into the first version of the application. The best projects have a clear primary problem they are solving, which is the focus of the Minimum Viable Product.

Limiting the project scope is important to ensure the project is deliverable within a reasonable time and with the available resources. Such a project is also more manageable because you can establish milestones that add up to the final product.

The scope of the MVP includes the functionalities/deliverables that the product will need to have before the client approves it.

The team draws up wireframes to demonstrate the flow and layout of the application. Once these are approved, the team can build interactive mock-ups that give a realistic feel of the app. Working prototypes are great for collecting feedback from the users you are targeting with the app.

 

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Actual Development

The next step in the process involves building out the application according to the specifications from the planning phase. The front end of the application is the user interface, which is built with HTML, CSS, and Javascript programming languages. The back end or the server side is the logic or functionality of the app. Multiple technologies can be used to build the backend including Python, Java, and JavaScript.

It is during this stage that any integrations with third-party APIs happen to add functionalities such as payment processing, geolocation, social media integration, and so forth.

Our agile methodology of project handling means that the user remains well-briefed throughout the development phase. With every sprint, new features are delivered and any necessary fixes deemed necessary are made. With version control, we can always roll back to a previous version of the app when the need arises.

Testing

Testing is a crucial part of the custom app development process and enough time and resources must be set aside. It can either be done manually or be automated. In manual testing, you’d ideally be clicking throughout the application and noting any bugs found. This process is tedious, expensive in terms of time, and very prone to human error.

Automated testing is the preferred approach today and can happen concurrently with the development process. Engineers can run tests on their code before adding it to the main project.

There are several types of tests that a team runs on their project.

  • Functional tests are to determine whether a feature works as intended. It looks at the output rather than the behind-the-scene working. For instance, a functional test may be done whether a user can successfully query the database for a piece of information.
  • Integration tests look at whether the different modules or microservices that make up your application are working together as planned.
  • Performance testing simulates different conditions to determine the stability of the application. It looks at the speed and responsiveness of the different microservices especially when handling a high number of requests. Performance testing gives assurances that an app is indeed scalable.
  • End-to-end tests mimic a typical user’s behavior to determine whether the entire application runs as intended. It simulates a user’s journey from logging in, resetting passwords, clicking on links within the app and all other functionalities available.

Deployment

The custom mobile application deployment process is just as important as the building process. There are multiple app deployments that exist today and with good reason. First, the team needs to figure out the correct infrastructure to use including the database and networking resources.

A script that automates the release process is preferred to manual deployment to reduce errors. Test scripts are also necessary so that an alarm is raised in case of a fault. A continuous integration/continuous delivery approach to deployment offers important benefits. It means that each update is minimal and is unlikely to impact or jeopardise the entire application in case of a bug. Small and frequent updates are considered more sustainable today.

The team picks and keep an eye on metrics that indicate the app is running correctly.

Maintenance

The final stage of the application development process is always maintenance. The first and most important thing is to identify and fix bugs as quickly as possible. Frequent bugs or delayed fixes can sabotage the success of an otherwise well-built application. At NS804, we advise clients on how best to plan for maintenance, including setting aside a proportion of the initial budget for maintenance.

The second reason for maintenance is to take advantage to optimize performance As pointed out, continuous performance testing may identify bottlenecks which if improved upon can make the user journey much smoother. Small continuous improvements greatly contribute to user satisfaction numbers.

The third reason is to make security improvements. Popular apps are targets of cyber attacks and therefore any security patches to guard against those attacks are critical.

The final reason is to implement the product roadmap which involves adding new features. The MVP is often simple and limited in functionality. Once the app attains a critical mass of users, the business can begin thinking of ways to build more to grow its user base and revenue. Users appreciate when they are part of an application’s evolution. It is possible to develop new features that are in stride with user needs. Through a feedback loop, a business can find out, prioritize, and build features that resonate with its audience.

Advantages of Custom App Development

Custom application development is an involving process that requires utmost cooperation between the client and the development team. The working relationship can go on for years and the initial application can often evolve substantially.

Despite the longer development cycle and substantial initial cash outlay, custom app development offers multiple advantages.

First, the high level of customization means that the app fits the problem it is meant to solve. There are peculiarities in the environment within which a business operates that an off-the-shelf solution may not provide for.  The second advantage is the guarantee of stability even when the business scales. The assurance comes from the simulations carried out at the testing phase. The app promoters already have projections about future user numbers, and this is taken into account when building the app.

Owing your application means you can evolve it as the business grows. You can build new features, improve existing ones, and take in user feedback along the way. A unique feature that your competitors do not have on their apps could be the source of competitive advantage. Custom applications are also an opportunity to grow brand equity through high service quality and interactions with users.

When your business handles sensitive user data, guaranteed app security is paramount. Custom app development provides you with the peace of mind that user information is safe and frequent security updates are happening.

 

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Best Practices in Custom App Development

There are basic app development best practices, which if adhered to, massively increase the chances of building a successful app.

First, every project must have a unique value proposition. If there already exists competitor apps in the space, it must be clear what the new app seeks to do better. Where an off-the-shelf solution exists, the level of customization should justify the time, resources, and effort in custom app development.

Another best practice is to have a user-centric approach to development. From the initial research stage, you must take in user feedback throughout the design, building, testing, and deploying of the application. The UI should be easy and intuitive to use. There has to be a methodology for taking in and filtering user feedback even after launch.

In addition, the team has to have clear performance metrics before deploying an app. There must be no compromise on the standards.

Ensuring there is proper document is another important best practice. Having a proper record of all aspects of an app is crucial during development and maintenance of an app. It also enables knowledge transfer should new developers come on board, or the project is transferred to a new team altogether.  Some important information to have include the server environment and the thought process behind it, the database and a model diagram of the database, a record of all troubleshooting done so far, app installation steps, important libraries and dependencies, code update instructions and so much more.

Unfortunately, there are many projects when important information is never recorded or shared with important stakeholders. When a key figure in a team leaves, there is always a danger of the project being impacted too much negatively.

Laslty, testing and optimization are also important practices in NS804’s development process. While an application may do all the primary functions it is meant to, it is equally important that it does so efficiently. The code needs to be tweaked to reduce load times,  use memory efficiently and  to resolve other glitches in the user journey.

Work with Us

If your business intends to build and deploy an application to augment critical functions, we encourage you to work with us. Our team brings a wealth of experience from years of delivering apps in multiple industries. We walk with clients through every stage including determining MVP features to implementing the product roadmap years down the line. The team handles projects with utmost professionalism and in keeping with global standards. We make use of the right technologies to ensure we future-proof your app.

For more information about our services, reach out to us through our website. A member of our team will be in touch with you.

Android App Development Trends 2024

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The year has barely begun, and we’re already seeing significant shifts in the mobile app space. Moreover, 2024 promises many exciting Android app development trends that will turn heads. But how can we be so confident that notable changes will occur on the Android platform this year? We see a stronger emphasis on quality, a greater adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), and a higher number of foldable smartphones hitting the market.

The Android platform has matured and is no longer the avenue to push out low-effort cash grabs. Recently, Google updated their app testing requirements for all developers with new Android personal accounts. These requirements force developers to take the production and testing of their apps a lot more seriously before submitting them for publication. 

While these requirements will help increase the quality of upcoming Android apps, it’s not the only significant trend of 2024. Apps powered by large language models (LLMs) will hit the market with more ferocity this year. 

In 2023, ChatGPT and other LLMs managed to amaze, excite, and even scare many with their near-otherworldly capabilities. But in 2024, many developers will capitalize on these LLMs by integrating them into their Android apps. Some of the mystery and hype surrounding LLMs has diminished, so there’s a greater focus on their practical use in mobile apps.

Another trend that will further impact Android development is the rise of foldable phones. While these are not new, they’re enjoying wider adoption, so developers can no longer avoid developing apps for these devices. Of course, Android app development trends don’t end here, so we’ll delve deeper into what you should expect in 2024 below. 

 

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Low-Code and No-Code Solutions Will Enjoy Rising Popularity

If you’ve dabbled in Android app development, you’ve come face-to-face with a high learning curve in building apps for the platform. And that’s because Java and Kotlin are complex programming languages that require several months of your time to learn the basics and years to master. But the challenge doesn’t end there since building, testing, and deploying to a wide range of Android devices is a nerve-racking experience. 

Fortunately, Google has made Android app development a bit easier with their latest tooling. Yet, even these tools won’t diminish the need to gain competency in Java or Kotlin to build quality apps. As a studio that builds native Android apps in these languages, we highly recommend you take the time to learn these languages. Alternatively, consider partnering with a studio like NS804 to create your Android app that will comply with Google’s best practices and guidelines. 

If you can’t hire a studio when your team doesn’t have the necessary coding skills — what then? You can rely on the myriad of low-code and no-code development platforms that have hit the market in recent years. Platforms like BuildFire, GeneXus for Super Apps, and Moxly help developers build cross-platform mobile apps rapidly. 

But will you enjoy the same results as that of native-built apps? While these platforms promise impressive results, it’s unlikely that they’ll deliver the performance, consistent user experience (UX), and scalability of their native peers. Therefore, we only recommend you use these solutions if you have tight budget constraints or plan to build a prototype or a minimum viable product (MVP).

Stricter Requirements Will Bring About Better Quality Apps

One of the Android app development trends that will massively impact the Android ecosystem may have caught many developers by surprise already. Google Play and many third-party Android app marketplaces have become inundated with buggy, low-quality apps that hurt the user experience. Given the accessibility and low bar of entry to develop Android apps, many freelancers, hobbyists, and unscrupulous developers have pushed out apps of dubious quality onto Google Play.

Google has identified and addressed this issue by introducing new app testing requirements. All personal developer accounts created after November 13, 2023, must comply with these new rules. And one of the most controversial requirements includes an elaborate closed testing process. Thus, it’s now necessary to test an app with over 20 users who have opted-in for the closed test for no less than 14 continuous days. 

Only once developers meet this requirement can they submit their app for production access. It seems like an extreme measure, but one that we’ll welcome if it means that better and more secure apps will reach Google Play from now on. It forces newcomers to recruit and engage with testers and no longer treat the testing process as an afterthought. Furthermore, developers who comply with these requirements will significantly reduce low ratings and bad reviews. 

AI-Powered Android Apps Will Proliferate During 2024

If you followed the news in 2023, you probably felt overwhelmed by all the hype and fear-mongering surrounding AI. Either AI will bring forth a golden age where humanity no longer has to do any drudge work, or AI will inevitably take over most jobs and make us redundant. The latter is a scary thought but a plausible outcome if governments don’t implement regulations to limit the damage AI may have on job markets. 

Fortunately, we’re still in the early stages of the AI cycle, which inevitably presents numerous opportunities for savvy Android developers. While AI-powered apps are not new, LLMs are still novel in the mobile app space. But Android users love their LLM apps, with ChatGPT enjoying over 50 million downloads and a rating of 4.8 at the time of writing. Other popular alternatives include Bing, Chat AI, and Perplexity. 

But are LLMs only appropriate for chatbot functionality? This functionality is only the tip of the spear, with writing, image generation, and code generation enjoying wide adoption within a short span of time. You can build all types of generators and analysis tools with ChatGPT and other similar LLMs. Then, you’ll train your AI models using your own datasets, images, and code to avoid litigation from the original copyright holders. 

After you’ve trained your AI models, you should test these thoroughly via an internal testing process. Once you’re happy with the results, integrate these into your Android app via ChatGPT’s (or your preferred LLM) application programming interface (API). The process is involved but will make your app more engaging and profitable since users can generate text, images, and music that exceeds their capabilities.  

Deploying Android Apps To PCs And Chromebooks

What makes the Android ecosystem so compelling is its sheer dynamism and versatility. Most users engage with Android apps on their tablets, smartphones, and via Android media players and TV boxes to a lesser extent. But lately, more users enjoy the same apps on their PCs and Chromebooks.

Microsoft and Samsung’s close working relationship helped integrate Samsung’s devices with Windows. That’s a wise move because many of Samsung’s flagship mobile devices are used extensively in enterprises.

Furthermore, Amazon Apps, which are Android apps — can run on Windows 11 PCs via the Windows Subsystem for Android. And recently, Google launched Google Play Games (beta) for PC users who want to enjoy their mobile gaming fix on their desktops. So, one of the hottest Android app development trends is ensuring your Android apps or games make their way to the PC.

Don’t stop there, as there’s another growing market that you can no longer ignore. Google’s ChromeOS and Chromebook laptops have already captured much of the US education market and even the small business community. As of December 2023, ChromeOS has penetrated 3.13% of the North American market and overtaken Linux, a far older operating system (OS). 

You can deploy your Android apps to supported Chromebook devices. There’s some setup and tweaking involved, especially if you need to deploy your app across multiple devices in your organization. But once done, you have a secure pipeline to deploy custom business apps that must run on mobile devices and Chromebooks in tandem.

More Affordable Foldable Smartphones Will Hit The Market

Android foldable phones have been around for several years, but they’ve always been pricey for most consumers. It’s not uncommon to pay between $1,800 – $2,000 for a flagship foldable device nowadays. That price point is acceptable for executives and power users who require a powerful yet compact computing device for productivity. But for the average consumer, that’s way too expensive when lower-end smartphones under $500 offer adequate functionality and performance.

However, the foldable smartphone market is growing and maturing, leading to a greater diversity of products. More manufacturers are offering budget foldables like the Motor Razr at $700, which makes it affordable enough for the average US-based Android user. So, one of the defining Android app development trends of 2024 is a focus on apps designed for foldables. 

It’s crucial to create apps that run perfectly on single-screen devices and utilize the additional screen real estate of foldables. These apps must make the most of adaptive and responsive design to adjust the user interface (UI) and screen page for every type of screen size. Moreover, it’s essential to offer multi-window support so that users can run multiple apps on their foldables since this is one of the core features of these devices.

Of course, if you plan to target ChromeOS, you’ll have additional screen sizes to consider. But making your apps run smoothly across multiple devices and screen formats will expose your app to a higher number of Android users. And if you add a cloud component to your app, you make it easy for users to switch between the foldable and ChromeOS versions without losing their work. Thus, they always stay productive and satisfied with your app and won’t seek alternatives that offer this functionality.  

Android Mobile Game Development Beyond Unity

Most Android mobile game developers use Unity to create their eye-catching hit games. Unfortunately, their overreliance on this game-making software wasn’t a smart move, especially after Unity Technologies announced their runtime fee late last year. The fee drew the ire of game developers and forced Unity Technologies to backpedal and revise their pricing policy. Developers weren’t willing to pay possibly business-crippling fees accrued by each installation of their games. 

But even with Unity Technologies making concessions to their users, many developers lost trust in the company. There was a sudden exodus of developers to competing game engines like Construct 3, Godot, and Unreal Engine. The biggest winner of the three was Godot, which enjoyed a sudden spike in users and even received a $100,000 donation from Re-Logic, the developer of Terraria. Also, cross-platform game frameworks like FNA and MonoGame received funding soon after the Unity installation fee controversy. 

Apart from FNA, you may use any of the engines mentioned here to develop Android mobile games. And since Godot and MonoGame are open-source with liberal licensing agreements, you don’t have to pay anything or risk facing litigation.

But what if you want to avoid complicated cross-platform game engines and want to develop exclusively for Android? If you have C or C++ coding skills, you may opt for Google’s Android Game Development Kit (AGDK). It consists of tools and libraries that integrate with Visual Studio via the Android Game Development Extension (AGDE). It also integrates with existing popular engines like Cocos, Unity, and Unreal Engine if you prefer to take that route.

 

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Passkeys Will Make Android Apps More Secure In 2024

Ordinary passwords are no longer safe, and two-factor authentication (2FA) isn’t hack-proof. Nevertheless, we always recommend you secure your apps and websites with 2FA as a minimum precaution. So, what should you do to offer a significant protection layer for your users? The good news is that Google has partly solved this issue by introducing passkeys for Android and Chrome. 

If your apps run on Android 9 and higher, as they should, then you’ll have passkey support via the Credential Manager. The Credential Manager offers users multiple sign-in options and is available as a Jetpack API. We recommend you become acquainted with this API to understand its safety features and prerequisites. 

Users no longer have to sign in by inputting complex passwords they’ll likely forget. Instead, they can sign in via the biometric sensor, pattern, or smartphone PIN. It’s a far more seamless method for signing in that will keep your users returning to your app, even if they’ve forgotten the password.

Android App Development Trends That Will Define An Entire Year

We’ve covered some of the most significant Android app development trends you’ll encounter in 2024. The Android market has matured but has not peaked yet, with many unique and innovative apps still to appear on the horizon. 

Many of these apps will have some LLM implementation, while others will offer advanced features geared towards foldables. But there will also be a greater emphasis on security, which passkeys will solve to a certain extent. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you with your Android app development goals!  

Completed App Portfolio: Developing Apps Across Segments

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If you’re an appreneur or business planning to hire a studio for your next app, you should look at their app portfolio. Perusing portfolios is a vital first step when evaluating potential development partners. And that’s because you need to know if one or more of these studios have completed projects similar to yours. 

Expect a more established studio to have a comprehensive app portfolio, whereas a newcomer’s catalog of apps will be sparse. NS804 is in the former camp, having built over 100 apps since 2012. Moreover, we’ve focused on categories like branding, business, communication, entertainment, productivity, and even web design. 

Our expertise in delivering quality apps across various segments makes us the ideal partner for appreneurs and organizations with demanding or unique briefs. We have the team, resources, and proven track record to tackle projects of all scopes. We’ve also received multiple awards for our efforts, with NS804 recently attaining the Clutch Champion Award for Fall 2023. 

While all this sounds great, it speaks to the competency and commitment of NS804’s ability to deliver. Even so, we’ll never dissuade you from shopping around. Do this by comparing the portfolios of the studios you’re considering working with, then add the most suitable candidates to your shortlist.

To simplify your evaluation process, we’ve prepared this post that details several apps we’ve built for clients over the years. We reveal what makes these apps noteworthy and how they fulfill client goals. If an app listed below aligns with your ideas or goals — be sure to note it down and discuss it with us. 

Bat Flaps

While NS804 has made plenty of business apps, we’ve also made games. To showcase our game development skills, we created Bat Flaps, where the player takes control of a cute-looking bat. Bat Flaps follows Flappy Bird’s footsteps closely with its simple control scheme and highly addicting gameplay. 

Arcade-centric mobile games generally do well on the app stores. So, Bat Flaps works as a proof of concept or even a template to build your next mobile hit. You can enhance and differentiate this concept by implementing gacha, rogue-lite, and role-playing game (RPG) elements. 

Whether you’re prototyping your game idea in Unity, Unreal Engine, or Godot, you may need the assistance of a professional studio to bring your game to market. The app stores have raised the bar and will no longer accept apps or games that don’t meet their requirements. Thus, QA testing takes center stage, but it’s a complex and costly process that requires the expertise only an established studio can provide you. 

Béné

If there’s one example in our app portfolio that truly innovates on digital tipping, it’s none other than Béné. While several cashless tipping solutions exist, few do it better than Béné, especially those targeting the hospitality industry. The highly-rated app simplifies digital tipping and ensures hotel staff receive tips in their bank accounts and payslips. 

A significant hurdle with digital tipping is that it’s challenging to implement frictionless tipping due to the many differing digital wallets available today. For example, you may wish to tip with Apple Pay, but a hotel staff member has Samsung Pay on their phone or no digital wallet at all. But Apple Pay and Samsung Pay don’t quite get along, and you’ll need a third-party payment app to make this work. And if the staff member doesn’t have a digital wallet — you’re out of luck!

But this was a problem NS804 and our partners, 3ADVANCE, LLC and Red Canopy Holdings, LLC, wanted to solve. Instead of relying on disparate digital wallets for cashless tipping, we opted for a simpler and more elegant system. Hotel owners need to download the Béné app and commence with a staff registration process. Then, place Béné QR codes in all the areas within the hotel premises where staff serve guests. 

Now, if you visit a hotel that uses Béné, scan the QR code in your room, the bar, or the lounge to tip the staff member serving you. You don’t need to download any apps, as the QR scanner on your phone will suffice. Immediately after you scan the QR code, the staff member will receive the payment. The Béné app does all the heavy lifting in the background, which only the hotel owner and staff need to have installed. 

C5G

It’s no secret that we specialize in mobile app development, but did you know that NS804 has a solid track record in web development? The web design segment of our app portfolio showcases some of our work. But we’d like to draw your attention to C5G, an e-commerce website for a company dealing in wireless hardware. 

C5G makes it easy for customers to find affordable, discontinued, and rare wireless equipment. Furthermore, they work with co-sellers, resellers, and enterprise customers in this technology segment. We understood the goals and company culture of C5G and built a website that helps them sell 5G and LTE devices effectively.  

Given that the company sells a wide range of goods ranging from handsets to routers, we ensured the website had a clean visual design and was highly performant. Customers want to find products quickly without being bogged down by unintuitive UI and slow response times. C5G and NS804 can take pride in the result, as we’ve delivered an e-commerce site that sits among the best in its category.

CFO Sidekick

If you’re running a small or medium-sized business, you may struggle to decipher your numbers and what they mean for your growth. That’s nothing to be ashamed about, as running an organization of any size is difficult. We understand the struggles of this market segment and delivered a solution to make life easier for entrepreneurs. 

CFO Sidekick is an excellent addition to our business segment of our app portfolio. It’s designed specifically for tablets, as the larger screen real estate is necessary to view and work with documents, financial data, media, notes, and to-do lists. Moreover, it reads QuickBooks data and will let you analyze and work with all this data.

The intuitive nature of CFO Sidekick and its ability to deliver frequent and helpful tips will help keep you on top of your game. And the way crucial information is displayed will let you interpret even the most cryptic information to help you make informed decisions.

Clips & Cuts

Most of us are pressed for time and must plan our days carefully, especially when booking appointments. When closing an appointment with your dentist, bookkeeper, or barber, you must ascertain that it fits your schedule and theirs. Booking with a barber or stylist often proves challenging, given the high demand for their services and dealing with seasonal fluctuations. 

You may have experienced this issue attempting to secure an appointment before the work, school, or holiday seasons. There’s often little chance to have your haircut even if you’ve booked earlier. Worse still, the barber or beauty salon may alter your appointment for a later date due to increased demand. Undoubtedly, this is incredibly frustrating and may make you question the professionalism of the barbershop industry. 

But an effective solution we have in our app portfolio solves this pain point. We built Clips & Cuts as a booking platform, which lets users instantly close appointments with available barbers in their area. The app’s intuitive user interface (UI) makes it easy for users to peruse barber profiles, book appointments, view map directions, request receipts, and even leave ratings and reviews. 

Mamava

We worked closely with Mamava, Inc., known for its trailblazing lactation rooms and pods, to develop a mobile app that helps mothers find breastfeeding locations nearby. We wanted to make the experience as user-friendly and stress-free as possible. It’s often daunting for mothers to find the necessary facilities for breastfeeding when visiting new and unknown places. 

The Mamava app employs GPS navigation and smart technology to help mothers locate pods quickly and let them know if they are occupied or available. The app also utilizes the smartphone’s Bluetooth to lock or unlock the Mamava pods. We also understand that every mother’s needs are unique, so we put personalized content front and center and made it easy for them to access parental resources and support. 

On the surface, Mamava may seem simple, but we built it using several technologies. Staying committed to delivering native and performant apps, we used Java with Android Studio for the Android version and Swift with Xcode for the iOS version. For the backend, we used Kumalos and built its admin layer with Node.js and HTML5.

PreVue

PreVue is a project we’re very proud to have in our app portfolio. Our client, Lucanus J. Grady, approached us with a forward-looking idea to reshape the dating app space. His experiences with popular dating apps left him disenchanted with the entire experience. Often, users doctor their images and biographies, leading to an inauthentic and dishonest dating environment.   

To solve these glaring issues, our client requested we help him create an alternative that utilizes short-form video. PreVue users must now record 22-second videos of themselves without filters or uploads, showing their true selves. Then, PreVue will match users on specific criteria, like what they say in their videos and the background images shown. 

It seems like such an obvious solution, yet PreVue is a rarity in today’s dating app space. More importantly, this app makes the dating experience more natural and honest while eliminating catfishing. While PreVue targeted college users in their early 20s, the app enjoyed significant traction with young professionals looking to build more meaningful relationships. 

Referral Buddy

There’s nothing more frustrating and rage-inducing than referring a business to customers but not receiving compensation for your efforts. Of course, this scenario applies to companies that actively engage in referral marketing. They promise to compensate you with money, free products, or exclusive offers but don’t deliver on this promise at the end of the day.

Now, this may happen because some companies are indeed dishonest. But in most cases, this happens because companies don’t know that you’ve actually referred customers to them. The problem is that customers seldom acknowledge your referral after using a company’s products or services.

So, how do you keep everyone accountable and in the loop when making referrals? Our client, Joseph Jablonski, thought about this problem intently and ideated a workable solution. He then approached us with his idea, and we encouraged him to forge ahead while assisting him during every step of the development process. 

We helped him create Referral Buddy, which tracks referrals between businesses and individuals and businesses. Referral Buddy tracks every referral, even those that don’t require a follow-up from the customer. The app’s clean UI makes it easy for non-technical users to issue requests from vendors and customers, complete referral forms, and receive compensation.

Rivvir

Contactless digital payment solutions are nothing new, but only Rivvir makes your life easier when ordering drinks. When attending music festivals or food and beverage events, you must wait in long lines to get your order. Of course, that’s not fun at all, and it’s an issue we attempted to solve with Rivvir.

Fortunately, our attempts proved successful thanks to the implementation of an easy-to-navigate UI and a streamlined ordering process. It’s simply a matter of picking a drink on the app, swiping the ticket, and getting the beverage from the quicker VIP line.

But Rivvir doesn’t only help customers with the ordering process since it’s an all-encompassing solution. We’ve also made life easier for beverage vendors by building an iPad app to help them keep track of their stock and sales. The cohesiveness of the ordering and stock control apps makes Rivvir the ideal solution for the next big special event in your town. 

In Conclusion

The projects listed above represent only a tiny slice of the apps we’ve released to this day. Several apps received critical acclaim, media coverage, and high ratings on the app stores. And even the apps that flew under the radar introduced new ideas and innovations, making them stand apart from the competition. 

Take the time to check out the remaining apps in our app portfolio and read up about us on Clutch.co and various media outlets. And when you’re ready to tackle your next project, contact NS804 to help you build the app of your dreams!