Key Mobile App Development Trends to Watch in 2021 and Beyond

Android is one of the two major operating systems for mobile devices. As such, it is always on the cutting edge of mobile computing technology. It also doesn’t hurt that the platform is based in the Linux operating system and developed by technology giant Google. This article will discuss some of the major technology trends in Android apps this year.

Intelligence and Machine Learning

You’ve probably heard about artificial intelligence but might not have assumed that it was going on in your mobile phone. However, machine learning, an aspect of artificial intelligence, is behind many mobile apps.

The point of machine learning in an app is to make that app work best for you rather than being the same for everyone. It usually does this by looking at how you use your apps and then make suggestions about how you use it in the future. One simple example of this is the predictive text feature on most keyboards. According to the Harvard Business Review, AI and Robotics should add $13 Trillion to the global GDP by 2030.

Instant Apps

If you have an Android phone, you’ve probably noticed your “instant apps.” These are mobile versions of the most popular applications in the Google Suite. Examples include Google Mail, Google Drive; you get it.

Instant mobile apps

If you prefer to use other services to do the jobs these apps can do, they might annoy you. After all, you can’t exactly uninstall them. If you are a fan of Google Suite, however, you probably appreciate that all of those apps come for free on your Android device. The way that these devices work together, if you do take advantage of them, makes them an even more valuable tool.

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages

Do you remember trying to open web pages on a mobile device and running into problems? It still happens, but it’s largely a thing of the past. This is largely due to the work of the AMP Project. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. This term refers to online content that works on mobile devices as well as on different internet browsers and operating systems.

Google, Android’s developer, is involved in the AMP Project by running The Google AMP Cache. The AMP Cache is a program that automatically creates and stores versions of websites that run on different coding languages. This makes them compatible with a wider variety of devices and programs.

Some features still don’t work on all platforms, especially in mobile apps. This is the case when a mobile app requires access to your phone’s hardware. But if you’ve been noticing that more and more web pages are mobile compatible, it’s largely the work of Google and the AMP Project.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things has been a big deal for a while. It’s only becoming more ubiquitous with the rise of mobile technology. The term, often abbreviated “IoT” refers to the ability of devices to communicate with each other. You can use your phone to unlock doors. When food runs low in the fridge, it can send you a notification. The possibilities are endless.

The Internet of Things is bigger than Android but its potential, when used with mobile devices, attracted Android’s attention. That is why Android launched “Android Things”.

Android Things is a program that makes it easier for app developers to develop Android apps that speak to other devices. It does this by expanding the already available tools for developing Android compatible apps. It also has a library of basic coding to make apps compatible with common IoT technology. This allows individual developers to make Android apps compatible with their IoT devices so that you can

The IoT is larger than mobile devices and thermostats, however. The marketable data and large-scale implications of the IoT are often called “The Industrial Internet of Things”. Android has yet to become directly involved, but several Google departments including Google Cloud are intimately involved with the IIoT. Android may not yet be directly involved, but Google Cloud and their associated arms are closely involved with the Google Apps on Android devices.

Cloud-Based Android Apps

The Internet of Things is largely possible because of “The Cloud”. This fairly new way of storing and accessing information is very important to mobile technology. It makes storing things safer and requires less storage on your mobile device.

The Cloud is what allows your mobile device to access all kinds of information, including content stored in the Google Suite and the Instant Apps that this article discussed earlier.

Apps Utilizing Block Chain Technology

Since the beginning of mobile technology, people have been concerned about security. This is evidenced in new phones with complicated lock screens. That’s not the only kind of security out there, however. Your data needs to be protected too. After all, doesn’t all of this wireless information like the cloud put your data at risk?

The most advanced information security that we have these days is based on something called “blockchain”. Block Chain is a series of discrete units of information. Each unit of information or “block” is embedded with the last block of information. This makes it easy to tell when the chain has been interrupted.  Discretely changing the chain, it is virtually impossible due to the distributed nature of it.

Android already uses blockchain security, but HTC is going a step further. This popular manufacturer of Android devices is working on a “blockchain phone”. Little is known about it now, but it’s likely to be another Android game changer.

Mobile Commerce

“Ecommerce” refers to buying things over the internet. These days, many of us use the internet from a mobile device. This has led to the term “Mobile Commerce” or “mCommerce”.

The first mobile devices capable of doing things like eCommerce were Apple’s iPod, iPhone, and iPad. It took Android some time to catch up, but beginning in 2014, Android started catching up.

Android apps work with money handlers like banks, credit card companies, and online services like PayPal to make it easier for people to buy and sell goods and services online.

With increasing security through technologies discussed above like blockchain and the Cloud, Android is only making mobile commerce easier in 2021.  Whereas new platforms like React Native and Native apps are optimized for mobile display and that they can communicate with a phone’s hardware

Overall Android apps are moving ahead in the technology curve for consumers and business who develop the apps.  You can update your app to iOS as it is also doing good things , Android is working with giants of the industry and emerging technologies to change the way we use our phones.