trends for app development in 2018
When the end of the year is closing in, we all like to play clairvoyants trying to predict what awaits us in the new one. Sometimes our guesses turn out to be pretty accurate, sometimes they miss the mark completely. It mostly depends on the topic we are trying to think through. Asking questions about your love life may be pointless, but wondering about upcoming trends in mobile app development may bring some really useful outcomes. Although technology may be as unpredictable as Cupid’s arrow, there are specialists that can already conclude what we are going to buzz about in the next few months. Let them enlighten us then!
Dow-NO-loading
Accelerated Mobile Pages, Progressive Web Apps and Instant Apps
AMPs, PWAs and Instant Apps are going to blow up this year. The new approach of mobile pages and web apps is starting to be a real deal. Let’s take a closer look at some solutions that are already on-trend.
The AMP project started as an open-source initiative in 2015, as the results of Google initiating the discussion about improving the performance of the mobile websites. Accelerated Mobile Pages are based on static content in order to render quickly. AMP relies on three elements: HTML code, JavaScript libraries and CDN, optional element responsible for delivering HTML pages based on AMP. The usage of an AMP is supposed to reduce the bounce rate caused by the slow loading of pages and content, regardless of whether the content is available on mobile devices or classic PCs.
Then we have Progressive Web Apps, featherweight, little applications that use webAPK files. How do they work? When coming across a website that operates PWAs, it will ask your permission for installing. Then its icon appears on your home screen, like any other app’s would. So it behaves a lot like a native app, responds quickly and has great UX, but doesn’t take as much space and doesn’t require using an app store. Downside? Currently they are not supported by iOS.
Instant Apps, on the other hand, are Android’s proposition of application on a diet. Basically, you install only a base of an app, and it will be downloading content up to date from the Web. It requires access to the Internet at all times, but again, behaves very native-like, doesn’t take as much space and doesn’t require using an app store.
It’s getting cloudy
Cloud storages
We continue with the theme of saving the precious space on our device, as it seems to be quite a problem currently. Despite our mobiles becoming more and more powerful and able to accommodate many kilobytes of data, applications can also be ridiculously heavy nowadays. No one wants their device to be cluttered yet no one wants to feel limited when scrolling through app store. Cloud storages come to the rescue.
You just install small application and all of its heavy calculations are performed on cloud, so you don’t waste your precious space. This way of dealing with data is especially useful for enterprises dealing with issues of employees’ devices not being secured enough. When sensitive data is protected by the cloud, that is no longer a concern.
Things happen
Internet of Things
One of the funniest names in the history of technological jargon hides an enormous concept behind it. And actually a lot of people struggle when it comes to understanding of its meaning. Simplifying, Internet of Things is a concept of infinite connection between all devices that create global network of data. What’s the point of that, you may ask? Well, the possibilities are endless. Making your daily routine easier by synchronizing your alarm clock with your coffee machine is just the simplest of them.
IoT is growing fast. Specialists predict that until 2018 it will be producing 400 zettabytes of data every year. Until 2020, IoT will gather around 30 milliard of smart devices (meaning those that have their own, unique IP). Currently one of the most interesting projects IoT supports is the creation of smart cities — modern, extremely technologically advanced places that allow citizens to become mobile themselves. The one you will probably hear a lot about soon is Songdo in South Korea, a first absolutely smart city built from scratch.
VR, AR and MR getting great PR
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality
Alternative Reality. Just the sound of that itself wakes up the kid inside us. Vision of another reality powered by our technological advance is undoubtedly fascinating, but let’s begin with distinguishment of three types of that technology.
Firstly, we have the most famous one — Virtual Reality. We can talk about VR when technology generates fully artificial environment — meaning the world where visuals, sounds, sometimes even touch and scents, are created by developers. Projects based on engaging VR currently find most use in digital entertainment industry, but as technology gets better, the usability scope is widening.
Then there are two others: Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality. Both AR and MR impose artificial elements onto the real world, the difference being that MR allows you to interact with the artificial elements, while AR doesn’t. Despite being the source of Google’s interests for quite some time now, AR became really on-trend after Apple’s conference in June.
Also — remember the boom for the mobile game Pokemon Go? That application lured many people by the vision of their favourite little ‘mons they remember from childhood appearing around them, even if only on the screen of a smartphone. AR in that particular app on a long run only disturbed the play, but no one can deny that it served its purpose of a marketing trick really well. Also, generated tons of priceless photos of people doing goofy things with Pokemons.
Life. Easy mode
On-demand apps
You may have already noticed that we are being more and more spoiled by apps that allow us to get things stuffed up to our noses. You know, ordering food without even leaving the house, calling the taxi and tracking its movement while sitting comfortably in the armchair, things like that. Currently you can get almost everything done for you, even have your dog walked and your car parked for you. Rise of the on-demand apps is a fact, most popular of them being, for sure, Uber and Netflix. Moreover, it is rather certain that this particular trend won’t die soon, as we live really fast and have thousands of important things orbiting around our heads every day. We really appreciate the possibility of getting lots of things done faster and easier than ever before.
Living the artificial life
Artificial intelligence. Machine learning
Sometimes I found it even a little disturbing that chatbots grew up to be so intelligent and may be indistinguishable from real people sitting behind the screen. Think about it for a second — it’s very possible that at one point you talked to a bot, but you didn’t notice because it responded as accurate as a real person would do. But don’t worry — machines can only know as much as we teach them. It’s true though that currently, thanks to technology called Machine Learning, devices can actually learn without being explicitly programmed. It’s a fascinating technology that is able to learn from people’s requests and messages, mimic their way of writing and somehow react more and more like them.
That’s how those devices pretty much turn out to be our mirror reflections — which is not always a good thing. Most of you are probably familiar with Microsoft’s AI bot Tay fiasco. Quick review — Microsoft launched a chatbot named Tay, developed to have conversation with Twitter users and thanks to Machine Learning, able to speak their way. Tay had to be silenced sixteen hours after its launch, as people quickly made her speak like a typical internet basic bro, talking outdated memes, questioning Holocaust and bashing feminists. Things got so far that Tay started to offend people directly. So the project itself turned out to be both a great success — as Tay was really to mimic real Internet citizens — and also a big failure, as Microsoft had to take it down so quickly. That also gave us some horrific conclusions about us as species. We are pretty much literally able to create monsters.
Fortunately, most of the time AI serves much more noble purposes and still expands its regions of influence. Allowing apps to recognize complex patterns by analyzing lots of data, AI will bring a revolutionary change in countless industries, most looked forward being healthcare.
As for the fun fact in that matter — AlphaZero, the game-playing AI created by DeepMind (Google sibling) has recently fought a chess-game with the world’s best chess-playing computer program — and won. Earlier on, Alpha Zero was learning how to play chess for four hours. That’s quite an achievement, you have to admit.
The greatest is yet to come
The great thing about technology world is that every day you can be surprised by yet another revolutionary solution that may initiate a whole new trend. That’s the beauty of millions of extraordinary minds constantly working on changing the game. Today we predict that we will be all about slimming down apps’ weight and improving AI. Tomorrow — who knows.
Nevertheless, better safe than sorry — be prepared for everything you can predict, and try to prepare for the unpredictable. 2018 is going to be a great year — just ask any chatbot around, they will tell you!
