Newer versions of Android are being introduced over the years and in 2017, analyzing the rising figures, most of the companies have realized that they need to invest in Android app development services to meet the customer demands and boost sales. Following the current trends, companies that want to promote their brand and engage the customers to need to follow the pattern of leading Android apps in the market such as social media apps, Google apps, and lifestyle apps. Here are some of the major Android app development trends that will drive the market in 2018 and beyond.
1. Introduction of Android Instant Apps
While we may be using certain Android apps on the daily or regular basis, others are used seldom or infrequently. The latter ones occupy the memory and screen space though they are not needed. Google introduced Android Instant Apps in their Play Store in October 2017 to address this issue. Users can tap and use these apps, without any compulsion of installing them in their device. These instant Android apps have become largely popular now as they make the apps easily accessible and can prove highly useful for users. So, we can expect most apps to come up with this additional feature so that users find it easy to use their app even without installing it.
2. Emergence of Kotlin
During the Google IO 2017, Kotlin was introduced by JetBrains as an official language and has emerged as a programming language that works on the Java virtual machine and is equipped with data classes, Lambdas, extension function, and a good safety protocol. Thus, Kotlin offers an extensive range of features that are common to a modern programming language used for building Android apps and has made the Android app development process much easier.
3. Integration of technologies like AR, VR, AI, and IoT with Android apps
The increasing number of downloads of augmented reality (AR)-based Android apps in 2018 are indicative of a steady increase in the coming five years as well. Virtual reality (VR)-based games such as Pokémon Go have already taken the Android app market by surprise and continue to do so. However, VR apps have grown less as compared to AR apps, but in 2018, both AR and VR are expected to contribute significantly to Android app development trends. Similarly, Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible for the real-life things to be intuitive and knew your needs. It has been predicted that the number of connected things will increase significantly in the coming years. Smart devices are being designed for home and office automation to allow users to interact with them. Due to the larger user base of Android, user experience and interactivity can be greatly enhanced. The efficiency and security of the backend are being targeted to promote smooth, secure, and efficient communication with these devices through Android apps.
4. Inclusion of room persistence library
Many Android apps need to deal with large volumes of structured data continuously. A database library that is a component of Android architecture and forms an abstract layer to build queries using SQL easily is known as the room persistence library. Using this database library, the developers can split the description into different parts and carry out high-performance coding. The room also acts as a versatile library to easy integration with the new Live Data and RxJava. The main components of the room are the database, entity (represents class within the database), and data access object (DAO). The DAO represents an interface and is the principal component that defines methods used for accessing the database and rendering the UI.
5. Inception of cloud-based mobile apps
Many businesses and companies have a large amount of structured and non-structured crucial data that needs to be saved securely. Android app developers are developing several cloud computing solutions for their customers to ensure that they get access to the data anytime and in a safe and secure way. This has led to the increased popularity of cloud-based Android apps.
6. Evolution of ObjectBox
In order to support fast-paced programming, object-oriented API, instant testing, automatic updates of new objects, and flexibility of working with all threads, ObjectBox was released last year by GreenRobot. ObjectBox is a very flexible programming language that is fully compatible with the latest components of Android architecture, latest Android development trends and languages like Kotlin programming language and React programming. It also brings the best NoSQL server databases for mobile app developers to enhance app performance. The reason for the increased popularity of ObjectBox amongst Android app developers is its support for Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) feature that allows concurrent and extremely safe transactions through online apps.
7. Revolutionized mobile payments
With digital currencies coming to the fore, new payment technologies like contactless payments, wearable payment solutions, etc. are becoming increasingly popular. Innovative and convenient payment solutions are becoming popular in the electronic payment market with the aim to have a cashless society. Android app development companies are analyzing the preferences of the users and innovating new payment solutions accordingly. Though this is a challenging task, it holds the reins of the future of Android mobile app development.
8. Emergence of MVVM pattern
MVVM pattern has been developed recently for Android app development and ensures a clean architecture by separating modules using design patterns to make UI code simple and boost the capacity of testing the app code. This has made the Android app development easier than ever before and will continue to boost it. These trends are going to rein over 2018 and the coming years as well. So, it is essential for the Android app developers to acquaint themselves with these trends and stay updated to build the best Android apps for users and achieve exponential success.
