Statistics for 2023 on Mobile App Growth and Usage

Finally, the year 2022 has come to a close. Furthermore, in this post-pandemic context, companies are still trying to make up for losses they suffered in 2020. Global enterprises can now work remotely and carry on with their business practices by switching to digital, mobile-first, cloud-based, cross-platform solutions thanks to digital-first technologies.

Tech industry executives are being inspired to develop mobile apps by the fast rising acceptance rate of digitally first enterprise mobility solutions. And this will undoubtedly create a wealth of options for companies to stand out in the market.

What can you do to help your company win the match?

By looking at the most recent developments influencing the mobile scene and popular programming languages, you can obtain useful insight into the development of mobile apps from this article.

Tech industry executives are being inspired to develop mobile apps.

Why should it be for developing mobile apps?

The industry for mobile app development has had a meteoric rise due to the rising demand for mobility solutions and consumers' desire for instant access to everything. The necessity for and innovation in the mobile app market are illustrated by the data below.

A wonderful base of smartphone users

Around 6.6 billion individuals will own smartphones in 2022, making up 83.32% of all smartphone subscriptions. According to eMarketer's predictions, there will be an increase in mobile phone users until 2032 and beyond. Significantly increasing from 2022 to 2023 by 0.3% more, with 5206,9 million users globally in 2023.

The number of app downloads might increase significantly with the increase of mobile app users.

Heavy use of applications on smartphones

It's not difficult to see how everyone around you is constantly glued to their iPhones. According to a study, in Q2 2022, consumers will spend an average of 4-5 hours using apps.

Notably, the pandemic scenario is the main cause of the increase in app usage across all categories, including banking, retail, employment, and leisure. The statistics do, however, imply that the epidemic may have had longer-lasting effects on app users. The evidence shows that despite readjusting to the new normal, mobile users continue to spend more time on their phones.

The global app market forecast indicates that the future of mobile app development is promising.

The number of mobile app downloads is anticipated to increase by 24 billion in 2023 when compared to 2022.

Between 2020 and 2025, the market share for mobile apps is anticipated to reach more than $650 billion, with a market growth momentum reflecting a close to 21% compound annual growth rate.

In other words, this tendency suggests that we may anticipate a greater bloom in mobile app development in 2023 and beyond. Despite having a few large competitors in a fragmented market, the mobile app industry is always changing. This creates chances for SMEs and individuals to enter the game and be prepared to change it at any time.

But how can you know what path to go down or what choices could affect your company?
You can remain ahead of the curve and gain some insight into the potential direction that the app development business is moving in by keeping up with the most recent and developing trends.

This rise in extensive smartphone use is being driven by the digitization of financial, retail, and management services as well as the accessibility of enjoyable content.

Development and Download Statistics for Mobile Apps

The Android and iOS app concepts, as well as the Google Play Store and App Store, must be covered when talking about mobile app development and download statistics.

Google Play Store

For even the most basic search queries, Google is the most popular and frequently used platform by the global audience base every day. In the first quarter of 2022, the community identified over 2.65 million Android apps with 494K+ authors in the Google Play Store alone.

The number of apps on the Google Play Store is growing every day even though the store is eliminating spam and low-quality apps. About 3,739 new mobile apps are added to the Google Play Store each day! Google Play has surpassed all other mobile app stores on the globe in terms of the quantity of apps available.

Given the growing number of apps available on the Google Play Store, the most recent app download rate was approximately 111.3 billion, up 50% over the rate in 2016.

App Store

With a user base that is diversified in terms of geography, the Apple App Store is the second largest and a strong rival to the Google App Store. The section above labeled “Android vs. iOS Mobile Device Users” contains the relevant details.

There are currently 724K+ publishers globally and 2.11 million iOS mobile apps accessible in the App Store. Of the entire iOS app catalog available on the App Store, there are roughly 221,666 games, with the rest being non-game apps. According to the most recent Statista poll, 36,000 iOS mobile apps will be made available worldwide through the App Store in June 2022.

Top significant trends for mobile app development in 2023

More AR apps

We've already seen how popular augmented reality apps may be because of the obvious success of games like Pokemon Go or AR filters in messaging apps like Snapchat and Instagram. And the trend is going to intensify as more companies try to use augmented reality to promote their goods.

Apple and IKEA's collaborative attempt to develop an application that will help to exhibit IKEA's furniture in consumers' homes is one example of how to combine AR and retail. The new products will initially be offered through the app, which will make use of Apple's ARKit technology.

Other producers from diverse industries will follow if the app is popular.

AI will transform technology

The development of AI has altered how we use mobile apps. We can now use virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant to arrange our schedules, increase productivity, and acquire information. Virtual assistants are becoming more context-aware thanks to advancements in natural language processing and machine learning, which improve and increase the accuracy of their responses.

According to Venture Scanning, machine learning has received $2 billion in funding, making it the most well-funded area of AI-based enterprises. In order to improve conversational interfaces, major corporations like Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon invest in machine learning-based solutions.

Last year, we saw smartphone apps like Prisma that combined AI and neural networks to provide results that others believed could only be achieved with a straightforward filter. The outcome was astounding, and we can anticipate that other app developers will test out related techniques.

The major priority for developers is security

Cybercriminals are increasingly focusing on mobile devices.

In 2021, 30% of the zero-day vulnerabilities that were known to exist targeted mobile devices.

The number of exploited, zero-day vulnerabilities utilized in active attacks against mobile endpoints increased by 466% in the same year.

Additionally, 75% of the assessed phishing websites particularly targeted mobile devices.

Security has become a key worry for mobile app developers because of the industry's overall expansion, the large amount of user data being retained by businesses, the industry's billions of users, third party SDKs, and other factors.

A change in the industry toward securing user data, including Apple's App Transport Security (ATS) and Google's initiatives to enhance app permissions, is already apparent. Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram are becoming more popular. Mobile browsers also protect users' privacy.

Both businesses simultaneously incorporated automatic security updates for their operating systems. In 2023, mobile security will undoubtedly continue to advance, particularly in the areas of mobile payments, data encryption, and privacy protection.

Attractive UI/UX Designs for Mobile Apps

The most unstable UI/UX design trends are related to mobile. The success of your mobile apps is now greatly influenced by the substantial advancements made in mobile UI/UX designs over the past few years. In order to achieve optimal user retention, market rivalry for the finest mobile app UI/UX is escalating quickly.

Applications based on location

As location-based services (LBS) alter how customers interact with businesses, the number of location-based apps will increase. Marketing professionals and publishers can better target their clients by providing relevant advertisements thanks to advancements in location intelligence and the ability to monitor areas where users have been.

The number of LBS-based applications will increase in the areas of travel and tourism, navigation, security, location-specific payment portals, and indoor mapping. Additionally, creating location-based solutions for consumers is now simpler than ever for mobile app developers because of the accessibility of APIs and Google map technology.

Android: Kotlin vs Java

Similar to Swift and Objective-C on iOS, Kotlin has emerged as an alternative to Java for Android developers. Kotlin will ultimately take off on a larger scale in 2023 due to its rising popularity and successful implementation in commercial projects.

The simplicity of use is the cause of this. For Java and C# developers, learning Kotlin is rather simple because the two languages have certain similarities. Kotlin and Java can both be used by developers in the same project because they get along well. Additionally, they can use it with the IntelliJ tool Android Studio.

Additionally, it aids in avoiding null references and other Java errors, which improves the quality of the end output. For this reason, Kotlin is being dubbed “Java on steroids” and more Android apps will start to use it.

Swift will develop even more for iOS

Since Swift is regarded as a potent and simple-to-learn mobile programming language, its rising popularity won't stop in 2023.

Due to its succinct syntax and comprehensive documentation, Swift is seen as more fluid than Objective-C.

Swift and Objective-C can also be used together in the same applications, with full access to the Objective-C API, just like Kotlin and Java can.

Although Swift won't likely replace Objective-C this year, we'll see more and more iOS applications built using it.

Optimized mobile pages

For mobile consumers, loading speed is still an important consideration.

In an effort to make it better, Google has created Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). It is an open-source initiative designed to enhance mobile browsing. By searching Google on a mobile device, you may quickly identify AMP-based websites because they are labelled as such.

This is a solution that web designers, companies, and publishers should take into account because it enhances the mobile user experience and contributes to SEO (AMP websites rank higher in Google).

In addition, creating and maintaining the AMP is less expensive than creating a native or hybrid mobile application.

The newest class of mobile web apps are known as “progressive web apps” (PWA). They are not subject to the limitations of mobile websites, such as their sluggish performance and requirement for a continual Internet connection.

Push notifications, offline and full screen modes, a launcher for the home screen, access to the camera, and other features give PWAs a native-like feel. Additionally, they use less data and are faster than mobile websites.

Progressive web apps are the solution to mobile fragmentation and work on a variety of operating systems because they don't need to be downloaded or installed.

PWAs have already replaced native apps at some businesses, including the Financial Times, while lighter, more progressive alternatives have been created by others, like Twitter, for their own native apps (e.g., Twitter Lite).

We can anticipate a move toward PWAs given the growing list of Progressive Web Apps for well-known applications like Flipboard, AliExpress, or Telegram.

Instant Android Apps

As a result of the abundance of mobile applications available in the app stores, Google became aware of how challenging it is for users to regularly download and update new apps for various purposes as a result of the abundance of mobile applications available in the app stores. For this reason, the company unveiled its Android Instant Apps, which were shown off at this year's Google I/O developer conference.

Users of Android Instant Apps can only download the application's essential components, saving space on their smartphone by instantly accessing the remaining material via a URL. Google's Progressive Web Apps are being created at the same time as Android Instant Apps. Developers may quickly convert their native apps into instant ones without having to create a separate application, and Google claims that 50 instant apps have already been created.

Adapt to changing mobile app trends

The correct app can assist in increasing the accessibility and visibility of your brand or company to your target market. By keeping up with trends, you can incorporate cutting-edge concepts into your company and have the chance to distinguish yourself as an authority in your niche.

Want to learn more about the market for mobile apps? Get a professional opinion on your question about mobile app development by contacting Groove Technology – a talented group of software experts who provide secure, scalable, high performance technology for their clients globally.