It is hard to believe that there was once a world without apps. But these powerful pieces of software have transformed our lives in helping us do anything from finding a soulmate to betting on our favourite sports from the convenience of a smartphone or a tablet. All of which has meant that there is a seemingly endless drive to create evermore powerful and sophisticated app technology.
But what is it that has helped certain apps become world-beaters while other apps fall by the wayside? After all, there are nearly nine million apps currently in existence and not all of them are going to find their way onto our mobile devices. So here is a brief overview as to what the best mobile apps are doing right:
Focusing on a simple task
The best mobile apps will always perform a simple task well. This is in direct opposition to those apps that try to blind you with extra features and annoying notifications. For example, we love those travel apps that simply let you find the best price for the flight you want. Similarly, the best sports betting apps will quickly reveal which online sportsbooks have the best odds for the sporting event that you want to bet on. It can be all too easy for app developers to want to pack each app with fancy features, but in our experience, a good mobile app will be quick to load, easy to use, and effortlessly help you achieve your objective.
Help fix the task you didn’t know needing fixing
We love those mobile apps that somehow open up a whole new world to us. The phenomenal story of the Airbnb app is a case in point. This humble space-sharing app has somehow transformed the entire face of modern tourism and it shows how apps will always be one step ahead of the everyday consumer. Much of Airbnb’s success has come from how it ignored the rulebook for how we book hotels and visit distant locations. Instead, it’s given the power directly to the consumer to decide how they want to explore new locations and experience global tourism.
Free to download
Buying an app seems like more and more of an antiquated concept. While there are still a few fair high-end productivity and gaming apps that’ll have an up-front fee, this is in direct opposition to the prevailing trend. Now it should be completely free to download and use apps that help you with anything from communication and entertainment to fitness and news. Of course, this doesn’t mean that some apps haven’t fallen under the spell of those in-app purchases. There have been plenty of high-profile critics of in-app purchases over the past few years, but such a purchasing model looks set to stay.
Making use of the latest technology
Let’s admit it. Most of us are still in thrall of the powers of these incredible pocket computers that we call smartphones. As such, it’s little surprise to find that many of the world’s best mobile apps are those that really take full advantage of everything that our smartphones and tablets can do. The Pokemon Go craze of 2016 was just one example of this. After all, it made full use of the burgeoning augmented reality tech to give everyone the excuse to roam around their neighbourhoods in search of those cute little digital creatures. We’re pretty sure that as mobile tech gets evermore advanced, we’ll see a corresponding complexity in the best mobile apps.
Helping us get evermore interconnected
It’s easy to forget that our complex smartphones were originally created as pretty basic communication tools. While we can now use mobile apps for everything from helping with a driving test to monitoring our health, communication is still at the core of all good apps. This is why we’ll always see social media apps ranging from Instagram to TikTok reigning supreme at the top of the app charts. Similarly, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram defy international borders to give us a free way to communicate via audio and video. All of which proves how mobile apps have pretty basic intentions at heart.
Where do the best mobile apps go from here?
The race is on to create apps that constantly push the boundaries of mobile technology to help us live more interconnected and happier lives. While there will always be an interest in the passing technological fads, the simple truth is that all successful apps will put the focus on human interaction rather than the technology itself. So that whether we are wishing to communicate with family on the other side of the world or are just wanting to bet on our favourite sport, we’ll know that app developers are constantly working on apps that’ll help us do all of this that much easier.