Mobile App Development Projects: COVID-19's Impact

The pandemic has changed the way we work and live our everyday life. Work from home, shop from home, stay at home has become the new normal. Due to these changes, many businesses have seen a drastic loss in their sales. Physical stores have seen a decrease in customers, whereas it's the opposite of eCommerce. Retail eCommerce alone generated over 22 billion in June 2020. The mobile industry is another most affected industry, on a positive note. It is expected to reach $582 billion by the end of this year.

Here are some insights into the effects of COVID-19 on mobile app development:

1. Increase in number of app installation

As everyone is at home, people are looking for new ways to escape boredom during the lockdown. And mostly, every new way leads towards online solutions. Online video calls, online chatting, social media, online shopping, online gaming, and the list goes on, making it the primary reason why there are over 592 million app downloads daily. 

Looking at the demand, though there are 2.8 million apps available on the PlayStore for downloads, mobile app developers are rolling out new features and updates to keep customers engaged, entertained, and digitize their work. For example, online payment, online shopping, online study, and more. 

2. Popularity of gaming apps 

As football, volleyball, cricket, and meetups are not allowed under social distancing, and many people around the world are working remotely, spending a lot of time at home, they have found alternative ways to entertain themselves. LudoKing, PubG, CoC, fantasy sports, augmented reality games have become new ways to play.

All this has led to a steady rise in gaming app installations and the development of AR games. The study reveals that the global market for the AR gaming industry estimates it to be $3 billion in 2020.

3. Rise in a communication app

Face-to-face communication is not possible. So to limit the gap and interact with one another in this work from the home model, communication apps came up as saviors. Be it school, office, or a group of friends, communication apps such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Slack have eased our lives by providing seamless video and message conferencing features. They have seen a massive rise in their downloads. For example, Skype witnessed a 66% increase in installations, GoToMeeting App 85%, Join.me App 45%, and Zoom indicates that its number of users increased to 300 million in April 2020.  

4. Smart learning in the educational sector 

As institutes, colleges, and schools are most vulnerable to socializing and gatherings, they've been shut down. And alternative modes, i.e. online learning, have been introduced to keep the learning going. To make it smart, many schools are leveraging AI integration tools and AR Apps. This step toward online understanding has proven to be so effective that its usage rose to 98% in 2020 from 77% in 2017. Besides, the industry estimates reaching $US 325 billion by 2025. If you're in the educational sector, the right step is to develop an e-learning app.

 5. Switch to an on-demand medical app

The pandemic has increased the demand for online medical delivery and on-demand doctors’ apps. Wearables and connected devices help people to monitor their health to a certain level. However, for chronic patients, it becomes necessary to have an interconnected medical system. Thus, the healthcare industry has switched to mobile apps that provide a wide range of services such as remote consultation, doctor on demand, and home-delivery of medicines, for example, Capsule. It is an app that home-delivers your prescribed medication. 

 6. Growing startups and entrepreneur

With the rise in mobile app development, many startups have rolled in with new business ideas or adapted old ones to new ways. For online education systems - Udemy and  Lynda clones are in massive demand. Uber for car rental, UberEats, and InstaCart for delivery apps;  Amazon, Etsy, eBay clones for eCommerce businesses. Dating apps like Tinder clone are a new addition to the business models. In addition to self-business growth, the demand for business apps is also high.

Conclusion 

The impact of COVID-19 has left the businesses unpredictable. Whether the traditional business methods will find the way back or not, no one knows. But one thing's for sure, mobile app development is the future of all businesses, considering its demand amid pandemic.