WHY MOBILE APPS ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THEY USED TO BE

In the tech-driven society we live in today, mobile apps have become many people’s best friends. They are easily accessible and easy to use. But what goes on behind closed doors? Why do so many apps fail if there is such a high demand for them? In this article, we will break down the reasons why mobile apps are not as good as they used to be. 

When mobile apps began to creep their way into everyone’s pockets, specifically in 1994 when the first smartphone was built, they were the main topic of conversation around the world. With the tap of a finger, one could open an application that swiftly performed a particular function. 

Apps have become a platform for businesses to provide and sell services. In the early years, they seemed like a permanent and revolutionary change for the marketing and sales industries. 

This is where problems began to reel in, and once they are understood, it is impossible to ignore them. Mobile apps today, are maybe a tad bit less revolutionary than initially thought to be. Keep this in mind when thinking about building an app. 

Consumers are not as interested in them as they used to be. In the mobile app industry, this is called “app fatigue.” Users no longer want to download new apps so the industry is at a halt. This seems to be a result of over-saturation. There is merely too much clutter in the app store. In 2019, there are currently over 2 million apps to choose from. 

This makes investment in mobile apps highly risky. Why invest and create if consumers are no longer interested? As time passes and new technology is introduced to the world, interests change and consumer demands shift. Mobile apps seem to be old news and based on the stats, they are no longer intriguing.

A TechCrunch article reveals that the majority of consumers in the US will get to downloading zero apps per month if the current state of affairs continues. This shows how competitive and saturated the mobile app market is. 

Building a successful mobile app requires a lot of work. For businesses who want to create fast and efficient information channels through apps, they need to learn how to properly develop those with the latest technology and modern marketing techniques. 

If any aspect of the company changes, whether that be an initiative, a financial matter or content, it must be updated on the mobile app as well. Consistency is key in building a successful business and if a company’s mobile app is not in sync with its website, that creates issues for the company image. 

Additionally, if a company wants users from all mobile operating systems, they must get their app approved from the app store of each operating system. There are rules to getting accepted and those rules change a lot. This creates extra app development work for most companies. Compliance can cost a lot. 

It costs money to maintain a well balanced, fully capable app. By default, if a business has both a webpage and a mobile app, there must be two codebases. With two codebases, there is a greater need for programmers and equipment. It is expensive to keep up with both platforms and often proves to be too much work for businesses.

Mobile apps require an extensive amount of research in all areas of development. An informative article written on mobile app development discusses past mistakes of app creators, such as lack of strategy, lack of marketing research, and the inability to monetize an app. One point that is stressed in this article is the need for extensive research. 

For example, knowing facts about your target audience is imperative for a successful app. “Knowing facts” does not mean understanding who they are and what they like. This is a rigorous process. You need to know what your audience doesn’t like, what causes them pain, and what their core problems are. The more you know, the better the app can be enhanced to cater to your users. 

Due to these reasons, there has been a major shift in the mobile app industry. Applications are competing in a variety of industries. In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the number of tech startups servicing the healthcare industry.

As native applications (iOS or Android apps that have been under development for the last 10 years) have been decreasing in use, progressive web apps have taken over.

PWAs or Progressive Web Apps are mobile apps delivered through the web. They are used by going on a browser such as Chrome or Safari. Users can then download content while browsing. PWAs can be beneficial for a company to have over just having a website because they are intended to work on any platform that uses a standards-compliant browser. 

If a company has both a mobile app on the app store and a progressive web app instead of a website, they can share the same code base. Having one code base makes updates easier, and keeps everything in sync. 

In another fascinating article that discusses the pros and cons of both native applications and progressive web applications, one point stressed is that progressive web apps do not need to be downloaded from an app store, therefore, do not need to go through app store rules and approvals. If you are building a platform that can function well as a progressive web app, depending on your type of user, consider taking this route as the first step before you launch your mobile application. 

Mobile apps have desperately been trying to thrive in times of trouble. All of the reasons above are groundbreaking issues for the mobile app industry and these problems have been a topic of discussion in recent times. 

In short, Mobile apps are not as good as they used to be. Building successful mobile apps is not easy. With a cluttered app store, one that leads to app fatigue for users, mobile apps do not glow and dazzle as they used to. 

It is important to make sure you have the right plan and a unique selling proposition in place before you enter the mobile app industry.