The 7 Biggest Android App Development Trends in 2024

In this article, we’ll discuss the latest trends in Android app development:

• Instant applications
• Multiplatform development
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• Chatbots
• Android Jetpack
• On-demand apps
• Internet of Things

Instant apps aren’t new in Android development, but they keep gaining popularity. The main idea of instant apps is to allow users to try apps or games before installing them to the device. It helps to get more installs of the application.

This technology is useful for e-commerce businesses and games. Instant apps allow playing a particular game for a while. After that, users can decide whether to download the game to their device or not.

For example, the New York Times has released the Crossword app. It has an instant version, so users can play a game without installing it.

There are several main benefits of choosing instant apps:

• Full access to Android applications without downloading the app.
• Great UI/UX design.
• User experience of a native app.
• Opening the app as a web page, instant apps require less traffic than native applications.
• More storage. Devices won't be full of various applications that users only open once.
• Compatibility with a lot of various Android devices.

From the developers’ perspective, it’s relatively easy to create an instant app. Android Studio provides two options — develop an app from scratch or transform an existing app.

Instant Apps require the same Android API, the same project and source code. So, Android engineers don’t have to develop two different apps.

Google offers a full guide on developing instant apps for Android engineers.

The future of Android application development includes new technology from Google — Flutter.

This framework allows developing apps with a native interface for platforms like Android and iOS. A lot of developers choose Flutter as a tool for mobile app development service due to it's flexibility and combinability.

There are several reasons to pick Flutter:

Software engineers actively integrate Flutter into the development process. That makes this technology one of the latest trends in Android development.

Apps like Google Ads, Alibaba, and Reflectly are made using Flutter. All of them have a beautiful interface and advanced set of features.

Let me give you one more example. We’ve developed a library called SlidingTutorial for Flutter. It allows making screens for user onboarding and has smooth animations.

People use AI and ML on their smartphones every day. Google has a smart Assistant that helps with routine tasks. Additionally, there are a lot of AI-based photo editing apps like Prisma, Face App and more.

But, in 2022 Android app development trends are going to have even more AI-based features like chatbots, voice translators, and smart predictions.

The combination of AI and ML can bring many changes to the future of Android development. For example, these technologies analyze the user behavior and interactions with an app and make more precise suggestions.

Social networks can offer the content visitors are interested in. It’s a good marketing channel for any e-commerce business. Users can see the product they need and make buying decision faster.

AI isn’t a new technology for custom Android app development. A lot of enterprises use Artificial Intelligence. For example, Netflix analyzes what kind of shows users watch and recommend similar movies.

LinkedIn, a popular social network, uses AI-based algorithms to offer appropriate work offers. Also, LinkedIn can analyze users’ skills and experience to show job recommendations, suggest people, and so on.

There are several APIs that help to integrate Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into an Android app:

• Face API. This tool allows to detect people’s faces in photos or videos. Mobile Vision makes it possible to get data about users’ faces (closed eyes and smiles).
• Text API. Text Recognition API can recognize the text written in a Latin-based language. Additionally, this tool can detect text on pictures and videos.
• Barcode API. The scanner recognizes barcodes in real-time. Users can also scan several codes simultaneously.

Customers appreciate chatbots for their fast responses and the ability to answer 24/7. According to the latest stats, 58% of businesses using chatbots belong to B2B field. So, chatbots are one of Android development latest trends.

There are many various ways to utilize chatbots. Customer support can get better can thanks to fast answers. It takes approximately 10 hours for a human worker to answer the user’s messages while chatbots respond immediately.

A lot of enterprises like Facebook and Starbucks have already added chatbots to their routine tasks. There are useful chatbots like the Starbucks Barista app. Using this application, customers can tell the bot what kind of coffee they want and take it at the chosen cafe.

One of the chatbot examples is Hello Hipmunk. This bot helps to plan a trip. The main goal of Hello Hipmunk is to save your time. It can book flights and hotels, find the lowest prices, and more.

Android Jetpack is a suite full of libraries, tools, and guidelines that help developers create advanced applications. The primary purpose of this set is to simplify routine development tasks.

Google offers structured documentation making it easy to start using this tool. There are four main components: foundation, architecture, behavior, and UI.

Let’s discuss them more precisely.

• Foundation. This part offers cross-cutting functionality such as testing and Kotlin programming language integration.
• Architecture. Various architecture components assist in developing robust and maintainable Android applications.
• Behavior. The components of this part help developers implement different Android services like notifications, permissions, and so on.
• UI. Such components offer widgets and helpers to make Android apps user-friendly.

The latest Android development trends include Android Jetpack since it makes development faster and easier.

One of the main trends for Android app development is improving customer service. There are a lot of on-demand apps like Uber or Postmates. Such applications help do everyday tasks faster and more comfortable.

On-demand applications can follow various purposes. There can be grocery delivery apps, taxi applications, cleaning services, and so on.

On-demand applications can analyze users’ locations and offer the required services. For example, Google Maps show nearby restaurants or petrol stations. Having a list, users can pick the appropriate one and get directions.

Customers can get instant services with on-demand applications. A lot of businesses decided to develop applications to bring better experience to their clients. This Android app development trend helps achieve better results with routine tasks.

These days, almost every device has a connection to the Internet. The Internet of Things has brought a lot of opportunities to users and developers. So, there is no doubt that IoT is one more Android app development trend of 2022.

According to the latest stats, the IoT market can reach $1.6 trillion in 2025. This technology is quite useful for such industries as healthcare, logistics, e-commerce, and so on.

For example, there are a lot of healthcare devices that track health condition and transfer collected data to the doctor.

IoT technology is useful not only for healthcare but also for education. There are a lot of learning projects like Edmodo, C-Pen, and Nymi that integrated the Internet of Things.

For example, the Edmodo platform offers various opportunities like communication, collaboration, and more. Using Edmodo, tutors can share learning materials. This service also allows teachers to communicate with parents and update them with children’s progress.

No doubt, 2022 will bring a lot of new technologies for Android development.

Among the most significant trends there are:

• Artificial Intelligence;
• instant apps;
• chatbots.

However, the developers can also integrate Flutter and Android Jetpack to make the development process faster and more comfortable.

One more trend to mention is Augmented Reality. This Android development trend came from the previous year. AR gives a lot of opportunities for various industries. For example, many Instagram and Snapchat filters are based on this technology.

Let me give you an example. We’ve developed ARFaceDetection. This app is based on Kotlin and ARCore. It overlays the text or image over users’ heads. It also tracks head movements to make the text look more natural..

If you want to develop an Android app in 2022, you need to adopt some of the latest technologies in Android development to stay competitive and get more profit.