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Mobile isn’t going anywhere. If anything, the focus on mobile devices is deepening: By 2026, 48.8% of “total time spent with digital media” will be on mobile devices. Today, 71% of brands are working on a unified mobile strategy.
What does this mean for software development teams, the dedicated professionals tasked with navigating the mobile landscape in 2025? More importantly, what are the mobile development trends that will help them succeed amid such a rapid pace of change?
It bears remembering that the mobile market is large and diverse. In terms of macro mobile trends, the Sensor Tower State of Mobile 2025 report highlights a few notable indicators:
Not surprisingly, the mobile app development market is also massive: it’s projected to reach $606B by 2032. Driving that growth is the work of mobile app development providers, of which 74% plan to build 10+ apps in the next year.
In 2025, AI remains on the top of priority lists across most industries. As a result, mobile developers continue finding innovative ways to integrate AI into software products and engineering workflows alike. The constant emergence of promising new use cases for mobile features, many based on generative AI, easily makes AI the #1 mobile development trend.
Assuming it’s true that 80% of data is unstructured, it’s easy to see why AI makes such a difference. The faster that developers can access insights across these data sources—the deeper and more reliable these insights are—the better.
In addition, AI can assist and enhance key aspects across the mobile development process, including:
No wonder that, for 31% of teams, AI-assisted development is a core part of software development practices (OutSystems). Our not-so-bold prediction is that this number will continue to rise in 2025, though not without its challenges.
As Addy Ozmani, engineering leader at Google, points out, there can be a considerable gap between expectation for AI-assisted development and how developers actually use AI. Ozmani concludes that, in its current state, AI coding tools are best suited for things like learning aids for early-stage developers, or “MVP generators for validating ideas quickly.” Still, for experienced developers who want to accelerate their prototyping processes, AI can be a powerful tool.
Super apps offer users a unified platform that integrates multiple functionalities. These apps—exemplified by solutions like WeChat and Alipay—combine messaging, payments, e-commerce, and more, creating expansive ecosystems that keep users engaged within a single app. In particular, financial services superapps seem to be gaining a stronger market foothold.
For mobile development teams, super apps present both challenges and opportunities. Here are some best practices to consider:
As super apps gain traction globally, they’re reshaping how developers approach mobile ecosystems. These apps can open doors for businesses to capture greater value, by catering to diverse user needs within a single cohesive environment. Will super apps rise to the top as they already have in Asia and other regions? It will be difficult, but not impossible.
As a knock-on effect of the increased interest in AI, related technologies have received a boost in recent months. For example, rapid improvements in large language models (LLMs) have enabled developers to empower more accurate and useful voice-powered interfaces for mobile applications.
Some broadly call this Zero UI, in which the use of voice, human gestures, and AI replace traditional UI. You’ll find Zero UI use cases across industries, including digital retail experiences and home IoT. Indeed, allowing users to perform more nuanced actions via natural-language voice commands has powerful implications for the accessibility of software. High-quality voice interfaces are also useful in contexts that prioritize hands-free access, such as navigation apps for use in cars or on motorcycles.
While voice interfaces have existed for years, increasing LLM maturity has boosted the associated user experience. Functions such as search, chat, and assistance requests are now ready for further voice integration.
As a result, voice user interface is another market firmly on the rise.
Since AR- and VR-enabled mobile features depend on specialized devices and interfaces, the popularity of these concepts depends on the latest hardware releases. Last year’s wave of impressive new devices, headlined by Apple's Vision Pro, as well as the anticipated release of Meta Quest 4, has reignited interest in developing AR and VR content, in particular.
Whether it’s about designing fully immersive AR/VR experiences themselves, or the content therein, making compatible mobile applications represents a relatively new and increasingly popular branch of development.
Engineers across industries are considering the possibilities presented by the latest consumer and professional gear. NASA has released its own Mixed Reality Exploration Toolkit (MRET), for example. Harvard opened its own AR/VR studio, among other institutions that have done the same.
Keep an eye on WebAR, WebXR, and WebVR as they continue to evolve with the release of new hardware. This is a good example of what that might look like.
Some trends take time to build in magnitude, becoming more prevalent as they expand in scope. This is the case for 5G coverage. Taking advantage of these high-speed connections has been a developer focus area for several years now, and progress is ongoing.
During Q3 of 2024, mobile 5G subscriptions surpassed 2.1 billion worldwide. That number is expected to reach 6.3 billion by the end of 2030. The steady rise in availability means more developers can factor in 5G when building their applications' capabilities.
Smartphone equipment manufacturers around the world now consider 5G a standard inclusion rather than an option, which makes it even safer as a development priority. In 2025 and beyond, mobile developers may find themselves innovating for 5G-enabled use cases, such as:
The increasing demand for real-time processing and data privacy is driving the adoption of edge computing in mobile app development. By processing data closer to the user—on devices or local edge servers—edge computing minimizes latency, enhances app performance, and reduces dependency on centralized cloud infrastructures.
Some industry experts believe edge computing is “key to fully unlocking mobile AI’s potential.”
Why? Because on-device processing can reduce latency and make AI more viable for more mobile applications.
Edge computing is particularly impactful for apps requiring real-time analytics, such as gaming, AR/VR applications, and IoT-connected platforms. Additionally, edge computing aligns with growing user concerns about data privacy, as sensitive data can be processed locally, limiting exposure to external servers.
For engineering teams, this shift means designing architectures that are optimized for distributed processing. For mobile teams, adopting edge computing means rethinking architectures to prioritize distributed processing, ensuring seamless synchronization between edge nodes and cloud systems. Starting small with edge-enabled features—such as real-time analytics or localized data storage—can help ease the transition and demonstrate value.
As edge computing frameworks and tools continue to evolve, they are set to empower mobile app developers with the ability to create faster, more responsive, and privacy-conscious applications—essential for meeting the demands of modern users.
Mobile developers are constantly looking for ways to allow users to access applications across platforms and device types—without the need for parallel development teams. PWAs allow for the creation of app-like experiences accessible via a simple web browser.
Users can’t (or won’t) run the Slack app on their phones? Make it so they can chat and collaborate in-browser. Users need to securely access Sharepoint documents on remote devices? Allow them to authenticate and author in-browser. Developers are enabling such “parallel” experiences in most modern applications, thanks to PWAs.
Some of the appeal of PWAs comes from their ability to serve customers who will only have limited interaction with a company or service and, therefore, may not want to download a full app. For example, parking meter solutions are ideally suited to PWAs. These applications are also affordable to maintain, as they only require one development team across all devices.
While the use of PWAs has remained part of the development ecosystem for years now, it has perhaps never been as popular as it is today. Google and Apple have both created technologies similar in function to PWAs. Google Instant Apps and Apple App Clips are designed to act as previews for full app experiences.
Using these platforms, developers can experiment with generating limited-functionality, no-download versions of their software, whether to entice users to try their products, or as a more comprehensive part of their release strategies.
Companies are acutely interested in the ease of use and budgetary advantages that come with maintaining these web resources instead of engaging in traditional mobile app development. Case in point: Google AI Studio is now available as a PWA.
PWAs are far from the only method that can allow companies to develop for multiple platforms with a single team and code base. Frameworks that allow the development of native-like app experiences remain popular.
The two main options for developers are React Native and Flutter, made by Meta (based on Javascript) and Google (using the newer Dart language), respectively. Since both frameworks have solid support from tech giants and strong communities, the choice of which to use may come down to developer preference.
The primary appeal of both React Native and Flutter is largely the same. Developers can work on a single code base in one unified team, preventing silos, disconnect, and extra spending. Because apps require long-term upkeep after they go live, the budgetary and functional advantages of cross-platform development keep paying off over time.
Considering the many advantages of this development method, you can expect it to remain prominent in 2025. Today, 84% of organizations say their cloud native apps are “more secure than they were two years ago”; 76% say most or nearly all of their application development is cloud native.
Hybrid development remains a leading option for teams that want an even more streamlined way to create cross-platform apps, relative to React Native or Flutter. While those frameworks involve creating a consistent code base that interacts with the native mobile features of each operating system, hybrid apps work the same, but across device types.
Hybrid apps are less complex to update and maintain, potentially reducing development costs. The downside? They may not be able to deliver the same level of near-native performance.
Companies have long understood the importance of reaching the widest mobile audience possible, which requires either split development teams or some form of cross-platform solution. For many, the ability to “build once, deploy everywhere” offers considerable advantages.
File the shift toward minimalist app design under “something to watch.” While this trend is nowhere near as prominent as the others, the “dumbphone” boom is real, and it may indicate a broader shift in user demand.
The idea behind minimalist design is, well, simple: straightforward, stripped down interfaces that discourage doom scrolling and excessive screen time (rather than encourage it). Users themselves may prefer minimalist app design due to stress and feature fatigue, or the fact that many of the leading app developers are constantly embroiled in controversy or regulatory headache. Then of course there are the myriad health issues associated with prolonged mobile phone usage, especially among youth.
Minimalist design has been a trend in UI/UX for years. Will it become a leading trend in 2025 and beyond? Time will tell. Some companies are already leaning heavily into this trend, with the release of minimalist phones. If demand does shift more decidedly toward minimalism, it will fall to mobile development professionals to respond with viable products.
No predictive list of app development trends can be 100% complete because in today's technology ecosystem, new and prominent ideas rise to the surface remarkably quickly. Zooming out, the United Nations declared 2025 “the year of quantum computing” in science and technology. New solutions and use cases for autonomous generative AI (“agentic AI”) seem to crop up every day.
One of the best ways for your organization to stay up to date on the latest app development trends and priorities is to work with a trusted partner. A skilled third party can offer consulting and/or hand-on development support, based on their diverse work with the latest technologies and use cases..
Transcenda's experts come into every project with up-to-the-moment knowledge of mobile development best practices. Check out our portfolio of work to see how we’re helping leaders in healthcare, fintech, and other sectors stay ahead of the trends. Contact us today to tap into our comprehensive expertise.
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