App Development
Five Mobile App Categories That Will Emerge as a Saviour in Post COVID World
The uncertainties that hovered upon us in 2020 due to the global pandemic continue even in 2021. It has led us to a situation where we are still unsure how long the impacts of the COVID are here to stay. However, many businesses have already remoulded their setups and operations to get ready for this new normal, and some are in the process. Companies that were flexible and kept innovating without stopping are growing stronger than those that could not.
Sectors like hospitality, travel, retail need significant time to accept the new normal. On the other hand, a few sectors like IT solutions, e-commerce, education have found solutions in work-from-home initiatives and have become our instant benefactors during this pandemic. Amid all the chaos we saw during this present situation, mobile app development has emerged as an essential medium to connect people and services. Moreover, mobile apps are also helping people maintain social distancing and stay safe during this outbreak. Therefore, our lives without mobile apps in a post-COVID world look unimaginable.
Top five app categories that occupied the post COVID world are:
1. Healthcare Apps
Healthcare apps emerged as a messiah in this global health crisis when the entire world was going through times. Due to the complete shutdown and COVID protocols to maintain social distancing, there are minimum physical movements these days. Therefore, minimum social interaction has led to the rise of various types of healthcare apps that include medicine delivery apps, doctors on call apps, mental health consultancy app, fitness apps and more to assist people in keeping them fit and healthy.
2. Grocery Apps
Groceries are part of essential items. The only sector that did not stop even for a single day during this pandemic time is groceries. Therefore, grocery apps are one of the essential app categories on our list that has emerged as most successful during COVID. Since people are concerned about protecting themselves from the virus, they even stopped going out grocery shopping. Thus, the reason grocery apps came into the roles. As a result, the industry saw a massive number of downloads during this global crisis. Today, people continue to use grocery app for grocery purchases as they are not only safer to use to avoid infection but only convenient and hassle-free.
3. FinTech Apps
FinTech or finance app is another mobile app category that is in huge demand. The economic uncertainties and inability to visit banks have prompted many people to use mobile apps to handle their finance and banking.
According to the App Annie study, in Q1 2020, the entire time spent in finance mobile apps increased by nearly 55% worldwide. Additionally, in April 2020, Robinhood ranked number 1 on app stores in the fintech app category and increased by 260%.
People use finance apps for all critical purposes like paying bills, fund transferring, paying premiums, accessing bank accounts, trading, investing, and personal finance management. For example, from the first week of January to the end of March 2020, the overall time spent in stock market applications grew by 80%. The new trend is that people sceptical of online banking are now fast moving to online banking and other finance apps.
4. Entertainment Apps
Entertainment apps are helping people reduce their monotony during this pandemic time. Apps like IMDb, Snapchat, Google Play Music, Spotify, YouTube, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc., are experiencing a massive surge. Kids are engrossed in gaming applications, and adults too are finding many options like movies, web series, etc., for entertainment using various entertainment apps. News apps also have become more popular as people need continuous updates on the most recent happenings worldwide.
5. Education Apps
Ever since COVID hit the world, schools, colleges and universities are closed for an indefinite time. Students globally were made to attend online classes as they could not visit their classrooms physical, following COVID protocols. Even this year, students are yet to see their new classrooms. This situation encouraged the digitalisation of education, and hence we saw a considerable surge in education apps.
Although the physical classroom will always be essential for proper education, COVID-19 has prompted the sector to make teaching and learning online normal until we overcome the pandemic crisis.
Education apps Google Classroom encountered a 580% jump from January 2020 to March 2020.
Several other education applications provide tools to help teachers prepare video tutorials, arrange study work, conduct examinations, and grade exam papers. This trend will develop continuously and become profit-making in the years to come.
Endnote
From managing health and finance to purchasing essentials, teaching-learning new skills, consulting doctors, watching movies and many more, users spend more time on mobile apps these days. Therefore, mobile applications are perfect tools to help people maintain social distancing and at the same time connect them by creating more scopes to thrive.
