The use, design and development of mobile applications has done nothing but grow in recent years. What’s more, as a result of the pandemic and the switch to digital in many key economic sectors because of COVID-19, the app market has grown even more and even faster than in previous years.

By way of an example, according to the Mobile App Trends 2021 report published by Adjust, the mobile app market has maintained solid levels of growth, with an increase in the number of apps being installed of around 31% in 2021 so far. Furthermore, over the course of 2020, e‑commerce apps grew 6% and the average duration of sessions involving them jumped by 44%, which just shows the levels of user engagement involved. On the other hand, the digital banking market experienced growth of 25% in 2020.

Such frenzied activity in the world of mobile applications comes at exactly the same time as 5G technology begins to penetrate the market and complete its rollout. Improvements in connectivity and parallel developments in both technological settings only serve to complement one another and create a positive feedback loop in terms of the benefits available. As a result, both the companies and neutral operators responsible for rolling out the 5G network, alongside app developers, see a very bright future in terms of working together.

5G, the perfect technology for ‘squeezing’ all the potential from apps

Today’s apps are becoming progressively more complex with every new generation. That’s why they’re more demanding in terms of device resources and, above all, connectivity, network access, use of data through portability and the number of processes taking place per second. At the other end of the spectrum, users are increasing the number of apps they have installed on their devices, the amount of time they spend using them and their demands in terms of how easy apps are to use, alongside greater data security and response speeds.

On both sides, 5G can be very helpful indeed. Greater bandwidth ensures much faster access and information can be transferred in much greater quantities than with previous technologies. Efficiency and transmission speeds are also dramatically improved here, without ever compromising the security of data being transmitted at any point. 5G technology allows app developers to reach new limits of development, bringing increasingly comprehensive and powerful applications to the market.

Putting users at the centre of the map

While it’s certainly true that an efficient 5G network facilitates this greater freedom of work and increased demand in the development of apps, it also comes at a certain ‘cost’: users are already experts at using apps and are extremely demanding when integrating them into their everyday lives.

And excellent connectivity just isn’t enough anymore. A high-speed circuit is useless if the sports car requires months of training before you can take it for a spin. That’s why developers can’t yet take full advantage of the mobile app market’s effervescence and put it all in apps that aren’t built from the ground up in line with strict and clear UX (user experience) criteria.

Both convenience and a seamless user experience across all devices are top priorities for users, according to the study mentioned above. 76% of people say ease of use is the number one factor at play when choosing an app. Fluidity when using an app – regardless of what it actually does – proportionally increases the number minutes that app will be used for. And all the data supports the theory that users are firmly in developers’ minds: the duration of general sessions increased from 19.09 minutes in 2019 to 20.04 minutes in 2020, and we’re already at 20.31 minutes in 2021 so far…