5 Lucrative Mobile App ideas for early 2021

Image by Jonas Lee on Unsplash

These days, smartphones have become integral to our lives. They can assist us with almost any task we can imagine doing. From shopping to dating and gaming to work, everything we do has at least been made a slight bit easier, if not completely digitized via smartphones. 

Much of what your smartphone can accomplish is made possible by the tech that’s packed inside it. Mobile app development has seen a massive surge in demand and profits as mobile technology has improved over the years. Mobile users are expected to quadruple to  3.8 billion in 2021 from a mere 1 billion a decade ago. The average time spent on mobile apps is estimated to rise to around three and a half to 4 hours a day, which means that more people than ever are using smartphones and that too for extended periods.

This has presented itself as a growing opportunity, and businesses have rushed to capitalize on mobile clicks faster than anything else. Large enterprises and young tech startups alike are keen on creating the next hit app that gets a million downloads.

But with millions of apps out there, it is easy to feel as if almost every app idea has already been realized. However, creative app development companies have consistently proven this wrong with innovative ideas and novel mobile applications. When it comes to mobile apps, you don’t necessarily have to develop something entirely new and groundbreaking. In fact, some of the most successful apps out there are those that either provide a better solution to current problems or put on an interesting spin on existing ideas. 

Below are what I think would be a few interesting and relevant mobile app ideas that could generate you a ton of revenue. 

Finance apps

The pandemic has had a serious impact on the global economy, and it won’t be a stretch to say that we are still recovering. Almost everyone worldwide had to face some level of financial uncertainty, and many even lost their livelihoods. For better or worse, this experience has educated many of us on the importance of planning our finances more thoroughly. 

Experts have reported a surge in retail investments post-pandemic, and more people are seeking professional financial advice than ever before. This is an excellent opportunity for financial apps to capitalize on. An app that could educate the uninitiated, help budding investors find suitable asset classes, and make finances and investment more accessible in general would work plenty well in today’s market. 

What makes this even better is integrating such an app with leading cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Investing in crypto is undoubtedly the new buzz at the moment. However, most people don’t understand how bitcoin works or what a blockchain is. Any mobile application that can provide a user-friendly means to invent into upcoming disruptive financial trends is bound to be a winner. 

Productivity app

Locked into our homes, many of us focused on building skills, learning new things, and simply improving ourselves. Productivity and self-improvement have gone up on everyone’s priority list now that people have really had the time to focus on themselves. This has increased the demand for productivity apps (on top of how popular they’ve always been!)

Apps that allow users to learn new skills, track their progress and time, build new habits, collaborate effectively with their teammates, etc., generally tend to do well on the app stores. According to Statista, productivity apps have a mobile reach of 79.6% in the US. Meaning that companies involved with mobile app development USA can produce apps centered around productivity and reach up to 80% of all mobile users in the US. 

Beyond just a respectable reach, productivity apps provide immense value to their users by helping them improve their personal and professional life and are thus likely to stay on the phones longer, generating more revenue. 

Meditation and Mindfulness app

Another category of apps that received its boost in popularity amidst the pandemic was the mindfulness and meditation app genre. These have been around for a while, but amidst all the chaos and anxiety caused by recent events, many people have come to rely upon technology to ease their minds. 

According to a Cision report, mindfulness apps are expected to generate a revenue of $4377 Million by 2027. So clearly, we have a huge demand and great market potential here. Mindfulness apps offer a whole range of options, from guided meditation tracks to simple sleep music and daily mindfulness reminders to complete full-fledged meditation courses. 

A popular business model within the genre is to offer some of the features for free and charge a subscription for the entire package. Perhaps this is the only model that fits with this genre, mainly because distracting ads don’t really look good on an app that’s helping you calm down. That is something app developers need to keep in mind before heading down this particular road. 

Educational apps

With schools and colleges shut down, students have had to turn towards technology to continue their education. EdTech is among the few technology sectors out there that have seen massive growth amidst the pandemic. This trend is likely to continue considering how everyone has got comfortable with easy-to-access online education that is a single click away. 

Countries like India and China are leading markets for unicorn Edtech startups mainly because they have large populations on the younger sides who are the target market for such companies. Despite a handful of big players in the arena, the digital education space is still up for grabs, and mobile app development companies India can utilize these opportunities. 

Education apps may also need not be strictly academic. They could offer all kinds of education, from courses helping users develop new skills to byte-sized explanations of complex topics. The education space is vast and open to experimentation, and when done right, an education app can surely yield great success and profits. 

AI-based apps

Artificial intelligence is the type of disruptive technology that is long-anticipated to have groundbreaking, world-altering implications. Although such technologies often get developed incrementally before slowly taking over major aspects of our lives. 

There is good reason to believe that smartphones are perhaps the best platform to implement rudimentary level artificial intelligence. AI has been used in applications for a long time now, mainly for its pattern recognition capabilities, to identify what each user specifically wants and deliver tailored results to them. 

However, as the technologies progress, new and novel uses of Artificial Intelligence—like chatbots, virtual assistants, advanced facial recognition— have taken over the world by storm. Since consumers have come to expect the disruption AI is capable of, ‘AI-powered’ apps are usually welcome and often successful within the app stores.

Perhaps it is a good idea to consider different ways in which artificial intelligence and machine learning can benefit your next mobile app. Implementing these technologies can significantly improve your app’s core functionality and user experience and attract new users and even help market your brand. 

Conclusion

If you want to develop a specific app idea or grow your business by developing a mobile app for it but you lack the technical expertise and team to do so, then outsourcing your mobile app development might be something to consider. Goodfirms has cataloged a list of top mobile app development companies for those seeking to outsource app development. 

No matter how you choose to develop your app, building one is certainly a demanding but rewarding challenge. Sure the market is ultra-competitive, but the success is equally sweet. Regardless of how difficult coming up with the next hit app idea might look like, it is certainly possible and very much achievable. 

What are some of your favorite mobile app ideas that you are excited to try?