Mobile applications

Mobile applications, commonly called apps, are software applications used for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. While operating systems like iOS or Android run the general functions of the computer device, mobile apps are individual programs used for specialized purposes—VoIP communications, email, web browsing, entertainment, education, business, and shopping. This versatility made them very popular, and software developers found creating them to be incredibly profitable. Modern mobile apps increasingly integrate technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), real-time health monitoring, smart home connectivity, and augmented or virtual reality, expanding mobile devices into tools for diagnostics, education, productivity, creative work, and more.

Background

Mobile applications are a twenty-first-century phenomenon. The release of Apple’s first-generation iPhone in 2007 caused the popularity of touchscreen devices to skyrocket. Tablets, which gained widespread appeal with Apple’s iPad in 2010, added to that popularity. Soon after, smartphones and tablets based on Google's Android operating system entered the market, offered by manufacturers like Samsung, whose Galaxy line became a major player in the mobile space.

Microsoft and Amazon briefly entered the mobile hardware market with Windows Phone and Kindle Fire, respectively, but they were later phased out or repurposed. Microsoft ended support for the Windows Phone in 2020, and Amazon began decreasing the Kindle Fire’s app store offerings in the early and mid-2020s to focus on streaming and educational content rather than general app ecosystems. Meanwhile, China’s Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo emerged as leading Android manufacturers. The growth in device variety fueled increasing demand for mobile applications.

Early apps offered practical functions like email, calendars, and weather forecasts, but as device processing power and screen quality improved, app functions also improved, including entertainment, productivity, and business applications. By the 2020s, developers created applications using cross-platform frameworks like React Native and Flutter. These allowed sophisticated app compatibility across iOS and Android devices.

As apps and app development evolved, businesses and regulatory bodies also evolved. While Apple and Google traditionally took a 30 percent commission on app sales and in-app purchases, both companies reduced their rates to 15 percent for developers earning under $1 million annually following antitrust scrutiny. Global regulatory agencies examined the dominance of Apple and Google. Some pushed for greater transparency and competition in the mobile app marketplace. Other regulatory issues also impact the industry. For example, due to US sanctions, Huawei's access to Google Play services is limited outside China.

Mobile Applications Today

By 2013, over 1.7 million individual mobile applications were available across all platforms. At that time, 800,000 apps were for Android devices; 775,000 were for Apple iOS; 125,000 were for Windows Phone; and 70,000 were for BlackBerry. The early 2010s marked a rapid expansion in the app market as smartphone adoption surged worldwide. According to data from Flurry Analytics, app usage increased by 76 percent in 2014, driven by mobile shopping and task-management apps. In January 2014, CNN reported that internet usage on mobile phones had once again surpassed that of personal computers, and for the first time, the majority of that mobile usage came through dedicated apps rather than web browsers. By 2017, Comscore reported that mobile apps accounted for 57 percent of all digital media usage in the United States.

By the 2020s, mobile applications became even more central to daily life. In the mid-2020s, Google Play offered more than 2.6 million apps, and the Apple App Store hosted approximately 1.8 million. Competitors like Windows Phone and BlackBerry had largely exited the market, leaving iOS and Android platforms to dominate. Popular apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels dominated social media, while traditional social networks like Facebook experienced a decline among younger users. At the same time, generative AI emerged as a major driver of mobile innovation. Apps like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and various AI art and music generators allowed users to generate text, imagery, code, and audio content. Many productivity apps also adopted built-in AI features to automate transcription, summarize meetings, organize tasks, and draft communications. Communication apps also evolved—Skype, once dominant, was largely supplanted by Zoom, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Google Meet, which offer voice, video, and encrypted messaging services across global user bases.

These application advancements supported business and productivity. In the early 2020s, applications targeting this industry saw rapid development, driven mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work. The cloud-based document editing and real-time syncing abilities of Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Notion became essential tools for workplace communication, project management, and collaboration. Increasingly, productivity apps incorporate AI features, such as automated transcription, smart meeting summaries, writing assistance, and virtual scheduling.

Entertainment apps, like Spotify and Netflix, continued to thrive as mobile gaming reached new heights. While early breakout hits like Angry Birds (2009) established gaming as a dominant mobile category, newer cross-platform titles such as Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile showcased console-level quality on smartphones. Services like ride-hailing, food delivery, real-time translation, contactless payment systems, QR code scanning, and mobile banking became standard features of mobile devices. Superapps like WeChat (China), Paytm (India), and Grab (Southeast Asia) redefined how users interacted with these mobile apps by combining their features into a unified platform.

With these apps, personal, sensitive information—location data, personal files, banking information, or user tracking—became increasingly vulnerable. Developers and platform hosts implemented measures like two-factor authentication, biometric logins, and end-to-end encryption to protect this data. However, reviewing app permissions, avoiding third-party app stores, and keeping software updated are the user's responsibility. Despite this, the US government undertook multiple efforts in the 2020s to ban TikTok due to data privacy concerns, forcing parent company ByteDance to sell the majority of its holdings to American companies to satisfy new legal requirements.

Mobile applications expanded access to education, healthcare, and financial services in underserved regions. Offline and lightweight versions of popular platforms—Android Go, Facebook Lite, and YouTube Go—function efficiently on low-cost smartphones with limited data and internet access. These adaptations help bridge the digital divide and ensure more people can benefit from mobile technology.

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