post-COVID

We don’t know for how long the impacts of the COVID pandemic are here to stay. This is why many businesses are getting ready for this new normal period. Flexible and innovative businesses are growing stronger than others. Although industries like hospitality, retail, and travel need significant time to become normal, a few sectors like work-from-home solutions, gaming, video streaming, and eCommerce have become our instant saviors during this new normal era. And in this present situation, all types of mobile apps have become highly essential. Anything possible to do online is becoming digital. Simultaneously, mobile apps are not just becoming highly profitable and popular but also make a huge effect in helping people maintain social distancing and stay safe during this outbreak. So, honestly, we can’t imagine our lives without mobile apps in a post-COVID world too. Top 10 App Categories to Rule the Post COVID World Let’s explore the top 10 app categories that will become the most productive, effective, and accomplished businesses in the post-COVID scenario! 1. Healthcare Apps Healthcare apps have come as a savior in this sensitive time when everybody is concerned about health. Since we are not doing physical movements a lot these days, healthcare apps like fitness apps, meditation apps, medical care apps, and mental health applications are assisting people in keeping them healthy both physically and mentally. Online fitness programs instruct how to do basic yoga or meditation for keeping ourselves healthy even when staying home, the necessity of a balanced diet, and the types and perks of exercises. On-demand doctor’s applications offer instructions on medical sample tests, prompt consultation, digital prescriptions, and medicine delivery. Patients can consult the best doctors over medical applications for discussing their diseases and symptoms to get a better insight into their health and bear panic scenarios. A report by App Annie says that in March 2020, a combination of ten fitness apps incorporating Asana Rebel, 30 Day Fitness, and Nike Training Club has seen almost 5 million downloads within only one week. 2. Grocery Apps Nobody can survive without groceries. Hence grocery apps are one of the most important app categories on our list that has seen success during the pandemic. People are concerned about getting infected with the virus; hence, they are not ready to step out of their house for grocery shopping. Here, the grocery apps play their roles. These apps maintain the pace with the rise in demand and feed people most securely. The most famous grocery applications like H-E-B, Target, Shipt, Instacart, and Walmart encountered a massive number of downloads during this worldwide crisis. Grocery applications have gone through a great transformation from hardly being an option to becoming the ultimate need during the pandemic. 3. FinTech Apps FinTech or finance is another app category that is experiencing a huge increase in demand. The uncertainty in the economy along with the failure to visit banks has caused many people to use mobile apps for handling their money. A report from App Annie says that in Q1 2020, the whole time spent in finance applications increased by almost 55%. The increase was sharper at 90% and 85% respectively in South Korea and Japan. In April 2020, a FinTech app named Robinhood ranked #1 on app stores in its category and increased by 260%. From fundamental activities like paying bills, using bank accounts, and fund transferring, to things like stock monitoring, trading, investing, and personal finance management, all have become possible due to mobile apps. Customers search for user-friendly, trustworthy, and secure apps, to solve all monetary issues. From the first week of January to the end of March, the overall time spent in stock market applications increased by 80%. The market uncertainty and poor economy are reasons behind this. As a new trend, customers are currently using their banking apps daily. 4. Dating Apps Dating apps have seen a massive surge during this global lockdown period. There was only a 5.3% increase in using these apps in 2019. But during the Coronavirus outbreak, we have seen a huge increase in the download of apps like Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder as all face-to-face meet-ups have been prohibited. In 2019, it was already forecasted that more individuals would be meeting their partners virtually by 2035. On 29th March 2020, Tinder users worldwide swiped through 3 billion probable matches. And this was a record-breaking incident. This trend is going to stay for a long as real-life dates can be very costly. Hence, meeting a person through a dating app will be less expensive and more effective for working out a relationship. 5. Entertainment Apps Engaging entertainment apps help people reduce their boredom. During this pandemic, entertainment apps like Scrabble GO, IMDb, Snapchat, Google Play Music, Spotify, YouTube, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. have encountered a great surge. Kids are captivated in gaming applications for engaging themselves and get quite fun during this critical scenario. Adults are also engaged in news applications to get updates on current happenings globally. News apps like Google News, BBC News, CNN, etc. have become more popular as people are curious and concerned about the most recent happenings worldwide. They want to learn about the precautionary measures more to understand how the whole world is dealing with this crisis. Moreover, they want to know what healthcare and government entities are asking them to do. 6. e-Learning Apps Lockdown not only prompted students to use online resources but also turned many people to try and excel in new skills for passing the time. For instance, famous online language apps like Duolingo experienced a 148% spike in registration during March 2020 in the US. In late March, Udemy encountered a 425% increase in enrolments. Maybe the sudden energy for mastering skills will just remain until people go back to their normal life, but the e-learning organizations may continue to experience success due to the low cost and ease they are offering people for helping them pursue their new hobbies from home. E-Learning