Discover 10+ innovative mobile apps that ruled the market in recent years and find some inspiration.
A QUICK SUMMARY – FOR THE BUSY ONES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Innovative mobile apps are transforming the way we live, work, and play, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in our everyday lives.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the most groundbreaking mobile applications and apps that are not only capturing attention but also setting new trends in the tech world. This article presents the prevailing trends on the mobile application market in last years. You will learn what smartphone users were looking for and what unique features were appreciated over those months.
Ready to dive into the world of innovation & best mobile app ideas, and discover the next big thing in mobile apps? Let’s get started.
According to a juicy “App Data Report 2024” presented by Business of Apps, in 2023, Google Play had a total of 113.2 billion downloads, significantly outpacing the Apple App Store, which had 34.9 billion downloads. However, the Apple App Store generated $89.6 billion in revenue in 2023, accounting for 67% of all app store revenue globally, despite having fewer downloads than Google Play, which made $47 billion.
Instagram was the most downloaded app of 2023, surpassing TikTok by 42 million downloads. Subway Surfers was the most downloaded mobile game, with 218 million downloads.
Mobile ad spend across both app stores reached $362 billion in 2023, showing a 7.7% increase from the previous year.
The mobile app market in the DACH region is projected to generate over $20.6 billion in revenue by 2027, with Germany contributing the largest share at $15.5 billion, followed by Switzerland at $3.5 billion and Austria at $1.6 billion.
The UK app market generated approximately $4.4 billion in revenue in 2023, making it one of the significant markets globally despite its smaller population compared to countries like the US and China. The UK saw 2.3 billion app downloads in 2023, positioning it as a crucial market in terms of both consumer spend and app engagement.
In 2023, the European mobile app market saw significant growth, with consumer spending reaching $171 billion across app stores. This represented a 3% year-over-year increase despite previous declines in 2022. The market is expected to continue growing in 2024, driven by the recovery of consumer spending on apps.
The total number of app downloads across the EU in 2023 was 257 billion, marking a 1% increase compared to the previous year. The time spent in apps also grew, with users collectively spending 5.1 trillion hours in apps, reflecting a 6% year-over-year increase.
Type: meditation
Android downloads: 10M+
iOS reviews: 1.1M+
Founded: 2010
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Main purpose: Headspace offers guided meditation sessions and mindfulness techniques to help users reduce stress, sleep better, and improve their overall well-being.
Awards:
Used technologies: AI-driven personalization, in-app voice integration, machine learning for user behavior analysis.
Type: education
Android downloads: 100M+
iOS reviews: 800K+
Founded: 2014
Country of origin: Croatia
Main purpose: Photomath helps users solve math problems by simply taking a picture of the problem. It provides step-by-step solutions and explanations for learning.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: Optical character recognition (OCR), machine learning for problem-solving, AI for step-by-step solution generation.
<span class="colorbox1" fs-test-element="box1"><p>Read also: Top 6 Current & Future Generative AI Trends and Predictions</p></span>
Type: meditation
Android downloads: 10,000,000+
iOS reviews: 611.5K
Founded: 2012
Country of origin: USA
Main purpose: This app helps users to be more mindful – breathe better and meditate. Thanks to relaxing music, lessons on stretching and gentle movements, user may feel less anxious. Also, it supports restful sleep and lowers stress.
Unique features: guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs, masterclasses, and relaxing music.
Awards:
What users say:
<blockquote><p>I absolutely love the Calm app! It’s a must have for everyone. Perfect for when I have too much going on inside my head and I lie awake for hours, which usually keeps me from getting a good night’s sleep. It’s like a timeout to center yourself and a soothing, comforting way for you to drift off to sweet sleep in Dreamland. I recommend it to everyone! Thank you Calm App, I’m so happy that I have you. </p><p>— Sharon Lowry, Calm user.</p></blockquote>
Type: Book summary service
Android downloads: 5M+
iOS reviews: 240K+
Founded: 2012
Country of origin: Germany
Main purpose: Blinkist offers concise summaries of non-fiction books, enabling users to gain key insights and knowledge from thousands of titles in just 15 minutes. The app is designed for busy individuals who want to stay informed and learn efficiently.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: AI-driven personalization algorithms, text-to-speech technology for audio summaries, cloud computing-based content delivery for quick access.
Type: Agricultural assistant
Android downloads: 10M+
iOS reviews: 10K+
Founded: 2015
Country of origin: Germany
Main purpose: Plantix is an agricultural app that helps farmers diagnose plant diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies using AI-driven image recognition. It provides tailored treatment suggestions and farming advice, aiming to improve crop yields and reduce losses.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: AI-based image recognition, machine learning for treatment suggestions, big data for localized weather and farming advice.
Type: Symptom checker and health assistant
Android downloads: 10M+
iOS reviews: 80K+
Founded: 2016
Country of origin: Germany
Main purpose: Ada Health provides a digital health assistant that helps users understand their symptoms and provides potential causes and next steps. The app uses AI to analyze symptoms and generate a personalized health assessment.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: AI for symptom analysis, natural language processing (NLP) for user interaction, machine learning for personalized health assessments.
<span class="colorbox1" fs-test-element="box1"><p>Read also: Generative AI in Healthcare: 9 Use Cases & Upcoming Solutions</p></span>
Type: Teacher and school rating app
Android downloads: 500K+
iOS reviews: 40K+
Founded: 2019
Country of origin: Austria
Main purpose: Lernsieg allows students to rate their teachers and schools, providing feedback on various aspects of their educational experience. The app aims to improve education quality through transparency and student engagement.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: Secure and anonymous rating system, data analytics for feedback trends, user authentication for student verification.
Type: video editing
Android downloads: 100,000,000+
iOS reviews: 74K
Founded: 2002
Country of origin: South Korea
Main purpose: This one of innovative mobile apps is used for professional video editing. Despite being full-featured, it is user-friendly and has tools such as: multiple layers, blending modes, voiceovers, speed control, adding subtitles, transitions, or special-effects.
Unique features: professional rich video editor
Awards: The Best Editor’s Choice Video Editing App of the year, Google Play Store
What users say:
<blockquote><p>Supreme video editing does not have to be limited to desktop and laptop computers. With KineMaster, professionals and amateurs alike have access to tools that allow them to create magnificent videos with multiple effects on their mobile devices. This allows them to be productive and lets them work on their ideas even while they are on-the-go.</p><p>– Oliver Bright, KineMaster user.</p></blockquote>
Type: fitness, Outdoor tracker
Android downloads: 1,000,000+
iOS reviews: 15.7K
Founded: 2016
Country of origin: Denmark
Main purpose: This certainly is one of the most innovative mobile apps. Relieve is used for tracking and sharing any outside adventure. Also, it connects to many monitoring applications and lets users create stories and free 3D movies of their various activities.
Unique features: 3D videos of outdoor activities, tracking many activity factors
What users say:
<blockquote><p>Awesome activity tracker. Tracks so much more than just miles. Tracks elevation, speed, can track when you take photos and make a video. So much more than I was looking for in an app. </p><p>– Tera Jones, Relive user.</p></blockquote>
Type: reading, entertainment
Android downloads: 50,000,000+
iOS reviews: 28.4K
Founded: 2017
Country of origin: South Korea
Main purpose: Webtoon successfully transfers regular comics into mobile – episodes are shown on long vertical strips (not on multiple pages) which makes it clear and pleasant to read on smartphones. The content is published mostly in color, with some featuring music and animations. Generations growing as huge fans of traditional comic books and anime are huge fans of this mobile app.
Unique features: publishing user-created comics and stories
Achievements: This innovative mobile app got a total of 100,000 views in 2018 and became the world’s most popular comic publisher.
What users say:
<blockquote><p>This is honestly the best I’ve been using. Not only because I love comics, but also it is really user friendly. It is easy to download the episodes, nice to read (e.g. in a bus), has a lot to offer. AND COMMUNITY I LOVE YOU. Comments from other webtooners are never judgy and I can feel like with a group of friends 🙂 keep up with a good work – and help more talented comic artists to grow:) </p><p>– Ewa FK, WEBTOON user</p></blockquote>
Description: Food waste reduction
Type: Food waste reduction
Android downloads: 10M+
iOS reviews: 230K+
Founded: 2015
Country of origin: Denmark
Main purpose: Too Good To Go connects users with restaurants and grocery stores to buy unsold food at a discounted price, reducing food waste and saving money.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: Geolocation services, real-time inventory management, secure payment gateways, mobile payments.
Type: Tax filling assistant
Android downloads: 1M+
iOS reviews: 70K+
Founded: 2016
Country of origin: Germany
Main purpose: Taxfix simplifies tax filing by guiding users through a series of questions and automatically filling out tax forms based on their responses. The app is designed to make tax filing accessible to everyone, without needing prior tax knowledge.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: AI for tax form automation, secure data encryption, integration with national tax systems.
Type: social media
Android downloads: 1,000,000+
iOS reviews: 103
Founded: 2005
Country of origin: South Korea
Main purpose: The next one on the innovative mobile apps list is Weverse, which connects fans from around the world, serving as a “fancafe”. Users can get access to exclusive content and artists’ official releases that are not published anywhere else. This app also has a special feature, similar to Instagram’s Stories. It is called “Artists’ Moments” – fans can see artists’ “inspirational” posts that expire after 24h.
Unique features: connecting fans of the same creator, mobile “fancafe”
Achievements: Over 500,000 users have already registered for this mobile app.
What users say:
<blockquote><p>AWESOME! I love posting about Gfriend! But I wish [there] was a way that we could communicate with other fans better in comment sections. </p><p>– Weverse user.</p></blockquote>
Type: emotional health app
Android downloads: 1,000,000+
iOS reviews: 8.4K
Founded: 2016
Country of origin: San Francisco
Main purpose: Youper was created to be the “first responder to emotional stress”, and it is spreading like wildfire around the globe. This is one of those innovative mobile apps that reads users’ moods and emotional condition to give feedback on their current state of mind. It offers mental support by showing how to meditate and achieve mindfulness.
Unique features: improving emotional health through quick conversations based on therapy techniques and mindfulness
Awards: “Best of 2018” in 2018 TOP APPS by Apple
What users say:
<blockquote><p>I’ve been using Youper for little therapy chats throughout the day. It’s been a quick and efficient little helper. The chats are natural and encouraging, and great design and performance make it easier for me to keep coming back. Great work. Keep it up.</p><p>Pros: Conversations really feel like a therapeutic chat with a friend. I feel better after using it.</p><p>Cons: Could be easier to review past conversations.</p><p>– Jairet Crum, Youper user.</p></blockquote>
Type: literature online
Android downloads: 1,000,000+ Installs 5,000,000+ on android, 7.2K Ratings on ios
iOS reviews: 8.4K
Country of origin: Hong Kong
Main purpose: Webnovel is another product on our innovative mobile apps list that offers daily updates of both new and classic stories and novels. It has an interesting element of gamification that allows user to continue reading next chapters: some books have special icons in upper corners called “Spirit Stones” – official digital currency. The Spirit Stones can be collected by various missions in the app and they can be used to read more novels, skip ads, and support book translators.
Unique features: fantasy and romance novels mostly
Awards: “Best of 2018 TOP APPS” by Apple
What users say:
<blockquote><p>There is really a big amount of books to read. You just need to find the ones you like. I know that everyone wants to earn money so most of the books are premium after reading it some time but you giving us a way to still read them is good. And this new interface is great. </p><p>– Webnovel user.</p></blockquote>
Type: Fitness and nutrition tracking
Android downloads: 100M+
iOS reviews: 1.5M+
Founded: 2005
Country of origin: United States
Main purpose: MyFitnessPal allows users to track their diet and exercise, helping them achieve their fitness goals by monitoring calorie intake, macros, and physical activity.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: Cloud-based data storage, API integrations with fitness trackers, AI for personalized recommendations.
Type: Education (language learning)
Android downloads: 500M+
iOS reviews: 1.8M+
Founded: 2011
Country of origin: United States
Main purpose: Duolingo provides language learning courses in a gamified format, making it fun and easy for users to learn new languages or improve their existing skills.
Unique features:
Awards:
Used technologies: Gamification algorithms, AI for personalized learning paths, speech recognition for pronunciation practice.
Apps become innovative mostly thanks to leveraging new technologies and trends, as well as disrupting traditional industries like finance.
A peer-to-peer marketplace that facilitates the exchange, sale, or donation of eco-friendly and upcycled items, encouraging sustainable living and reducing waste.
A personal financial coaching app that provides users with tailored financial advice, budgeting tools, and investment strategies based on their unique financial goals and habits.
An all-in-one learning platform that adapts to each user’s learning style and pace, offering courses, interactive lessons, and skill development tools.
A platform connecting users for shared mental wellness activities, offering support, mindfulness sessions, and mental health resources.
Innovation fuels competitive ideas and helps creative people thrive. Innovative mobile apps provide users with solutions that answer their problems or needs, such as meditating, instant design, film editing tools or controlling stress.
Would you personally use any of these apps? Do some of these apps seem inspirational? Do you already have an idea and want to talk about it?
Choosing the right mobile app development company for creating an innovative app is crucial for the success of your project. Here are the key factors you should consider:
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