We’re at a point in our lives when most of our daily routine revolves around the usage of mobile apps. From interacting on social media, and looking for recipes to daily task management- there is an app for everything.

The marketplace is filled with all kinds of mobile or web applications. Even businesses who never would have needed an application in the past, are now working on getting one. Why is that so?

Some may be looking to get ahead of time and build an app before it becomes absolutely necessary, while others might just be listening to the demands of their customers, who want an app to make networking and operations easier for them.

At the moment there is a wide variety of applications that are put into various categories. Currently there are 32 categories in the Google Play Store while there are 24 categories in the iOS App Store.

Is that too many categories? Possibly. Before you start working on the development side of things, it is important that you figure out which category your application will fit in. Here are the 6 most basic ones that you should know of, before you start to turn your ideas into an actual developed application. Some helpful tips and advice will also be shared, to help establish and retain a solid user base for the monetization of your application.

1. Lifestyle Mobile Apps

In recent years, there has been an influx of lifestyle applications. A lifestyle app is one that focuses on facets of your life that you, as a user, would like to work on improving. These apps can be of the following types.

Fitness
Dating
Food
Music
Travel

Such apps are designed and created in a manner that once a user integrates them into their lives and makes them a part of their regular use, it’s highly likely that the app is going to be there for a while. Lifestyle based apps have the potential to become an integral part of a user’s life, and people tend to rely on these apps on a daily basis- turning to them for help. How is that, you ask? These apps help the users with their daily workouts, find the song they heard in a restaurant, and even find the way to the location they’re headed.

If you are working on a similar idea that fits into the lifestyle category, keep in mind that your app will have to bring a unique solution to the table – something a user cannot live without.

Following are a few examples of lifestyle apps that we cannot live without using:

Spotify
TripAdvisor
Uber

This next category is probably the most popular. Let us be honest, social media apps are a fundamental part of our daily lives. We spend most of our free time on these apps and are probably a bit too addicted to at least one of them. Facebook alone has over a billion active users every day. Take a moment and let that sink in.

Why are social media apps so popular? Naturally, we want timely and convenient access to all our loved ones, and these apps bring that to us. We want to be able to check whatever is going on in our social circles- from within the palm of our hands.

And not just that. Nowadays, people want to share everything. They want to post updates of their daily lives all the time. It has become a norm. And based on that, apps that don’t even fall in the social media category have started to include social sharing options.

To give you a better idea, popular apps like Strava, are basically used to track your activities. It also allows to you to create social circles, and compare your progress, not only with people in your circle but also with strangers.

Many other apps are also including the option to share high scores, products on to your social media with only a click of a button. Popular music app like Spotify helps to instantly share a song you like with your social circle in your stories.

So, if you are working on an idea for an application, you may want to consider adding social sharing options that allow easy sharing without having to leave the app. The element of being able to share with social circles will keep the users engaged. Some common social media apps include:

Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
Snapchat
Twitter

3. Utility Mobile Apps

A utility app is the type of app that we generally use on a daily basis and don’t even realize it. Maybe it’s because many of these utility apps are already in our phones when we purchase them or maybe because we are so used to having them as a part of our lives that we don’t even register them as apps that we rely on.

Here are some examples of utility apps that you might be using too but not realizing your dependence on them.

Calculator
Flashlight
Calendar
Weather

The beauty of these apps is that we rely on them without even knowing it, maybe because their usage duration is very limited. For instance, you may open a calculator only when you have to make a calculation or check the weather only once during the day. There can be many other cases like this.

But here’s the thing to note: none of the apps are in this category can be considered profitable. You cannot monetize an app if it is going to be used only once during the day and that too for a short span of time.

So, if you’re working on an idea, make sure that you work on increasing the usability of your application. Users have to be on the app to make money for you and turn it into a profitable venture for you.

4. Games/Entertainment Mobile Apps

The fourth category is gaming and entertainment. You may have some idea that this category is huge. However, as saturated as this category is, there is a lot of competition. As a developer, you will be enticed to jump into this category because these apps bring users back and have a lot of monetization opportunities.

The more popular games are able to bring users back multiple times a day and the length of these visits is pretty long, making it worthwhile for app creators. Some examples of popular games include:

Angry Birds
Clash of Clans
Subway Surfer
PUBG

5. Productivity Mobile Apps

When you hear the word productivity, you may think of boring work-related applications. However, what may come as a surprise to you, is that this is on the list of most famous app categories. These apps are designed to help the users take care of their tasks in a quicker and more efficient manner.

Some of these tasks may be considered boring otherwise; but when performed through these apps, taking care of these tasks becomes a little bit of fun. There are many examples of productivity apps that you’re using on a regular basis, such as:

Docs
Sheets
Wallet/Pay
Evernote
Wunderlist

If done right, productivity apps are something users cannot life without. The purpose of a productivity app, is to help users complete tasks easily, quickly, efficiently, and conveniently.

You may want to think on your idea and the features you are going to be working on if you want to build an app in this category. Get creative with your thinking process but remember, the idea is to make the app convenient and effective for users.

6. News/Information Outlet Mobile Apps

Last but not the least, the category that can be considered to be pretty straightforward is news and information. The purpose of these applications is to provide users the information and news they want to look at and keep up with. A few examples of such apps are:

Buzzfeed
Smartnews
Google News & Weather
Feedly
Flipboard
Yahoo News Digest
Reddit
LinkedIn Pulse

The list above contains some of the biggest names in this category and they are all providing something unique to their users. If you are working on a similar app, keep in mind that you have to come up with something unique so that your app is able to stand out.

Once you have all the necessary information, it is a good idea to consider all your available options. What are they? Look at all your options carefully, make a plan, asses the various possibilities that will crop up, so that you’re able to come up with a profitable mobile application that can also be useful to people.

For more information on how to build a mobile application or how to know what feature works in your mobile app, visit our blog

What Category Is Your Mobile App?