What are Mini-apps & Why You Should Care?
Mini-apps are gaining attention from brands and developers, but why should you be concerned about these mini-apps?
Among all the trends that in a couple of years occurred for the app development industries, mini-apps gained good attention. Generally smaller than 4MB in size, mini-apps are becoming the future of the app marketing industry. But what are mini-apps and how do they work? Well, simply, mini-apps have a super app that supports their runtime. We will dive into more details further.
Mini-apps are designed to work with the main app without having to install it. One of the popular mini-apps client WeChat, designed by top app developers from China, is a perfect example. The WeChat app lets users use mini-apps and mini-programs without the mini-apps downloads.
Why should app marketers care about mini-apps?
Well, since its release in 2017 on Chinese platforms, mini-apps have gained popularity rapidly. When Tencent released mini-programs in the beta version, WeChat had an established reputation of 846 million monthly active users. These stripped-down mini-applications were fast to download and required no installation. The concept of mini-apps became popular as it did not waste storage space or the data of the user. However, mini-applications are capable of offering limited features. Though these features are enough to talk about the real experience that users might get with the actual apps.
If you Google mini-apps, you will find that mini-apps for iOS and Android are now becoming the future of the mobile app development industry. The reason behind this growing popularity is the freedom that these apps provide. On top of that, mini-apps are also making it easier for developers to gain the trust of the user. Before installing the original apps, mini-apps can introduce users to the crucial features of the main app. Let’s have a look at a few points to identify why mini-apps are the future?
- Robust processing and less loading time
Mini-app ideas include developing apps that are small in size. The apps offer limited features which allow them to load faster. Thus, even on low-end smartphones, mini-apps can offer performance improvements and influence a huge group of users to install them.
2. Brands will have an opportunity to tie up with big names
Just like Tencent, brands like Apple and Google are joining the race of mini-apps with mini-apps iPhones and mini-apps for Android. These tech giants will partner with brands to launch their mini-apps on the UI. However, in a way, it can be said that not all brands will have the access to make a place on the UI as unlike play stores, it is quite difficult for super apps to make slots for hundreds of apps.
3. Services like in-house developments will be provided by super apps
WeChat is giving brands an option where they can opt and pay for the app development process. This does not require hiring a separate team and gets things done faster. WeChat can build the experience on behalf of the brand with a fee and launch it on the super app quickly. Instead of having an outsourced team and making the process more complicated, it is a better idea to save money and resources as well. Also, it gets things done faster.
4. Your mini-app should improve the Super-app experience
Unfortunately, one of the major criteria of picking mini-apps to list on the super app will include its usability for the users of the same target market. For instance, WeChat is a social media app used to chat with friends and family.
Now, if users of WeChat are interested in topics such as movies or cars, and your mini-app is offering a relatable experience, then the idea can have a possibility to be onboard on the super app. In short, super app owners will choose mini-apps that help in enhancing the user experience and usability of the super app.
To conclude, this was all for now regarding the mini-apps and why app marketers should be concerned about them. Hopefully, it gives you an insight into the fact that even though there are fewer super apps available at the moment, it will become the future. To improve the UI and marketing strategies, mini-apps will surely become the new normal for the app development industry.
