The Future of Wearable Technology: Opportunities and Challenges for App Developers

With the emergence of billions of new networked “things” and their ingrained presence in our everyday lives, technology is constantly evolving. Wearables, one of the underlying flexible technologies, may exploit the abundant contextual data generated by these devices to create an authentically tailored experience.

This blog’s primary goals are to present a state-of-the-art assessment of the wearable market and to illuminate the history of wearable technology. 

Along with a review of wireless communication technologies, architectures, data processing elements, and market status, the article offers a comprehensive and varied classification of wearables based on a range of variables. 

It also contains a variety of real-world facts about wearable technology. Lastly, the post identifies the most important problems and their current and possible solutions.

Introducing Wearable Technology in 2024

Today, a growing number of innovative services and rising customer needs are driving the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) niche’s fast development. In general, customers and the widespread use of the Internet of Things (IoT) have enabled a remarkable yearly growth in the quantity of linked portable devices. 

IoT devices, which are small, inexpensive, and vary greatly in terms of form, function, and application, have had a significant impact on the evolution of the telecommunications industry. 

They have not only introduced novel long-range wireless technologies to the market and established new standards for availability and dependability, but they have also forced network operators and vendors to completely rethink the ecosystem, moving away from traditional human-generated traffic and toward a wider variety of IoT traffic.

Due to the IoT’s rapid growth and its enormous influence on the ICT sector, a software app development company like DianApps can focus on a hitherto unexplored market niche: gadgets that are carried by people but do not always provide data that would be considered human-type.

 As a subset of the larger Internet of Things, the Internet of Wearable Things (IoWT) has surfaced, posing new technological difficulties to the technology community.

What Are The Statistics & Facts Of Wearable Technology?

1) The main advantage of wearables over current smartphones and tablets is their capacity to offer a variety of monitoring and scanning capabilities, such as biofeedback or other sensory physiological functions like those connected to biometry. 

2) The next wave of wearables will include smartwatches, on-body cameras, heart rate monitors, smart sports trackers, and eyewear in addition to different smart garments, industrial wearables, and mixed- and enhanced-reality gadgets.

3) As anticipated by the ICT sector, about 70% of early adopters have expressed interest in integrating next-generation wearables into their daily lives.

4) According to the prediction, the market would increase at a rate of more than % yearly and reach over a billion EUR annually in the next years, with over a billion EUR by 2028.

The expansion of the mobile device industry offers several advantages, new applications from the standpoint of the user, and new and functional products. The promotion of proactive solutions to deal with healthcare, fitness application, aging, disabilities, education, transit, business, finance, admission systems, gaming, music, and many other issues is one of the main impulses brought about by wearable technology. 

Let’s about Wearable technology opportunities in detail below.

Wearable Technology Opportunities For App Developers

Wearable technology, including smartwatches, continues to gain popularity. However, to ride this wave, one must first know where to look for it. Currently, there are three major industries to take into account when attempting to enter the global wearable technology market: gaming, fashion, and healthcare.

1. Wearable medical technology

Healthcare is a major issue in 2022, thus the sector is continuing to embrace technological advancements to better protect patients and enhance the provision of treatment.

The health sector has long used wireless medical sensors. Sensors have been utilized in healthcare for years in a variety of ways. 

Sensors are used for almost everything, from heart rates to respiratory processes, from body measures to sleep quality, and more. They interact with one another to form an ecosystem that houses all of an individual’s health-related data. 

As a result, people and their healthcare professionals are better equipped to manage their medical problems and keep an eye on their health around the clock. Nonetheless, there is no requirement for wearable apps to be directly linked to medical personnel since wearable technology is becoming more and more interwoven into the daily lives of consumers. 

By 2050, it’s predicted that wearable technology utilized for diagnosis, treatment planning, preventative care, and even high-risk care management could save the US over $200 billion in medical costs for all ailments combined. Furthermore, a recent study conducted by Insider Intelligence projects that 72.6 million Americans will own smart wearables as a part of everyday life.

Wearable technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate, tracking fitness activities, assessing sleep quality, and measuring vital signs like blood oxygen level or heart rate. Step monitoring is only one of many things available nowadays.

In a similar vein, there are an increasing number of wearable health monitoring devices available:

1. Wearable fitness trackers: smart rings (Oura, Oumij, Motiv, etc.) and fitness-tracking smart bands (Fitbit, Jawbone, Runtastic, Garmin, etc.)
2. Wear OS-powered smartwatches, Samsung Galaxy watches, and Apple Watches are examples of smart health watches.
3. Body-mounted sensors: a range of sensors that track biological information for medical use

• ECG monitors that are wearable
• Blood pressure monitors that are wearable
• Biosensors that measure blood oxygen and glucose levels, pulse rate, muscle oxygen saturation, and other parameters

Smartwatches have taken the lead in wearable technology, despite fitness trackers being the first to gain significant traction with the general public. They thereby succeeded in becoming a hugely well-liked mainstay of the consumer electronics sector and a mainstay of the middle market for watches.

2. Wearing Gaming Technology 

Technology and gaming go hand in hand. Furthermore, there is always a need for game developers to keep growing and achieving more since player expectations tend to catch up with new advancements in the industry.

One of those innovations that has received a lot of attention recently is wearable gaming technology. They are nothing new, and they will only get bigger in 2024. 

When the first contemporary VR headset prototypes were created decades ago, everything started. One of the most popular wearable technologies in the gaming business today is virtual reality wearables. However, as previously said, gamers want their experiences to get better with every game release, which makes wearable haptic devices an ideal fit.

VR accessories :

Headsets for virtual reality games were the first kind of wearable technology. Virtual reality headsets and goggles enable players to fully immerse themselves in the game. Because of this, the most significant VR gaming equipment that consumers currently own is the one they wear on their heads. 

These wearable virtual reality gaming devices come in a variety of styles and prices to suit any budget, ranging from basic VR goggles that show the simulated 3D game environment to sophisticated motion-control VR headsets that can record and transmit the whole head and eye movement of the user.

Haptic tools: 

Tactile feedback is another level of engagement that wearables may offer in gaming. Haptics science is used in games to interact with touch. Haptics has been used in video game controllers for almost 20 years, but the next attainable milestone is to integrate this technology into wearable technologies.

Read why you choose DianApps as your digital mobile game app development company. 

3. Wearables in fashion

Similar to the game business, the fashion industry is open to new ideas and innovations. Trends change throughout time, so when something interesting is about to happen, people are certain to take it up and make it their personal style statement.

In the fashion business, wearable smart gadgets have taken over and don’t seem to be going anywhere. These days, smart clothing and accessories are a component of intelligent fashion, which blends practical technology with style and aesthetics. Wearables are already being employed in the fashion business in a variety of different ways. 

The fashion business is quickly being overtaken by wearable applications. The Statista analysis projects that the size of the worldwide market for smart textiles and apparel will increase significantly between 2018 and 2025. According to estimates gathered from many sources, the smart clothes and textiles industry is expected to grow to a value of more than $5 billion by 2025.

Challenges In Wearable App Development

Every coin, in one sense or another, has two sides. In a similar vein, no cutting-edge technology exists that doesn’t provide certain difficulties. The market for a wearable devices app development company is no different. Let’s examine the most annoying issues that might surface if you want to create a wearable application.

1. Problems with batteries

Anyone working in the wearables industry has to be considering methods to extend the battery life of their wearables. Given that wearable technology is often tiny and light. It seems sense that battery life has always been a major problem. Thus, manufacturers of wearable technology must provide a battery that is effective, powerful, and long-lasting. However, wearable app developers must also consider this uniqueness when developing their products. 

An excessively battery-hungry wearable app is likely to fail in the already fiercely competitive industry. The software on wearable devices does not require frequent battery replacement because the devices are portable and almost constantly online. But this software also has to be able to strike a balance between features that save battery life and valuable functionality.

2. User interface

A wearable app should appear well on wearable devices and run properly without using up too much battery life. The largest issue here is that wearable tech often has screens that are far smaller than those of smartphones. Consequently, a wearable app’s user interface has to be created with a few fundamental guidelines in mind:

• Clear the UI of any visual clutter to make it more glanceable.
• Make a UI simple and uncluttered since the UX/UI design services must effectively transmit messages.
• Relevance to the user context is required for the displayed material.
• The background on which the material is shown should be sufficiently light.
• Create a single, concentrated job that flows well.

3. Security and privacy

Regardless of the industry or degree of complexity, app providers must always choose to give their consumers more security and privacy.

Wearables are made, first and foremost, to facilitate data transfer between devices and to remain constantly linked to the internet. Although it improves user experience, there is a chance that data breaches will occur as a result of it. Having said that, the app provider must remove the danger and stop third parties from stealing user data.

Furthermore, it is also possible for the displays on wearable technology to be the cause of the data leak. Making content on a wearable device’s screen glanceable is a smart practice.  Private chats or important health information may be readily viewable on the device. 

Nevertheless, there are methods for effectively creating wearable user interfaces to get around this issue. 

4. Frequent updates

It is unlikely that an app will ever reach a point where every user is happy with the way it functions and appears. 

Having said that, all applications, including wearable ones, require frequent updates. The only way the software can be current and helpful is if it gets regular updates. 

5. Connected gadgets

Wearable technology requires interaction with other technologies. Wearables are tethered—connected—instead of independent devices because of their constrained capabilities and typically smaller displays. Wearables can’t meet the performance criteria without bigger devices. Although there is a benefit to tethering, there is a drawback as well.

• The wearable itself is rendered worthless if the battery of that bigger device—a smartphone, tablet, etc.—runs out.
• When a wearable is linked to a device outside of its Bluetooth connection range. Its functions become significantly less seamless or cease entirely.
• An application controls two devices twice as likely to malfunction.

Wrapping Up

Wearable technology is popular and still expanding. Today, everything is in place for future success and the big break for those who design wearable technology and software for it.

The advantages of wearable technology are numerous, but there are also considerable drawbacks. However, most predictions indicate that the former will prevail over the latter. The companies see the promising future of wearables that prepare to assist others in realizing that potential. Wearables will undoubtedly be able to improve and combine people’s lives with the proper hardware and software.

Fill out the contact form below if you would like to discuss your wearable app concept. Do you need more information about the current opportunities for wearable app development? 

Our mobile app development company will make every effort to use its knowledge of technology and hands-on experience in creating wearable apps.