Considering modern smartphones have only been a fixture in our lives since around 2007, and the Apple App Store has only been around for nine years, we’ve come a long way in mobile technology. Screens are getting bigger, phones are getting smarter and connectivity is on the rise. The year 2016 was the year that mobile marketers cracked advertising on the platform, but nothing stays still for long in this industry. Here are the four mobile technology trends we’ll be keeping an eye on in 2017.

Location-Based Services

The internet erupted with concerns over safety when Snapchat added location features to their platform. This is rather surprising, as location-based services have been a fixture in our lives for some time now. Location-based services will allow businesses to connect to their customers in real time, while also allowing the phone user to rely on their phone for new discoveries like never before. If you’ve even been saved from being late for a meeting by your Google calendar, you’ll know what I mean.

Artificial Intelligence

We spent most of 2016 talking to our phones and demanding information, and it’s now time for that information to be put to use. Learning devices are set to be huge in 2017, and not only for keeping your day-to-day life on track. One of the most fascinating areas that is set to be revolutionised by artificial intelligence is education. If an app can learn how you learn, it can adapt the method to allow you to learn faster. For things like learning languages, this could be a game-changer.

Haptic Feedback

The way you use your phone will soon be vastly different. Landing somewhere between mobile technology and UX design, haptic feedback is the small vibrations you feel when you interact with your phone in certain ways. As these become easier to utilise in mobile app design, we’re expecting to see a lot more haptic feedback use in 2017. This will change the way you interact with your favourite apps and place much greater emphasis on the importance of strong UX design.

Mobile Security

As a service, mobile security has been pretty much neglected. We all share far too much with little thought to the consequences, and mobile security is set to step up in 2017. As more of us ditch our wallets in favour of contactless technology integrated with our phones, mobile security will need to step up to the plate to keep our data secure. A significant breach in this area could be a PR disaster that will stop new users from adopting this technology.