How ‘Play with Friends’ Options Are Changing The Future For Apps

As apps become more interconnected, this leads to changes that need to be made to their basic functions. The software isn’t the only thing that’s being impacted by the “play with friends” options that are quickly becoming more and more popular. Here are some of the ways that apps are going to be evolving in the future.

Platform Bases

Having the “play with friends” option means that the creators need to write the code to be compatible on multiple types of platforms to expand how many friends can play. This also expands the market base for the apps themselves. What this means for users is that they can potentially use any device to connect to their favorite games. The second part of the platform base changes is ensuring that the graphics remain similar from platform to platform. This is good for players because bugs will be ironed out before they have a chance to impact the usability of the app. Cross-platform app frameworks are becoming more common, not only so businesses can expand their reach, but also so that they can write code and run it anywhere. “Play with friends” options are increasing the need for cross-platform bases in apps, as it means friends with different platforms will be able to use the apps together.

Making Friends

The interaction of playing with friends is increasing the number of chances that users have in establishing relationships online, which increases their sense of connection to and love of the app. Apps utilizing these features give users a fun way to invite friends to join them in a competitive game even when they don’t have time for a face-to-face meeting. For example, even apps like HD Poker are implementing “play with friends” options to both play with real life friends and to meet new people online. Apps like this use the inherent human need for connection to promote their services and generate more interaction and downloads. This social aspect serves both the user and the app, and is shifting the focus away from personal time-wasters to social contests and games in the app world.

Redesigned Interfaces

Interfaces are changing due to the interconnectivity that’s involved with being more social in your app usage. There tends to be more flash and a higher quality of visual effects. As screen sizes increase, the amount of pixilation also decreases. This leads to challenges in how to design the interface to have the greatest impact on players without using all of the resources that the system has available. Often, “play with friends” options lead to higher drains on data and graphics, which can affect the way apps encourage you to play.

Storage Marketing

Saving games with ‘play with friends’ options is shifting where we store data, as players want to save the progress that they’ve made against their friends. This means that cloud storage needs to be available for them to use. It could come in the form of the game interface itself or be an add-on package that players download to their devices. This allows app developers to incorporate other options into their games.

Apps are evolving in order to incorporate their changing uses. As apps become more social, innovations in how we market games, interact with friends and save data will continue to shift, changing the faces of apps in the future.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She recommends apps like those made by Z4 Poker, LLC. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan