30 App Development Ideas for Startups (AI/ML, Blockchain, AR/VR)

As an IT sourcing analyst with ValueCoders (Leading Offshore IT Outsourcing Company) I have helped several startups, SMEs, and enterprises build their mobile apps.

Here are the 30 key app ideas I have followed in my work experience. I believe that my list of 30 simple app ideas help businesses from any industry get their mobile app idea turned into reality.

In 2019, the demand for simple app ideas is increasing. More and more businesses are building simple mobile apps which are lightweight, tech-savvy, fast and serves the purpose. But why?

In 2017–18, there were around $197 billion of mobile app downloads, which will jump to a stunning mark of $352 billion by 2021. However, the era of complex and heavy apps are gone. Users want simple apps which are easy to use and maintain.

Hence, the mindset of businesses should be clear on how they build their apps and before that to generate cool app ideas.

Here I have got 30 simple app ideas for Startups and SMEs to consider in 2019 that will be of great use for businesses. Also, we have divided these app ideas into 3 categories i.e. Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality.

10 Blockchain Enabled Easy App Ideas for Startups and SMEs

The blockchain is making its market very fast. By 2020, it will revamp the financial industry totally. Hence, here are a few simple app ideas on Blockchain:

1) App Idea for Money Lending & Borrowing

In today’s world, both borrowers and lenders are connected in the digital world via blockchain. With the money lending app, all of the consumers can perform financial transactions without including the bank.

The blockchain based new app ideas can also let you remain completely anonymous and also there is no need to register anywhere. Another benefit is borrowers can select their preferred loan medium from the marketplace and can return the loan in a safe and low- interest environment.

2) Apps Idea for Digital Wills

Today myriad of people using cryptocurrency to save their funds, but how can you prevent a loss if you die without a will? You can use the platform like Mywish built on smart contracts and can handle your funds during a crisis. This app also allows you to transfer money and your’s savings to your family members in case of illness or death.

3) App Idea for Saving Electricity Bills

This app monitors your power usage and helps save cost. The idea is to monitor the power usage by using blockchain that helps many people in saving their power bills they get via a meter.

4) App Idea for Storing Your Medical Records

Today, doctors and health professionals are limited in providing the best level of care because of their inability to track patients complete and accurate health records. The new and cool app ideas for blockchain in healthcare now help patients to enter their medical records safely on the blockchain platform. It is useful for doctors as it allows them to access patients data from a remote place.

For instance, the Estonia government in collaboration with the leading blockchain technology companies named Guardtime planning to build a blockchain of citizen’s health records. The goal is to track patient health records in real time by using the ID credentials to unlock access to their medical data.

5) App Idea for Real Estate

It is really difficult to manage and maintain the registry of land ownership and real-estate related operations. In such a scenario, Ubitquity is the platform built on blockchain where you can keep your real estate records safely. It simply reduces the need for the title search time, and also improve transparency in real estate operations.

6) App Idea for Gift Portals

There are many gifts portal that uses the traditional form of coupons and plastic tokens to send discounts and loyalty rewards to their customers. But, today, we have a platform like Rouge that allows businesses creating their own blockchain-based loyalty tokens and rewards for their customers.

7) App Idea for Entertainment Industry

The ownership right and transparency are the main issues in the music and entertainment industry. The blockchain technology can solve this problem by using a comprehensive and decentralized database of your media content rights. At the same time, transparency in the transmission of artist royalties is maintained throughout the distribution process.

8) App Idea for Identity

The best example of blockchain for identity was a digital passport launched on Github in the year 2014 this could help a person identify themselves online. To use this platform you need to take your picture, now get it stamped with the option of public and private key to make it legitimate. After this, your digital passport is saved on the ledger, and you access it by entering the Bitcoin address with a public IP as confirmed by the users.

9) App Idea for Transport Industry

Uber is the best platform to book cars and taxis on rent. But, what if they decide to pull out of a city? Maybe thousands of drivers become jobless, and passengers will have no options to book cars and taxis on rent. Arcade City beat the Uber with their ride sharing and car hiring platform that is entirely based on the blockchain. It is the platform where both riders and drivers are connected directly to earn the Arcade car ride tokens. Their network has proved safe and reliable mode of transportation in all the major U.S cities for over a year.

10) App Idea for Web Hosting

You need web hosting service when your site is down which is due to server overload. The better is to have a platform where your web content does not require to rely on any central server. Go for, Zeronet that creates a decentralized connection to host your business websites on servers by storing your website information across the web in small quantities. This platform eliminates web hosting costs and easily accessible to users.

10 AI & ML New App Ideas for Startups and SMEs

Artificial Intelligence is not new. However, this time it growing very fast and reducing human efforts in many industries. Here are a few simple app ideas based on AI/ML

1) App Idea for Retail Brands

Do you have an eCommerce site? If yes, then you need to have photos for your products, and most of the time you have to search through Google or social media to find photos. Instead of this, it would be better to use an on-device recognition AI/ML tool like IntelliP that scan, organize, and categorize all images in your smartphone based on the items given in the image.

Using this categorization tool, business could obtain an incredible range of photos relevant to their geographical location, product type, and potential markets.

2) App Idea for Journalists

Journalists need to create stories about the latest events. It takes a lot of efforts for respondents to collect data and information. The most effective way is to provide a journalist with the real AI/ML experience that auto-generate a report by asking the vital details from you via voice conversation that a journalist can review later.

It could help you generate new questions based on the previous reviews and also identify similar reports and provide merged versions of the report.

3) App Ideas for Geo Tracking

The AI & ML apps based on geo-tracking would be a perfect choice for businesses that need to search for the potential points of interest, such as stores, supermarkets, spas, party venues, etc.

These apps are called as the GeoInterest app that operates on your phone and guides you through detecting and locating different places of interests determined by you on a trip.

4) App Ideas for Writers

Are you a writer? Have you ever used a tool that can add new content to your digital diary by simply speaking to it? If not, trust me, you need to have it if you haven’t. The idea is to eliminate the use of your pen and/or hands to write new stories, documents, and newsletters.

The NaturalYou is one such cool app idea that would allow you to add new content to your diary by simply speaking to it. It simply eliminates the need of keeping your hands busy in translating the words and allow your thoughts to get quickly recorded as you speak them out.

5) App Idea for Financial Transactions

Finance apps with artificial intelligence and machine learning can help analyze your payment transaction history, offers you have selected, and other details. These apps can also be used to manage the financial expenditure of a customer by linking their credit cards and accounts. Erica is the best example of ML enabled virtual voice assistant that help keep your finances safe in the digital space and definitely is in the list of great app ideas for financial institutions and finance companies.

6) App Idea for Weather Forecasting

The AI and ML enabled weather forecasting apps will take your current location to give you the accurate forecasting of climate on your region. The app like Dark Sky is the best one to choose for getting accurate weather insights with artificial intelligence to predict any kind of change in the weather condition.

7) App Idea for Food Delivery

The food delivery and restaurant apps with artificial intelligence and machine language can resolve your headache of taking orders, managing orders, resolving customers’ queries and getting the best suggestions for recipe according to your customer preference.

8) App Idea for Healthcare

Machine learning apps in healthcare can play a big role in giving you a quick analysis of the symptoms of your health condition. For instance, machine learning apps can detect the possibility of a headache and can suggest you ways to prevent. These apps have features like sensors that can analyze the health data and provide users with particular medication and workout programs to nurture their well-being.

The one new ML app idea is Freeletics that design your workout plan based on your level of workout history.

9) App Idea for Travel Industry

The automated machine learning and artificial intelligence technology in the travel industry can help the users in planning their trip and future voyages as quickly as possible. For instance, if you want to plan your journey in a limited budget, there are apps that will give you the list of least expensive hotels and travel options.

Mezi is an AI-based travel application that understands your preferences and schedules your travel trips accordingly.

10) Sports App

Machine learning technology when incorporated with the sports forecasting apps can hugely benefit you by predicting the outcome of sports you play. You can take the example of Throne which is a platform for knowing the possible outcome of sports by giving you live data updates, highlights, and many other features to analyze the quantitative values in sports.

10 AR and VR New App Ideas for Startups and SMEs

AR/VR are one of the newest trends that’s reshaping industries. Be it games or education there are some major impacts of these technologies. Here we have articulated some of the simple app ideas based on AR/VR-

1) App Idea for Landscape Designing

For companies looking to use AR and VR technology into their landscape designing can go for ARKit that’s an advanced landscape design applications with features like fast and easy landscape measurements using Apple devices, automatic cost calculations using measurement data, and have the ability to show clients a 3D model of their proposed landscape design.

2) App Idea for Learning

Learn a new language with Mondly that is one of the best AR and VR app to learn a new language that you can use on your phone and you can learn on the go. You can choose over 33 different languages for quick and easy learning in no time at all.

3) App Idea for Repairs

The experienced technicians or mechanics encounter situations where they need to provide quick support and repair service. AR apps can be of great help in all such situations by training the tools on rare machinery and equipment. There is app such as the Metaio’s that is the AR-based repair tool for Audi and countless of apps are waiting to be developed in the industry.

4) App Idea for Shopping

When you buy a new piece of furniture for your home, it happens that it doesn’t fit your home space, or that it doesn’t go with the décor of your house. Now what you’ll do? Do you replace it to make it work? No, simply go for IKEA that has released their AR app that let you try out their range of furniture in any room. You only need to use your phone camera to whatever furniture you like and it also scales the furniture and let you try various colors and styles.

5) App Idea for AR teleconferencing

If the idea of sitting in a boardroom for another status update makes you unhappy, then an augmented reality app for your project allows you place the complete project details in the boardroom table and you could also walk through each component. The AR teleconferencing is about reaching distant people, but today, it is also bringing the whole world near you, so that you can understand things in a better way.

6) App Idea for Construction Site Management

AR and VR in the construction industry, helping project developers to take a glance of buildings in 3D format. Like, you can use the new platform of Apple AR that offers a great deal for the real estate developers. The app allows you using anchors and tracking features to scan the construction site with your iPhone. Here are a few examples of how the AR and VR technology can be used:

All the electrical lines and plumbing lines on your construction site will appear where they will be placed using only an Apple iPhone or iPad.

ARKit tool allows applications to provide a complete analysis of a construction site in real time by scanning the project site.

7) App Idea for Interior Designing

With AR and VR interior designing app, you can style any room in the desired layout before you even buy a single piece of furniture. And this is possible by using your smartphone, or iPhone camera, you can take a look around your living room, bedroom, kitchen, office, or any other place in your house you want to furnish and want to place different items in 3D mode to see how they look.

8) App Idea for Building Maintenance

The AR and VR in the maintenance of a building site make it possible to record and present all the important data. With these apps, maintenance workers could access the display of the location of water and gas pipes around and inside the building walls. They can also get the complete analysis of elevators shafts, and service panels for getting accurate directions in most buildings.

Or, if you want to know how many bulbs are there in your building? A simple AR app with the scanner of the shelf can show you the complete details.

9) Apps for Marketing

AR apps with new marketing strategies open up the new world of possibilities for brand and businesses. Users can get the full analysis of nutritional content, recipe idea using a simple app along with the details of the rest of the ingredients.

For instance, hand your children with a smartphone in a shopping cart, the entire e-store becomes an amusement platform for your children filled with games to play and prizes that they can win. So, this is how AR apps capitalizing the needs of its captive audience.

10) AR Apps for Healthcare

There are many useful apps for doctors and physicians who use AR and VR technology to check an individual’s anatomy in the 3D-enabled environment. With AR and VR apps surgical team can get a complete walk-through of the patient’s anatomy from different 3D perspectives. Doctors can also adjust the level of transparency, for instance, a brain tumor can be seen in a semi-transparent mode and help the physician to observe the complete structure of brain vessels.

Hope, these 30 simple app ideas will be best for your startup venture. However, ValueCoders (a leading offshore software outsourcing company) help employ some of the best mobile app developers for mobile app development solutions to businesses from different industries. For any requirements get in touch with me at — ValueCoders.