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The development of Mini programs: a brief study about it
Mini-programs are small downloadable apps that operate within a more prominent software, such as WeChat. They may be small, but they are wreaking havoc on China's iOS and Android app markets. They are prominent in most countries around the globe except those with strict laws. Mini-programs are compressed versions of applications or games accessible in China's app industry. An app inside an app. A sub-application inside the main app.
Each one is around 10 MB in size and takes only a few seconds to download and install. These apps can be found by searching for them in the app’s mini-program shop or scanning a QR code.
Used mainly by e-commerce (29% applications) and online gaming (43% applications) organizations, they can perform any number of functions other than these two.
Why is it so prominent in the market?
•Usage: Consumers use the mini-apps a lot making them eminent in the mobile and networking industry.
•Ease of use: For example, one wants to buy something from a particular website but does not have the primary application. They can just go to WeChat, and the mini-app section and use that app to purchase whatever they want. It ends the need to have the original application of the website.
•Saves space: Since most of these applications are between 4-8Mb, they require almost no space, making them likable and easier to store in the phone.
•The high volume of apps: There are reportedly over 2 million mini-apps in over 250 categories just under the WeChat sub-application set. There are apps for anything and everything, from buying groceries to booking a time with the dentist, and one can do it all from the ease of one app.
•Saves time: Since one can perform many actions under the umbrella of one central application, it decreases the time spent to change from WeChat to other traditional apps and do their task there. One just needs to access it under the app they are using, saving their time and effort from doing the change.
When did the mini-program development begin?
Although, there is not a particular date or time when these apps came to be. There have been numerous iterations of similar-looking and performing applications all over the globe, but the most significant and recognizable apps that we know today came to existence in early 2017. The developers in Tencent coded these programs and launched them in the WeChat ecosystem. Since then, they have blown up massively.
As of 2021, there were reportedly 410 million daily users of these mini-apps.
There are various mini-programs used for medical purposes, too. Like, during the start of the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020, some of these apps were used to track the number of positive and negative cases in the country, and in 2021, it was used to keep track of people’s health and their vaccination records. The time spent on mini-programs has increased drastically from 3 minutes to 14 minutes between 2018-2021.
Is it better than traditional applications?
The simple answer is it depends. We can categorize the users into two parts. One who prefer traditional apps and one who enjoys mini-apps.
Numerous surveys have shown that people on a budget, i.e., who use a low-cost data plan, and people who do not have much space on their phones, prefer using the mini-apps, while people who have both use the traditional primary app. In Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, the usage of conventional apps is higher than mini-apps, while in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, the result is the exact opposite.
Disadvantages of mini-apps:
•They do not support push notifications.
•They need to be written in a particular programming language (only JavaScript is supported), making developers less friendly and less adaptable.
•They lack numerous features. Since the application is minimal (below 10Mb) they cannot perform numerous features that the traditional applications can.
•Low spending budget. Since most of their users are from Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, the amount of money spent on the apps is exceedingly less, and in turn, the developers do not get paid as much.
•A lot of bugs. These apps are developed quickly with little care making them usable but very robust. It's not appropriately streamlined, and hence there have been reports of excessive bugs and lag time by the users.
•No age distinction. The apps do not have a prerequisite to distinct the usage of the users based on their age. Most traditional apps and websites use this to direct the ads and products the user may be interested in. Mini programs do not incorporate this, making them miss out on an essential fractal of their sales.
Conclusion:
The future of mini-programs seems to be brighter than one would think. These apps are remarkably easy to develop and offer simplistic ease of use. But in the last few iterations, the apps are becoming more complicated than the previous because of their increasing users, and they demand more and more perfection. Users are transferring to these small apps from traditional applications. Although there’s a long way to go since users from tier 1 and 2 cities are yet to convert, the increasing advancement is slowly doing the job.
Although China is the central hub of these apps, a few other countries in Europe are making their strides as well. Over 97.6% of mobile users in China use mini-apps, while 57% of users from parts of Europe and especially Russia are starting to utilize them. The other markets are yet to emerge.
In order to infiltrate the markets in other continents, the app needs to be much sleeker and more advanced since the users in countries other than China are habituated to high-quality applications since they have more money to spend. So if the developers want to increase their number of users throughout the globe, they need to spend more time and effort on developing the app and making it better than ever.
Mini-programs are small downloadable apps that operate within a more prominent software, such as WeChat. They may be small, but they are wreaking havoc on China's iOS and Android app markets. They are prominent in most countries around the globe except those with strict laws. Mini-programs are compressed versions of applications or games accessible in China's app industry. An app inside an app. A sub-application inside the main app.
Each one is around 10 MB in size and takes only a few seconds to download and install. These apps can be found by searching for them in the app’s mini-program shop or scanning a QR code.
Used mainly by e-commerce (29% applications) and online gaming (43% applications) organizations, they can perform any number of functions other than these two.
Why is it so prominent in the market?
•Usage: Consumers use the mini-apps a lot making them eminent in the mobile and networking industry.
•Ease of use: For example, one wants to buy something from a particular website but does not have the primary application. They can just go to WeChat, and the mini-app section and use that app to purchase whatever they want. It ends the need to have the original application of the website.
•Saves space: Since most of these applications are between 4-8Mb, they require almost no space, making them likable and easier to store in the phone.
•The high volume of apps: There are reportedly over 2 million mini-apps in over 250 categories just under the WeChat sub-application set. There are apps for anything and everything, from buying groceries to booking a time with the dentist, and one can do it all from the ease of one app.
•Saves time: Since one can perform many actions under the umbrella of one central application, it decreases the time spent to change from WeChat to other traditional apps and do their task there. One just needs to access it under the app they are using, saving their time and effort from doing the change.
When did the mini-program development begin?
Although, there is not a particular date or time when these apps came to be. There have been numerous iterations of similar-looking and performing applications all over the globe, but the most significant and recognizable apps that we know today came to existence in early 2017. The developers in Tencent coded these programs and launched them in the WeChat ecosystem. Since then, they have blown up massively.
As of 2021, there were reportedly 410 million daily users of these mini-apps.
There are various mini-programs used for medical purposes, too. Like, during the start of the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020, some of these apps were used to track the number of positive and negative cases in the country, and in 2021, it was used to keep track of people’s health and their vaccination records. The time spent on mini-programs has increased drastically from 3 minutes to 14 minutes between 2018-2021.
Is it better than traditional applications?
The simple answer is it depends. We can categorize the users into two parts. One who prefer traditional apps and one who enjoys mini-apps.
Numerous surveys have shown that people on a budget, i.e., who use a low-cost data plan, and people who do not have much space on their phones, prefer using the mini-apps, while people who have both use the traditional primary app. In Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, the usage of conventional apps is higher than mini-apps, while in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, the result is the exact opposite.
Disadvantages of mini-apps:
•They do not support push notifications.
•They need to be written in a particular programming language (only JavaScript is supported), making developers less friendly and less adaptable.
•They lack numerous features. Since the application is minimal (below 10Mb) they cannot perform numerous features that the traditional applications can.
•Low spending budget. Since most of their users are from Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, the amount of money spent on the apps is exceedingly less, and in turn, the developers do not get paid as much.
•A lot of bugs. These apps are developed quickly with little care making them usable but very robust. It's not appropriately streamlined, and hence there have been reports of excessive bugs and lag time by the users.
•No age distinction. The apps do not have a prerequisite to distinct the usage of the users based on their age. Most traditional apps and websites use this to direct the ads and products the user may be interested in. Mini programs do not incorporate this, making them miss out on an essential fractal of their sales.
Conclusion:
The future of mini-programs seems to be brighter than one would think. These apps are remarkably easy to develop and offer simplistic ease of use. But in the last few iterations, the apps are becoming more complicated than the previous because of their increasing users, and they demand more and more perfection. Users are transferring to these small apps from traditional applications. Although there’s a long way to go since users from tier 1 and 2 cities are yet to convert, the increasing advancement is slowly doing the job.
Although China is the central hub of these apps, a few other countries in Europe are making their strides as well. Over 97.6% of mobile users in China use mini-apps, while 57% of users from parts of Europe and especially Russia are starting to utilize them. The other markets are yet to emerge.
In order to infiltrate the markets in other continents, the app needs to be much sleeker and more advanced since the users in countries other than China are habituated to high-quality applications since they have more money to spend. So if the developers want to increase their number of users throughout the globe, they need to spend more time and effort on developing the app and making it better than ever.
Features I like:
no
Features I don't like:
no