Mobile phone apps are still a high growth market worldwide. Consumer spending on mobile apps reached USD36.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024, and entertainment apps in particular were the highest-grossing mobile app categories during the first quarter of 2024.
Because of this growing and lucrative market, there are vast numbers of different entertainment apps available across the Google and Apple app stores, and it’s hard to know where to start. In this piece, I want to explore the increasing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), social media and engagement apps, and the ongoing development in iGames or online gambling, with suggestions of some of the most popular apps currently available.
The Rise in Artificial Intelligence for Mobile Apps
Unless you’ve spent the past few years off-grid on some remote mountain top, it has been impossible to ignore the rapid growth in AI driven apps. This growth has been driven by AI’s increasing sophistication and the numbers of developers seeking to exploit it for different applications. Certainly, AI has been available in various ways for a while now, whether for facial recognition, speech to text, or Google Translate. However, the launch of Chat GPT as a text generation app has provided us with a wholly new free-form AI. Now, the technology offers us “intelligent” online search responses, “improves” our own photographs or creates amazing new pictures with just a few lines of text, and provides real time interactions that are eerily human in their creativity.
Chat GPT is still a market leader for text and image creativity, while Canva is rapidly becoming a market leader in AI image generation as it allows users to create a variety of visual content – whether creating new images or amending existing ones. Other top online entertainment apps driven by AI include Google Assistant, photo editing with Snapseed, a writing assistant with Grammarly, and language learning with Duolingo.
If you are looking for something to help you with certain aspects of your daily life, useful AI apps include Notion AI as a task assistant, MyFitnessPal, FitBod, and Planet Fitness for diet and exercise, Yuka as a food and cosmetics scanner, and “mobile-friends” such as Replika, Nomi, and Kindroid. These last apps are also proving a bit controversial, as they are promoted as a means to fight loneliness and boost mental health, yet users can end up forming an emotional bond with a chatbot.
Ongoing Use of Social Media and Social Engagement Apps.
Social media and social engagement apps are still the standout leaders in app downloads, including popular names such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Zoom, Messenger, and LinkedIn.
Obviously, some of these are more “communication” apps, whether a conference call app like Zoom, or text and image messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Messenger. The latter set of apps not only allow users to stay in contact and coordinate events and activities, but also to share fun images and videos – sometimes called “pebbling” (where small gifts, images and videos are shared to show you care about someone).
Apps like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are ideal for self-produced creator content – whether simple pictures, short reels, or longer videos with essays and commentary. Obviously, many viewers use these apps to passively consume creator content – whether for pure entertainment or educational purposes. However, canny uploaders will also drive growth by encouraging debates and commentary in the response sections – and these comment sections can sometimes be even more entertaining than the uploaded reels or long-form videos.
Finally, we have full blown “social media” apps like Facebook and career related LinkedIn where users are encouraged to share and engage over common interests, seek help with everyday issues, or identify career opportunities.
Some people have raised concerns that social media apps could even be proving socially destructive in various ways, with allegations they are encouraging rage baiting, promoting prejudiced opinion silos, and failing to address disinformation. However, I would argue that these are issues that will eventually be resolved by a combination of stricter regulation, increasing user sophistication, and the rise of alternative social media apps marketed as ways to address these concerns.
The Rapid Growth in Online Gambling
As readers of Apple Magazine know, modern phones are sophisticated and capable entertainment centers ideal for all kind of gaming – especially the rapidly expanding market of online gambling or iGaming. In 2022, the global online gambling market size was valued at USD63.53, and this is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.7% from 2023 to 2030. This spectacular growth is being partly driven by the rise in the use of mobile phones among users for playing online games, as well as cultural and legalization approval, celebrity endorsements, corporate sponsorships, and easy access to online gambling. For instance, Users can quickly find a suitable online casino in Canada by clicking here.
Despite this growth, there are still some lingering – if somewhat misplaced, concerns about online gambling as somehow unsafe or a bit “dodgy”. So, what should a user be looking for when playing an online slot machine, poker game, or roulette?
- Is the online casino properly regulated? According to the Criminal Code of Canada (the “Code”), all forms of gambling and all things having to do with gambling are prohibited apart from some exemptions provided in Part VII of the Code. Section 207(1)(a) of Part VII allows Provinces and Territories to “conduct and manage” gaming and betting activities in their respective jurisdictions. Regulators include the Gambling Policy and Enforcement Branch (“GPEB”) of British Columbia, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Currently, Ontario remains the only Province that allows third party operators to transact directly with players. A properly regulated casino will thus display its license to operate.
- The browser’s address bar should show a padlock – indicating that the connection to a website is encrypted. While not a complete guarantee of online and internal security, it is a vital first step. Strong security will mean personal and financial details will remain hidden from hackers and other prying eyes, alongside the safety of funds paid in and winnings being withdrawn.
- Good customer reviews on comparison sites, as well as independent benchmarks for game variety, game entertainment, and speed of fund transfers, will help steer users towards the more reputable and customer focused game sites.
Conclusion
The tools and apps on the smart phones we carry around with us are still the cutting edge of development and technology. AI is transforming the way we run our lives, access information, and create content – while offering us human-like interactions. Social media and engagement apps are still vital in giving us a glimpse of other lives, other societies, and other beliefs.
And online gambling apps offer us the chance to gamble safely in the hope we might get lucky. All these are exciting opportunities, provided by a wide range of sophisticated and comprehensive apps that offer us the best in online entertainment in 2025.
