Are Native Apps Dying? How OS Integration Is Redefining the Future

If you notice what Apple and Google are doing with their operating systems, a similar strategy emerges: moving app functionality to the OS home screen and notification center.

Admittedly, this transition won’t be seamless or immediate; apps won’t vanish overnight because users are accustomed to using them for single‑purpose tasks, and rich experiences still rely on well‑designed apps.

However, with each new OS release, people will begin to forget apps because major functions migrate to the home screen and notification center, allowing the same tasks to be performed directly from the OS.

Examples of this trend include the new 3D Touch, actionable notification centers, and Google’s Now on Tap.

Thus, we still need apps to provide content and data, but imagine a future where apps live in the cloud and the operating system simply pulls the necessary information.

In that future, users wouldn’t need to download a specific app for a task; they would state their intent in a search box—Siri, Google Now, or Cortana—and instantly receive what they need.

The OS would search the cloud for relevant apps, retrieve the best results, and present them to the user.

From a broader perspective, the “war” isn’t only between Apple and Google; it also involves Facebook and the operating system. For Facebook, the app is a platform, and it doesn’t want you to leave its “internet.”

Today, much of our time is already spent in the notification center. I envision a new, rich, AI‑driven notification center that becomes the hub for all functions.