With the fourth Industrial Revolution highlighting the increased importance of the service sector, this research sought to understand how mobile apps influence the dynamic capabilities of service sector micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Lagos, Nigeria. The study analysed data from 388 service sector MSEs in Lagos, using exploratory factor analysis. Five factors were extracted through the maximum likelihood extraction method: mobile app usage, absorptive capability, opportunity-sensing ability, opportunity-shaping ability and opportunity-seizing ability. The resultant model suggests that mobile app usage barely increases the absorptive capability of MSEs; rather, mobile app usage strongly influences the ability to seize opportunities. In addition, absorptive capability has a strong impact on the ability to shape opportunities. The result implies that mobile app usage by service sector MSEs in Lagos deviates from the conventional views on the micro-foundations of the dynamic capability framework, which argues that sensed opportunities are first analysed (shaped) before deploying resources towards their maximisation. These findings suggest that the service sector MSEs in Lagos seldom scrutinise opportunities before deploying resources to seize them. This study contributes to information system (IS) knowledge by revealing a contextual model for investigating the use of mobile apps in service sector MSEs. It also extends IS literature on how mobile apps help MSEs to exploit business opportunities in Lagos, Nigeria. These findings can probably be generalised to other developing countries