Factors influencing quality of experience of commonly used mobile applications

TLDR

Mobile applications are increasingly integral to daily activities, yet user acceptance hinges on perceived experience and contextual fit, and our understanding of the factors shaping quality of experience remains limited. The study aims to deepen understanding of users’ QoE for widely used mobile apps in natural settings across varied daily contexts. A 29‑user, 4‑week longitudinal study collected QoE ratings alongside network QoS metrics from Android phones, integrating user, application, and network data. The resulting data reveal insights that inform mobile app design, highlighting implications for improving user experience.

Abstract

Increasingly, we use mobile applications and services in our daily life activities, to support our needs for information, communication or leisure. However, user acceptance of a mobile application depends on at least two conditions: the application's perceived experience, and the appropriateness of the application to the user's context and needs. However, we have a weak understanding of a mobile user's quality of experience (QoE) and the factors influencing it. This article presents a 4-week-long 29-Androidphone- user study, where we collected both QoE and the underlying network's quality of service measurements through a combination of user, application, and network data on the user's phones. We aimed to derive and improve the understanding of users' QoE for a set of widely used mobile applications in users' natural environments and different daily contexts. We present data acquired in the study and discuss implications for mobile applications design.