Mobile App Usability- 7 Most Overlooked Mobile App Usability Issues

Usability is a crucial factor in app success, and app designers often overlook some vital usability issues. The current post is discussing regarding it and help you achieve desired app success.

Introduction:

Most often than not, mobile app design team overlook carrying in-depth user research to find user requirements and expectation from the app as well as missing often testing user experiences with app prototypes using the latest technologies and techniques.

Mere assumption based design decisions result into cookie-cutter software that falls short in delivering UX, usability, and performance like quality metrics. UX is a vast subject, and perhaps usability and performance like other app success factors fall into it. However, today our discussion restricted up to usability, and we will see what we missing at usability front while developing a quality mobile application belong to any category or business niche.

Factors Determine App Usability

Before fixing the usability issues, we must have enough knowledge to determine which factors contributing to mobile application usability and app success at the end.

#1- Usefulness

App users always come with some goals. If app proves capable of achieving those goals with optimum efficiency, users consider that app as a useful one for them and like it as well as use it repeatedly.

#2- Effectiveness

It can be measured quantitatively that how fast user can achieve their predefined goals on the app without any hurdle like errors, crashes, and stalling.

#3- Learnable

It is about the ability of users to gain competency at a level within a period. Thus, it defines intuitiveness in a sense.

#4- Likable

It is about positive or negative emotional responses evoked by the app. Thus, it considers perceptions and opinions of users regarding the app.

Common Issues with App Usability

We have been working in mobile app development niche since years at SysBunny and based on our prolonged experiences we have sorted out following common issues during app development that affect app usability to a greater extent.

1 – Platform Specific Customization

We know default design specifications, and guidelines are different from platform to platform like Android to iOS and Windows Mobile. For example, Android OS-based devices have back button while it is missing in iOS devices. Thus, app designers have to consider such major to minor hardware and OS specific requirements during app design and follow those conventions religiously.

2 – Use Cases and Contexts

The app may be used in different contexts, and use cases in real life than app designers have assumed while designing. For instance, disruptive connectivity demands some offline working capacities and restoration once the connectivity established. Similarly, the app has to function in constantly vibrating conditions in the hands of drivers or commuters.

If app QA team has missed the testing with real devices in real and different contexts, your audience may encounter several issues during app usage in real life conditions and contexts.

3 – Inadequate Onboarding

Whatever intuitive your design, you must have some kinds of onboarding to guide your first time or mid-way app users. Today various onboarding techniques are in practice, and you must apply the appropriate techniques to provide smooth app journey. It improves overall usability, user engagements, and user retentions.

4 – Breaking Security Credentials

Some category of apps like eCommerce carries very sensitive and confidential details and transactions. Such apps demand enough security measures right from internal security, secure connectivity, and secure app use cases.

5 – Design Missing Touch Gestures

The design requirements for touch screens are different from the pointing device-based design. You have to leave enough spaces around the interactive UI elements, orientations, and tilting.

6 – Inadequate Information and Navigation Architecture

App users love to reach their goals using app quickly and easily. In due course, navigation and information architecture play crucial parts. In many advanced and big scale apps, more than one navigation schemes implemented. For instance, off-canvas navigation and advanced search engine integration to incorporate suggestive, faceted, and filtered search.

Categorized information architecture help in finding right content easily and quickly. Appropriate content layout design enables users to get desired content at first glance on any screen with the right responsive design.

7 – Distractions

User experience is a vital thing in augmenting usability. Anything comes on the road of excellent UX, may break usability too. For instance, inappropriate amount of popups can distract the UX, hence usability.

Conclusion:

Usability demands are paying attention to details in app design and inputs of experts as well as experienced app designers to craft bespoke app. If you are looking for an avid team of mobile app designers who have many apps with excellent usability in their credits in the portfolio, your search will end up when your settle with mobile application development team at SysBunny to discuss your next project.