Analyzing Non-Functional Requirements of Mobile Applications: Usability, Reliability, Performance, and Supportability

Abstract

Most people use mobile apps every day for a variety of purposes, including reading the news, checking social media, and shopping. Thus, these mobile apps must be thoroughly tested so that we can trust them to behave as intended when used in the field. The purpose of this study is to collect and analyze non-functional requirements (NFRs) for mobile apps from four perspectives to determine the success and quality of the applications from the perspective of usability, reliability, performance, and supportability. By focusing on these aspects of application development, developers can create applications that are consumer-friendly, reliable, fast, and easy to maintain, thus increasing user satisfaction and ensuring the long-term success of their products. According to the results of this study, of the 27 mobile applications that had been collected from the literature, 16 were able to meet the usability NFR, seven were able to meet the reliability NFR, 14 covered the performance NFR, and three were able to meet the supportability NFR. At the same time, three were unable to meet any NFRs. The results of the study showed that mobile application developers focused more on usability and performance than reliability and supportability. In contrast, reliability and supportability were used by a smaller percentage of developers in their development process.