Revisiting the usability of smartphone user interface for elderly users

Abstract

Recently, smartphones have gained attention among elderly people, of whom many are starting to use their smartphones for various purposes. Even though, elderly still experience usability difficulties in interacting with smartphone user interface (UI). This paper is an attempt to understand the major usability issues faced by elderly while interacting with smartphone UI. This study is conducted using a survey methodology tool (online questionnaire). The survey is divided into three sections; User demographics’ background, User assessment for usability of smartphone UI, and Positive and negative aspects users’ likes/dislikes of their smartphones. This study reveals several usability issues regarding the elderly as smartphone users. Different users’ trends, when using smartphones, are also identified, and user experience of smartphones is assessed. The implications of this study’s findings include: (1) a need for investigation on how older users use smartphones, (2) the existence of a gap between users and the developer’s mental model.