Objective: Using the IoT applications Samsung's Smart Things, LG's LG ThinQ, and Xiaomi's Mi Home app, each IoT app is analyzed from the point of view of ease of use and operation, and through this, a plan to improve the interface of the app is suggested.
Background: Recently, the influence of the Internet of Things (IoT) is getting stronger due to the increasing number of products and Internet connections. Among them, Samsung's Smart Things, Xiaomi's Mi Home, and LG's LG ThinQ are IoT platforms that can manage multiple products and Smart Apps. These apps are convenient in that they can remotely control the product with a mobile phone anytime, anywhere, but it is still difficult for users to control the product with a mobile phone due to inefficient interface design.
Method: The task derived to find out the utility of IoT app-related functions was applied to the use of Smart Things, Mi Home, and LG ThinQ apps, and the usability of IoT apps was compared and evaluated using objective and subjective methods.
1) As an objective evaluation method, the interface search time according to the task execution process of each IoT app was measured. 2) As a subjective evaluation method, opinions on the degree of discomfort in using each IoT application were derived, and problems were analyzed using a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire evaluation.
Results: Eight experimenters (6 in their 20s, 2 in their 40s) were evaluated for usability of the IoT app. Task was selected based on the contents of the preliminary survey, and tasks were conducted in the order of cleaning mode setting (Task 1), cleaning range setting (Task 2), cleaning time reservation (Task 3), and robot cleaner charging (Task 4). As a result of the experiment on the usability of the IoT app, it was found that the usability of the app where the appropriate GUI elements and frequently used functions were located on the main screen was good. We present a UI that applies the requirements converged through the previously derived problems and user analysis.
Conclusion: It is judged that the more convenient the app is to use, the more useful it is. In order to increase its effectiveness, it seems that the interface needs to be improved so that users can operate it conveniently and simply.
Application: It is judged that the results of this study can be used as basic data for interface design guidelines that can optimize the usability of IoT apps.