Do popular apps have issues regarding energy efficiency?

Abstract

Mobile apps have become essential components of our daily lives, seamlessly integrating into routines to fulfill communication, productivity, entertainment, and commerce needs, with their diverse range categorized within app stores for easy user navigation and selection. User reviews and ratings play a crucial role in app selection, significantly influencing user decisions through the interplay between feedback and quantified satisfaction. The emphasis on energy efficiency in apps, driven by the limited battery lifespan of mobile devices, impacts app ratings by potentially prompting users to assign low scores, thereby influencing the choices of others. In this study, the presence of energy consumption issues within widely-used popular apps that have high app ratings and user interaction has been investigated through the analysis of user reviews. It is anticipated that popular apps, with high ratings, are less problematic than other apps. User reviews were collected from 32 apps across 16 diverse categories and subsequently filtered based on specific keywords. From the resulting pool of 14,064 user reviews, 8,007 reviews were manually identified as specifically addressing the app’s energy consumption. The results of the study demonstrate that all 32 popular apps under consideration exhibit issues related to energy consumption. While the frequency of energy-related issues may vary, it is evident that users are concerned about app energy consumption, as evidenced by the reception of complaint reviews regarding their energy usage. App energy efficiency is important to users, including popular apps with diverse features, necessitating developers to address expectations and optimize for energy efficiency. Improving the energy efficiency of apps has the potential to enhance user satisfaction and, consequently, contribute to the overall success of the app.