This document contains log data from a mobile app tracker showing user interactions over time, including app launches, screen swipes, and other events. It also includes interviews with two users who found the tracker useful to diagnose battery issues and see patterns in their app and phone usage related to their mental health conditions. The conclusion emphasizes that log data should not be treated as a perfect reflection of activity and that people interpret tracked data differently based on their own purposes and needs.

1. Mobile Devices in
Everyday Use
John Rooksby
Invited talk at UCL Interaction Centre, January 2015

4. Mon Dec 08 2014 21:39:59 GMT+0000 (GMT): app-start: "{}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:39:59 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-screen-data: "{"steps":6002,"you":7074,"friends":4433}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:04 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":1}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:09 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":2}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:16 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":1}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:16 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-screen-data: "{"steps":6002,"you":7074,"friends":4433}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:18 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":2}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:21 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":1}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:21 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-screen-data: "{"steps":6002,"you":7074,"friends":4433}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:22 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":2}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:23 GMT+0000 (GMT): open-post-comment: "{}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:28 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":1}
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:28 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-screen-data: "{"steps":6002,"you":7074,"friends":4433}"
Mon Dec 08 2014 21:40:36 GMT+0000 (GMT): main-swipe: {"page":0}

8. App Tracking
• App Launches
• Wake / Sleep
• Unlock / Lock
• Plugged in / Unplugged

13. (On TV) This schoolboy
is a heavy smoker…
F11 is
browsing the
Electric Circus
website on
her laptop,
M12 is on
the
Rightmove
app, F12 is
watching TV.
Oh. The
Pigeon
Detectives
are going
to Electric
Circus
Whatever
happened to
them?
Their first
album came
out when
we were at
uni What did they sing?
F12 starts singing,
I found
out,
she’s
going
out with
him Going out with
IS SHE GOING
OUT WITH
F12 turns to M12…
..who ignores her
yeah I think so. Your
face has gone red
from the exertion
Cos I put so much effort
in. Bustin’ out the tune.
Ha ha ha haD’ya remember it? Oh that’s on camera ha ha
Ha ha ha ha
Nooo
I’m gonna let you listen so you’ll
know exactly how it goes
D’ya want to hear how it should sound? Spotify
11 to 20 fags a
day, god
We’re err, away Friday
I"smoke"11"
to"20"a"day"
Adverts start. F12 starts playing music, M12 changes
channel
ALRIGHT, WE KNOW WHAT
IT SOUNDS LIKE. THE
WHOLE BUILDING DOESN’T
NEED TO HEAR IT
Why are you such a
grumps? Are you on
your period?
Yes
Rightmove

17. !
!

18. Interview with an Apptracker user (Male, USA)
“I think the main reason was to help diagnose battery issues
related to app usage. It was by no means scientific though. I'm
also a bit of a sucker for data visualisations and definitely found it
cool to see. … It seems accurate to a scary degree sometimes.
Sometimes, seeing how often I am using the Sleep Time app,
when I sleep kind of dwarfs any other app usage but it's all still
useful. I can see what apps I hardly if ever use, and then decide
whether or not to uninstall them.”

19. Another interview with an Apptracker user (Male, Europe)
“I have this err, whats it called, bipolar disease … So every other
week I use my phone very much and, the other week I barely
touch it. Now, well, theres no curve of how I use it, I see it with
the bars and they are like yeah, a little and then they grow in the
the wave, Its interesting because I like to find out how my
disease works, that err, will help me. Yeah. Because err, I notice
when I don’t use my iPhone that much and then I realise that
maybe this is a turn, or the other way around.”

20. Looking Forward
• New Multi-Device version to be released spring 2014
• Desktop and mobile devices
• iOS8 and Lollipop posing challenges
• New designs
• Track simply if a device is “on or off”
• Add social features
• Research challenge
• Identify and support usage styles / purposes

21. Conclusion
• There are some dangers in treating log data as a
‘mirror’ of activity
• Let people interpret and make sense of tracked
data for themselves.
• A research challenge is how to recognise and
support the ways in which people make sense of
tracked data for themselves.

22. Sumgroup
www.softwarepopulations.com
Dr John Rooksby Dr Alistair Morrison Dr Mattias Rost
Prof Matthew Chalmers Dr Matt Higgs Dr Parvin Asadzadeh