Mobile Microsessions

Have you ever briefly turned on your phone, glanced at it, found whatever needed to find, and then turned it back off? That’s an example of a microsession — a quick session with minimal interaction that completes a user goal. Definition: Mobile microsessions are mobile sessions shorter than 15 seconds. The word “microsession ” follows the terminology introduced by an article by Ferreira and his colleagues, who coined the term “microusage” to refer to mobile usage that is shorter than 15 seconds. They found that a little more than 40% of the mobile usage was microusage. While the exact time threshold may be arguable (and may vary depending on the...
United for Android: When checking in by launching the app, the user has to wait for the splash screen to load (top left), then skip the login wall (top right), then find the Check in button on the homepage (bottom left) and finally get to the Flight Check-in page (bottom right). Designers can provide users with quick, outside-the-app access to the tasks that they perform the most. Doing so can save users the need to locate the entry point by themselves, and if the task is significant enough, can substantially improve the overall user experience. Designing for Microsessions Of course, the