Mobile Apps for Foot Measurement in Pedorthic Practice : Scoping Review
consumption of an app , raters tracked the battery usage of apps from the app settings ( Android ) or auxiliary software ( iOS ) at intervals of 15 minutes during usage . Raters kept note of performance issues for apps , including ( 1 ) whether the app suffered frame drops , ( 2 ) the state of the app during any performance throttling , and ( 3 ) whether there were any noticeable changes in device temperature during usage .
Usability
The usability of an app refers to the quality of the app ’ s system that is used to achieve the goals of the app . Usability involves the fields of social and behavioral science , and is also linked with the science of design [ 25 ]. In prior studies involving human-computer interaction and user-centered design , poor usability and the lack of a proper useroriented design have been identified as two of the major reasons for low user adoption rates of mobile health ( mHealth ) apps [ 26 ] . Usability testing of a foot scanning app is crucial in determining whether the app has sufficient quality to attract the attention of its target user groups . In today ’ s technology era , when engaging with a mobile app , the user ’ s attention is divided between interaction with the mobile app itself and interaction with the environment
[ 27 ]
. Navigation and ease of use are important measures of app usability since the in-app screen sequence leads the user through different views of the app to obtain the desired information [ 24 ] . In prior comparison studies involving comparative app usability testing , it was discovered that the usability of an app in field settings compared to that in laboratory settings varies greatly due to differences in user behavior and the user experience [ 27 ] . This signifies that usability testing of an app is a necessary stage in the app development cycle .
Taking into account prior work on app rating systems [ 13 , 18 , 19 ] , we hypothesized that an app ’ s usability could be assessed as “ good ” given that ( 1 ) the app can be operated with ease ; ( 2 ) the app ’ s navigation flow is uninterrupted ; ( 3 ) the gestural design ( if present in the app ) and screen links ( buttons , arrows , navigation panels , etc ) are consistent across all app pages ; and ( 4 ) the app provides an interactive experience by taking input from the users and giving feedback when necessary . These conditions were checked by the raters when rating the usability criteria of apps .
Measurement-Specific Functionality
In a foot measurement – specific app , the dimensionality of the features provided by the app is very important . In simple terms , if app A can measure more foot properties than app B , then the potential utility of app A can be considered to be higher than that of app B . Strategizing on this , we decided to include different types of apps that are directly or indirectly involved with the process of foot measurement in this analysis . We reviewed many studies on foot dimension measurements . Currently ,
22 Pedorthic Footcare Association | www . pedorthics . org