Mobile App Updates can go backwards

The recent LinkedIn Mobile App update disaster has made me think that in some cases prospective App update improvements can have the opposite effect. I thought it worth recording some of the things that have gone wrong for App updates for a few companies including LinkedIn

LinkedIn — cardinal rule don’t confuse the user

In the case of LinkedIn they had the good view that a Mobile App should be designed as a mobile App from the ground up rather than copying the functionality they already had on the web. There have been many excellent examples of this but it has worked best for the truly Mobile First companies who designed their app only for mobile and then if they then created a web presence they copied the mobile user experience — this creates a simple and easily understand UI for both mobile and web AND furthermore the experiences are identical. In the case of LinkedIn they’ve gone way too far with the thought the mobile user experience had to be different. In fact they’ve broken a cardinal rule that they should not confuse the user — the mobile UI is now so different that the web user does not have a clue when they use the mobile app. In my case I’ve stopped using the mobile app altogether and now just use the web experience. In the same period this new app has appeared LinkedIn share price has fallen 50% — not all to do with the App but it cannot have helped.

Zoopla — don’t release a partially working update

Zoopla are a UK property web site and App. Up to now they have produced a very good application which provides easy to use searches and lots of valuable information on prices and facilities. Recently they updated their mobile App providing a “better user interface”. The User Interface is different and in many ways simpler than its predecessor which should have been better. However, the previous app was very functional and they’ve obviously struggled to re-implement all the previous functionality. In fact about 10% of the previous functions just don’t work anymore. As a user of the app I am very frustrated and indeed the Appstore comments are full of angry users saying what a bad update it is. I am sure the developers had the view that it looked better, was easier to use and it was 90% working. The problem is that you absolutely cannot release an update which is worse than its predecessor. They should have waited a few more months making the improvements before releasing it.

BBC iPlayer — from good, to bad and then back to excellent

As a final example it’s worth saying even the best can get it wrong and then later fix it. The BBC iPlayer app has been one of the best Apps in the world for years. About 18 months ago they released a version with “improved” UI which was a move backwards. The improved UI has a horizonally scrollable menu at the top of the screen. In its first iterations it was a little dodgy and not the best. However, they stuck with it and have made considerable improvement and I now think the current version is far better than it was 2 years ago.

One comment about this is that I do think they BBC developers made a mistake here. They should have realised what they were attempting was potentially an issue and worked behind the scenes to make the improvement BEFORE release not after.

Conclusion

It’s hard for mobile App developers and product designers to get things right. The striving for improvements is laudatory. But when the user can compare a release with its predecessor the App developer needs to be very very careful and not make fundamental mistakes.