Engl317 White Paper

Usability testing:
The most popular Internet messaging

app on Android and iPhone
V.S
1
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 2
METHOD .............................................................................................................. 2
TEST ENVIRONMENT AND EQUIPMENT: ......................................................................... 2
TASKS: ................................................................................................................. 2
CRITERIA: .............................................................................................................. 2
LIKERT SCALE:......................................................................................................... 3
Results/Discussion............................................................................................. 3
Task 1: Where to find help ................................................................................. 3
Task 2: How to add friend .................................................................................. 4
Task 3: How to facetime..................................................................................... 4
Task 4: How to save a pictures/videos ............................................................... 5
Task 5: How to send pictures/videos .................................................................. 5
Task 6: How to unsend/delete message ............................................................. 6
Task 7: Take picture when calling ...................................................................... 6
Task 8: Add another people to join the call ........................................................ 6
Task 9: Reply specific message ........................................................................... 6
Task 10: Post story ............................................................................................. 7
Conclusion/Recommendations.......................................................................... 8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 8
Recommendations ............................................................................................. 9
Citations ............................................................................................................ 9
Appendix- Data collection ............................................................................... 10
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Introduction
This white paper represents the findings from a usability test of two free message app: Line
and WhatsApp. Both apps can make free calls and facetime over the internet and uses
standard mobile phone numbers to send text message, profiles, PDF files, pictures, videos,
contact information, and user locations to other users. Most of the country use WhatsApp
for example America, Canada, and most Eastern European countries. For Line, it is more
popular in Taiwan, Japan, and central Asia.
The usability test is based on ten tasks that every user will experience while using the app.
By testing the same ten tasks on both apps we compare the usability and use the same
matric to evaluate in order to allow users to refer when they want to download
communication apps. The user technical ability will be average, if you know how to
download an app then is good enough.
Method
Test environment and equipment:
The usability test was complete in my apartment on March 23, 2019. The reason I chose my
apartment room is because it’s quiet, no interruption and comfortable.
The device I use to download the app was iPhone X, the version of Line is 9.2.1 and for
WhatsApp is 2.19.31.
When doing the usability test I did it with my friend, her apps were the same version as
mine. We follow the tasks list and do one task at a time on both apps then immediately
write down the evaluation on my laptop to make sure we don't have bias or forget how we
feel later on.
Tasks:
1. Where to find help
2. How to add a friend
3. How to facetime
4. How to save a picture
5. How to send pictures/videos
6. How to unsend/delete message
7. Take picture when calling
8. Add another people to join the call
9. Reply specific message
10. Post story
Criteria:
Effective: user is successful completing the task
Efficient: user is able to accomplish the task with least waste of time
Engaging: the product is pleasing and satisfying to use
Error tolerant: the product will help user recover from the error
3
Easy to learn: easy for user to build their knowledge of how to use the product
without deliberate effort
Likert scale:
Strongly Strongly
Disagree 2 3 4 Agree
1 5
Results/Discussion
Task 1: Where to find help
Figure 1 and Figure 2 below show the image of the help page on Line and WhatsApp. For
Line you have to go to the Friends page and on the top left corner there’s a settings icon and
you click it, scroll down to the bottom you will find “help” and there is search, FAQs, and
category. For WhatsApp, you will go to the settings page and you will see “help” at the end
of the page. When you click on it you have to click on FAQ to be able to search what you are
looking for. Both apps need three clicks to get to the “help” page it did not require a lot of
effort. The line app is more pleasing to complete the task because it has some icons before
the words so it makes it more fun to use.
The way I test to find how error tolerance the help page is I type “add friend” in the search
box on both apps and see which app’s result is more related to what I need. The result is
WhatsApp shows “adding contacts” and Line shows “transferring your account with a phone
number”. Line score 22 on task one, I deduct 3 points on error tolerance. WhatsApp score
23 on task one, I deduct one point on engaging and one point on error tolerance.
Figure 1. WhatsApp Help page Figure 2. Line Help page

4
Task 2: How to add friend

Adding friends on the app is an important function to know. For Line, you will go to the
Friends page and on the top right there’s an add friend icon you click it and it will show up 6
ways how to add friends. About WhatsApp, it is a little difficult to find where to add friends,
I tried to look for the add friend icon but I cannot find it. In the end, I go to the “chats” and
there’s a write icon and I click it then found the add “new contact” or “new group”. Also, my
friend told me that I can add a phone number on my phone and it will automatically add
friends in WhatsApp. Both apps need two clicks to get to the add friend page but it is harder
to find it on WhatsApp. Moreover, Line has more ways to add contacts you can see below
Figure 3, you can invite friends on other social media, use a QR code, shake your phone, and
search ID or phone number. Compare it to WhatsApp, below Figure 4 you can see
WhatsApp required the user to put in phone numbers every time when you want to add a
new friend. Therefore, the overall score for Line is 23 and 19 for WhatsApp due to lack of
efficiency.
Figure 3. Line Add friends page Figure 4. WhatsApp Add friends page
Task 3: How to facetime

When you want to make a facetime call on the app. You just go to the call page on
WhatsApp and click add call icon and it will show all your friends. You also can click search
on the top to save time finding whom you want to call. (see Figure 5) For Line, I go to the
calls page and click the icon on the top right it then shows all your contacts but there’s no
facetime icon to click, you can only make regular call first then when the person picks up the
phone then you can switch to facetime by clicking the icon on the calling page. (see Figure
6) Another way to make a facetime call straight away on Line is to go to chats and click the
5
people you want to make the call then you will see there is a phone icon on the top right,
and you click on it you then will have two option free call and video call. But the above
situation only applies if you have a chat with the person you want to contact, otherwise, it
will take a lot of times. Overall, WhatsApp is more efficient on making facetime calls
however, when you do facetime on Line you can add filters. I give both Apps 23 on this task,
I take away points on error tolerance for Line and take away points on engaging for
WhatsApp.
Figure 5. make a new call page. Figure 6. where you can find the facetime icon
Where you can select facetime
Task 4: How to save a pictures/videos

Save pictures/videos on both apps are the same way. When you receive a picture/video you
just have to click on the picture/video and on the bottom left there will be a save icon you
can click, for Line it’s on the bottom right. There’s also autosave that you can do, for Line
just go to the setting page and click photos& videos then turn on the “Auto-download
images”. For WhatsApp, go to settings and click on chats and turn on “save to Camera Roll”.
Both apps required two clicks to save pictures/videos, it is easy to learn and effortless so I
give them both 22 points.
Task 5: How to send pictures/videos

For Line, when you are chatting you just have to click the photo icon and you can select up
to 50 pictures/videos at a time. For WhatsApp, click plus icon in the chat room and pick
“photo & video library” then select a picture or video and it will pop up then if you want
more you can click add, the maximum item is 30 but you can edit the pictures/videos or add
caption before you send. The good thing about Line is when you send a picture/video it will
show a bar that the picture/video is loading, so if you miss send it you can stop the process
6
and delete the picture/video. That is why I give Line higher score on error tolerance than
WhatsApp. The overall score for Line is 24 and 23 for WhatsApp, these results can be found
in the appendix under task 5.
Task 6: How to unsend/delete message

When you missend a message it is important to know how to delete or unsend a message.
Both apps have this function, in Line, I press on the text that I want to unsend/delete and it
shows up eight options which are copy, keep, delete, unsend, reply, forward, note, and
announce. Then I click unsend, and the screen will show I unsend a message. If I hit delete it
will only delete from my devices. About WhatsApp, I press the message I want to
unsend/delete and it shows star, reply, forward, copy, info, and delete. Then I click delete it
will show delete for everyone or delete for myself. If you click delete for everyone it will
show “this message was deleted” in the chat room. This task is easy to complete on both
apps and did not require a lot of effort so I give them both 23 points on this task.
Task 7: Take picture when calling

When you want to take pictures while you’re calling using the app it is impossible to do it on
the Line app, you have to shrink the conversation window and use the phone camera
instead. For WhatsApp, you can just shrink the conversation and click on the camera icon
and take pictures. It takes more time to complete this task when you use Line so I deduct
two points each on effective, efficient, and engaging. Line score 12 on this task because it
cannot use the app camera while calling, and WhatsApp score 25 because I successfully
complete the task without a lot of effort. (see appendix task 7)
Task 8: Add another people to join the call

Adding people to join the call is possible in both apps. For WhatsApp, simply just make the
call and there will be an icon on the top right and show add participants, then you can select
people to join the call. For Line, there is no direct way to add people when you are calling,
you have to create a group then make a group call. It is hard to learn compare to WhatsApp
and more time consuming so I give Line an overall score of 12 and 25 for WhatsApp.
Task 9: Reply specific message

When your friend sends a lot of separate messages at one time and you type slow don’t
have time to reply. Then you must know how to reply a specific message. When you use
Line, press on the specific message that you want to reply, then it will show up a lot of
options just click reply and then type what you want to say in the text box and send. For
WhatsApp, you just have to slide the specific text you want to the right and then you can
reply. Figure 7 shows the process and how it looks when you reply. The overall score for Line
is 20 and 23 for WhatsApp because WhatsApp is slightly more efficient on doing the task.
7
Figure 7. Line reply specific message process
Figure 7. WhatsApp reply specific message process
Task 10: Post story

Both apps can post a story to share pictures or videos, but the format of the story is
different between the two apps. When you want to post a story in Line, first you need to go
to the timeline page (see figure 8 below) and there is an add icon on the bottom right, click
it and then pick write. For the story you can decide how long people can see it, there is one
hour, six hours, and 24 hours. About WhatsApp, you go to the status page and click on add
or the pen icon on the right to post a story. (see figure 9 below) The story will last 24 hours
and people will have to click on your profile to see the story. Compare the two apps, Line
has more choices on what to post, for example, you can post picture/video, location,
stickers, and slideshow but relatively more time consuming. Therefore, I give WhatsApp a
higher score on effectiveness and efficiency and give Line higher score on engaging. The
overall score for this task is 23 for Line and 24 for WhatsApp.
8
Figure 8. Line Timeline page Figure 9. WhatsApp Status page
Conclusion/Recommendations
Conclusion
In conclusion, two apps have their pros and cons. For WhatsApp, everything is really
straightforward and simple, but for some features, it lacks instructions, so it is a little
difficult for new users. For Line, there are many icons and cute stickers to make the whole
experience more interesting. Line is almost like a simpler version of Instagram, you can do a
lot of things but some people might think those features are useless. The overall score for
Line is 204/250 and 230/250 for WhatsApp, I give WhatsApp higher score because I
personally like my communication app to be simple although Line have more features but I
don’t really use them.
Overall Score for each task for both Apps

Task 10
Task 9
Task 8
Task 7
Task 6
Task 5
Task 4
Task 3
Task 2
Task 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
WhatsApp Line
Figure 10. Overall score for both Apps.

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Recommendations
For those people want their communication app to be more simple and just using it
for text and call, I will suggest them to download WhatsApp. And for those people who use
communication app really often and like to share their life with friends, I will recommend
them download Line.
I also have a recommendation for both app developers, which is when using the
unsend message feature the purpose should be people don't want the other party to see
the wrong message. However, when I use the unsend message function on both apps, they
will leave "you unsend a message" on the chat page. This will make the other person
wonder what message did the other person wants to send before.
Citations
LINE Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://line.me/en/
WhatsApp. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.whatsapp.com/
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Appendix- Data collection

Tasks Line WhatsApp
Task 1 Where to find help Where to find help
Effective I was able to successfully complete this I was able to successfully complete this
task. task.
Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Efficient I was able to accomplish the task with least I was able to accomplish the task with least
waste of time. waste of time.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Engaging This task was pleasing and satisfying to This task was pleasing and satisfying to
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Error The app is willing to help user recover from The app is willing to help user recover from
Tolerant the error. the error.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Easy to The task was easy to complete and did not The task was easy to complete and did not
Learn require deliberate effort. require deliberate effort.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional I go to settings first and found help at the I go to settings then found help, it includes
Notes end of the page and click it. The help FAQ, contact us, terms and privacy policy,
page includes search, FAQs, and licenses. I have to click on the FAQ then I
category. For the error tolerant I type “add found search, I type “add friend” and it
friend” in the search box and it showed a shows what I am looking for.
lot of result that is not what I am looking for.
It includes some icons that is cute.
Error tolerant: the result of search function
did not relate to what I am looking for.
11
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 2 How to add a friend How to add a friend
Effective I was able to successfully complete this task. I was able to successfully complete this task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional There’s a add friends icon at the friends I tried to look for the add friend icon but I
Notes page. I click it and there are many options cant find it. I go to the chats and there is a
like search- using id or phone number, write icon and I click it then found the “new
shake it, QR code, and invite-text message, contact”. Also my friend told me that I can
email, WhatsApp, Facebook. add phone number in my phone and it will
automatic add friend in the app.
12
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 3 How to facetime How to facetime
task. task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional Hit video call Hit video call

Notes Can add filter Can add people
13
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 4 How to save a pictures/videos How to save a pictures/videos
task. task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional [Describe what happened as you did the [Describe what happened as you did the
Notes task] task]
14
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 5 How to send pictures/videos How to send pictures/videos
task. task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional There’s a photo icon click it and select the Click plus icon and pick “photo &video
Notes pic or video you want and the max is 50 library” then select the picture or video
But I cannot edit the pic. and it will pop up and if you want more
You can press pause and delete before you can click add and the maximum item
you send it. is 30.
This can edit pic and add caption.
15
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 6 How to unsend/delete message How to unsend/delete message
task. task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional I send a message and I press the text that I I send a message and press the message I
Notes send it show up copy, keep, delete, send it show star, reply, forward, copy, info,
unsend, reply, forward, note, and and delete.
announce. And I click unsend, and the For this when I click delete it will show
screen will show I unsend a message. And delete for everyone or delete for myself.
if I hit delete it will only delete from my It will show this message was deleted.
devices.
16
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 7 Take picture when calling Take picture when calling
task. task.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Efficient I was able to accomplish the task with I was able to accomplish the task with least
least waste of time. waste of time.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional I have to use the phone camera I can call and take pic on the app
Notes
17
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 8 Add another people to join the call Add another people to join the call
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional You can call and invite people it will create You call one people end you can add
Notes a new group chat and you have to recall in participant without creating a new group.
that group.
18
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 9 Reply specific message Reply specific message
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional Press the text and click reply Slide the text you want to reply to the right
Notes
19
Tasks Line WhatsApp

Task 10 Post story Post story
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
complete. complete.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Additional I go to the timeline page and there is a add I go to status and click the add button on
Notes button so I click on it and it have reply, my picture, or click on the camera or pen
camera, and write options you can pick. icon on the right. Then I can type what I
You can post pic, location, stickers, want to say or send a pic.
slideshow, and timer.
Line: more diverse but takes more time

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Usability testing:

The most popular Internet messaging

Figure 1. WhatsApp Help page Figure 2. Line Help page

Task 2: How to add friend

Task 3: How to facetime

Task 4: How to save a pictures/videos

Task 5: How to send pictures/videos

Task 6: How to unsend/delete message

Task 7: Take picture when calling

Task 8: Add another people to join the call

Task 9: Reply specific message

Figure 7. Line reply specific message process

Figure 7. WhatsApp reply specific message process

Task 10: Post story

Figure 8. Line Timeline page Figure 9. WhatsApp Status page

Overall Score for each task for both Apps

Figure 10. Overall score for both Apps.

Appendix- Data collection

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Additional Hit video call Hit video call

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Tasks Line WhatsApp

Line: more diverse but takes more time

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