Usability Evaluation of a Mobile Application for Foot Health Monitoring of Smart Insoles: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Increasing research on intelligent wearable technologies, such as smart insoles for mobile health (mHealth) monitoring, brings new challenges for user-centered design, particularly in data visualization. Research shows various developments in mobile apps for monitoring foot health with smart insoles, while emerging trends like chatbot interactions and improved analytic visualizations offer new opportunities to enhance user experience. However, the usability of various health data visualizations remains unvalidated. A mixed-method experimental user study with 30 participants was conducted to assess the usability of three prototype mHealth applications for smart insoles: Analytical, Basic, and Chatbot visualizations. Quantitative results showed that Basic visualization achieved the highest usability, followed by Analytical, and finally Chatbot. Qualitative feedback supported these findings but also highlighted the potential of Chatbot interactions to enhance data understanding in mHealth apps. We discuss implications for future mHealth applications to monitor foot health and propose design recommendations to improve usability in chatbot interactions.