Mobile App Critique

I don't feel that I am very creative which is why I think that app design is so tough. Many apps nowadays follow a similar pattern for how they choose to layout the options within their app. The app I will be reviewing will be the Amazon mobile app.

Amazon has done a great job over the years of incorporating an updated look and feel while maintaining functionality. Many apps now utilize the 3 lines "menu" icon. This is useful on mobile apps because unlike on a web version where you may have tabs along the top, that will not work on a mobile app due to space and sizing issues. This menu tab typically opens a side panel with options listed top to bottom. This is able to give the user different sections or categories to choose from without taking up excess space on the front screen of the app.

Some of the suggestions that I would make for Amazon would be, firstly, I really like that the Amazon app has notifications letting you know when things are being shipped or delivered to your house. I share my Amazon prime account with other people, and I have to turn notifications off because there is not an option to turn off just some of the notifications. You can either have all of the notifications or none of the notifications. My suggestion would be to have a selection where you can select notifications based on the address or card used in the purchase. That way even if multiple users were living in the same house, they could set up the app to only get notifications on their purchases.

My second suggestion would be, updates on when something will be delivered. Recently Amazon added a package tracking system that allows the user to see where the delivery driver is and how many stops their package is away from delivery. I really like this new addition, but it only appears when your package is 10 stops away or less. I think they should expand this functionality and show updates on where the package is as soon as it leaves the warehouse that morning. This would add greater visibility allowing the user to plan on when the package is going to arrive, also this only works if Amazon is the one that is delivering your package. If UPS, USPS, or FedEx is delivering the package this functionality does not integrate with those other services.

Thirdly, I would update how the cookies work within the app. Since I share an account with multiple people, I do not get the appropriate suggested products for purchase. I would update the cookies to function based on the device being used so that I get the appropriate suggestions.