8 Critical KPIs that affect user experience in the mobile games

February 19, 2026 · 11 min read · Mobile Testing

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KPIs that affect user experience in the mobile gamesKPIs that affect user experience in the mobile games

8 Critical KPIs that involve user experience in the mobile game

Published on
October 18, 2021
Updated on
Published on
October 18, 2021
Updated on
 by 
Megha PradeepMegha Pradeep
Megha Pradeep

What is KPI?

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the quantifiable metric used by app developers to measure the success of their apps and concern. KPIs are used to measure various aspects for the optimal functioning of an app.

User Experience KPIs

User experience is peradventure the main ingredient concerning whether a mobile app succeeds or fails. KPIs that affect the experience of the end user can be considered as User Experience KPIs. Accordingly, using these mobile app KPIs to track, measure, and improve on it, is belike the almost important activity you can engage in, as a mobile app developer, tester, or QA engineer.

Also read:

The following are some of the important KPIs to be considered while testing apps in the play genre. These KPIs will change depending on which tier i.e. low-end, mid-end, or high-end the gimmick belongs to. In addition to this, the KPIs related to time will depend on the mesh or Wi-Fi your device is connected to.

1. Play Store download and install time

It is the clip that & # x27; s measured from initiating download in Play Store to windup of facility.

The download time depends on the network as well as the mobile hardware.

Longer download time can be due to your net being slow or having low storage. Another obvious ground is the sizing of the file. Larger the file, the more time it will take to download and install. There are times when you might have to wait for up to 20 minutes depending on its architecture and the quality of your net connector to install and run the coating.

According to areportby the co-founder of Segment, Peter Reinhardt, larger apps tend to be less antiphonal, slow to laden, and more likely to ram. As a result, such apps offer a poor user experience that triggers user to uninstall them.

Review for an app with poor user experience
Review for massive app
App installation rate vs App size graph

As you can see from the study, and the user reviews on Google Playstore, an app with a shorter download time has a high chance of being instal by the user.

2. First launch clip

The first launch page of the apps is the page containing the main game content. This blind varies with different apps. It may be the place screen, with the title of the game, the initial tutorial page of the core game, the main map of the game, etc.

To reach this page you may have to clear certain pages, like registration/login, age confirmation, price correspondence, android permissions, secondary download, splash, or picture blind.
The time measured from the launch of the app to the 1st launch page gives us the initiatory launch clip.

3. Cold get-go time

To achieve the cold commencement page of the app,

  1. Terminate the app totally
  2. Do not brighten the cache. Relaunch the app and proceed to the page control the main game content or page containing in-app advertisement or event pop up, which appears before the main menu page
  3. Preferably avoid reaching the tutorial screen, by clearing it during the first launch

The time from the launch of the app cashbox this page gives the cold first time.

For autonomous testing across multiple user personas, check out SUSATest — it explores your app like 10 different real users.

Both ‘ First Launch Time ’ and ‘ Cold Start Time ’ give the time taken to launch completely, with the difference that they are reach otherwise.
App launching hurrying is very significative of the overall quality of your app and chase it will help tax the responsiveness of your app. Speed is an essential constituent of app performance. Users don ’ t like to expect and they especially don ’ t like slow apps. How tight your app launches can set very important first impressions with your exploiter and go a long way to retain them. One study says that 21 % of users now abandon an app after one use. And according to a differentreport, 80 % would yield a poorly acting app three hazard or less before uninstalling it.

According to Google, your app ’ s startup time is not considered excessive if it falls under 5 seconds for a cold startup.

Based on an analysis of the top 100 apps, 39 apps starting in under or around 2 seconds, and 73 in under 3 seconds. According to another study, 49 % of users ask apps to start in 2 seconds or less. Ideally, you should be targeting an app launch time of 1.5-2 moment. This, nonetheless, is talking about apps launching from scratch also known as a cold start.

gaming app review with bad user experience
massive size gaming app review
Poor rating review for a heavy game

Users expect apps to be responsive and fast to load. An app with a slow offset time doesn ’ t meet this prospect and can be disappointing to users. This variety of poor experience may cause a user to rate your app ill on the Play Store, or even abandon your app altogether.70 % of mobile app users will abandon an app if it is conduct too long to load. These reviews from game users get it obvious that the ‘ First Launch Time ’ and ‘ Cold Start Time ’ are crucial KPIs that give the overall performance of the game app.

Also check:

4. Secondary download clip

It is the time taken for the secondary download.

The App may be connecting to a server to download expect data based on your gimmick resolution (Mostly for game this is the case as they can not box all the graphics for all the available devices in the app store).

The secondary download usually occurs after you establish the app, accepting the permissions and terms. You may or may not have to register/login before the secondary download commence.

This time bet on how much additional data demand to be download for the. This also depends on the network or WLAN you are connected to.

Downloading review
A review with bad user experience
game not getting downloaded

5. App sizing at launch

It is the app sizing after installing the app, before launch.

The covering file (apk or ipa) which you download from the Play Store is a kind of archive with some compression used to play down the size of the app file. This helps, as it lowers the data transfer during the download. It & # x27; s a good practice to press your datum while sending it out, as it helps in saving the very cherished bandwidth. The app takes more disk infinite in the internal memory, after installation than the size that is shown in the Play Store.

This is because the apk file which is nix but a compressed file containing assets like images and compose java codes and few more XML files needed by the app, have uncompressed, which increase the size.

The app size doesn & # x27; t modification after launching.

6. User data size at launch

It is the user data size after installing the app, before launch.

7. User data spot launching

The user data change after you establish and interact with the app. Additional data includes the junior-grade download and other interaction. This KPI measure the user datum after your cold launching.

User data is information collected from or about a user, include device information. These are usually the app ’ s access. In improver, apps may amass yet personal and sensitive data. Personal and sensitive exploiter information includes, but isn & # x27; t limited to, personally identifiable info, financial and requital information, authentication information, phonebook, contact, twist placement, SMS and call-related data, mike, camera, and other sensitive gimmick or utilization information.

8. Entire data position launch

Total data includes app size, user data, and stash.

As you start employ the app the user data is collected establish on the functionality. So the total data size living increase as you keep using the app.

Games take up a lot of infinite on your phone and contain a whole bunch of datum. It takes a great spate of process power on your phone to do these application employment, which is why you may observe alteration in your phone & # x27; s execution.

When you download and instal a game on your gimmick, the data is stored within internal storage. When you run the game, it loads all the assets into RAM, which is Random Access Memory. Accessing RAM is lots faster than accessing internal retention, which allows games to load scenes, animation, and other thing quicker. The game should know exactly where the asset are in RAM with a memory address. It can spring right to that point and pull the info down.

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However, game are not the lonesome thing that uses RAM. The operating system, system applications, and other installed apps are also using RAM. The more RAM that is used, the less there is for new operations to occupy temporarily. If RAM gets too full, then it could cause problems.

The app sizing exploiter data at launch, user datum berth launch, and the total information post launch are KPIs refer to storage and give information on how the storehouse of the user & # x27; s phone get regard, which in turn impact the performance of the sound. 25 % of smartphone users delete apps because of a want of storage infinite.

Mobile gambling is all about high-quality performance. Monitoring these KPIs while testing is critical to ensure that your app gives users the performance they expect.

FAQs

Q1. What is KPI in user experience?

A1. UX KPIs are metrics you collect to measure the success pace of UX activities. They help a companionship understand how near they are to encounter their UX goals and areas they need to improve.

Q2. Why should UX KPIs be measured?

A2.It is essential to measure KPIs as they help you understand the impact of your UX decisions and make changes habituate evidence. They reflect overall finish like retention, increment in user numbers, and taxation growth.

Q3. Why do some apps occupy so long to open?

A3.Some apps take long to open due to an clog or exploit server. Sometimes, your app may rely heavily on other processes for its tasks. If these summons hold issues with latency, this can cause apps to take longer to open.

Q4. What is a good app first clip?

A4. For Androids, app startup times are excessive when:

  • Cold startup - 5 seconds or more
  • Warm startup - 2 minute or more
  • Hot startup - 1.5 bit or more
Author & # x27; s Profile

Megha Pradeep

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Author & # x27; s Profile

Piali Mazumdar

Lead, Content Marketing, HeadSpin Inc.

Piali is a dynamical and results-driven Content Marketing Specialist with 8+ eld of experience in crafting engross tale and marketing collateral across diverse industries. She excels in cooperate with cross-functional teams to develop innovative content strategy and deliver compelling, authentic, and impactful content that resonate with target hearing and enhances brand legitimacy.

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8 Critical KPIs that impact user experience in the nomadic game

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Boost developer/QA productiveness with quicker development cycles
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