Simplicity is The Golden Rule: Lesson Learned from The Development of Smart Mobile Apps for Rural Community

Many government agencies have been implementing digital-based public facilities and amenities reporting and management systems. However, these systems need further improvement as there exist some contradictions between the requirements of the rural users and the complex idea of the developer. Exploring the views of rural citizens on these systems, this paper shares some lesson learned from the mobile app development point of view and real user's expectations. An Android smart mobile app prototype was developed based on the current requirement of necessary facilities and amenities reporting system. It was then tested by 40 participants from various level of community members in Langkawi Island, based on the specific real reporting scenarios. The overall analysis revealed that rural users prefer simplicity as opposed to the complexity of mobile apps.