Balancing Notification Frequency and User Satisfaction in Task Management Tools

  • Raul Paradeda UERN
  • Euller Araújo da Silva UERN
  • Luiziane dos Santos UERN

Abstract


This study examines the role of customizable notification intervals in task management applications. Tarefácil, an app designed to send task reminders, was used as the study tool. Participants were divided into three groups, each assigned different notification intervals: 3 hours (C1), 5 hours (C2), or a choice between the two (C3). The results show that users highly value the ability to personalize notification intervals, even though fixed intervals did not negatively affect their experience. This research suggests future studies in contexts such as work and education, contributing to interaction design, psychology, and technology. The findings emphasize the importance of customization in improving user experience.
Keywords: Notification customization, Task management applications, User experience, Human-computer interaction, Notification frequency

References

Bell, L., Garnett, C., Bao, Y., Cheng, Z., Qian, T., Perski, O., Potts, H. W. W., and Williamson, E. (2023). How notifications affect engagement with a behavior change app: Results from a micro-randomized trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 11:e38342.

Bell, L., Garnett, C., Qian, T., Perski, O., Potts, H. W., Williamson, E., et al. (2020). Notifications to improve engagement with an alcohol reduction app: protocol for a micro-randomized trial. JMIR research protocols, 9(8):e18690.

Bidargaddi, N., Pituch, T., Maaieh, H., Short, C., and Strecher, V. (2018). Predicting which type of push notification content motivates users to engage in a self-monitoring app. Preventive medicine reports, 11:267–273.

Gavilan, D. and Avello, M. (2023). Enabling smartphone push notifications: the effect of a framed opt-in request. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 21(1):1–18.

Mehrotra, A., Pejovic, V., Vermeulen, J., Hendley, R., and Musolesi, M. (2016). My phone and me: understanding people’s receptivity to mobile notifications. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pages 1021–1032.

Morrison, L. G., Hargood, C., Pejovic, V., Geraghty, A. W., Lloyd, S., Goodman, N., Michaelides, D. T., Weston, A., Musolesi, M., Weal, M. J., et al. (2017). The effect of timing and frequency of push notifications on usage of a smartphone-based stress management intervention: an exploratory trial. PloS one, 12(1):e0169162.

Picard, R. W. (2000). Affective Computing. MIT Press.

Pielot, M., Church, K., and De Oliveira, R. (2014). An in-situ study of mobile phone notifications. In Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices & services, pages 233–242.

Twomey, B. (2016). Mobile apps: Privacy attitudes, knowledge, & user practices.

Wheatley, D. and Ferrer-Conill, R. (2021). The temporal nature of mobile push notification alerts: A study of european news outlets’ dissemination patterns. Digital journalism, 9(6):694–714.

Williamson, C., White, K., Rona, R. J., Simms, A., Fear, N. T., Goodwin, L., Murphy, D., and Leightley, D. (2022). Smartphone-based alcohol interventions: a systematic review on the role of notifications in changing behaviors toward alcohol. Substance Abuse, 43(1):1231–1244.

Wohllebe, A. (2020). Consumer acceptance of app push notifications: Systematic review on the influence of frequency. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 14:36–47.

Zendesk (2022). Personalization 101: What it is, importance, and examples. [link].

Zhong, J., Zhang, Z., Zhao, Z., Peng, L., Zhang, Y., Zhang, B., Zhai, X., and Wu, Y. (2024). Relating caregiver experiences to personalized “push” content in mobile applications among caregivers of pediatric patients with oncology conditions. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 71(10):e31198.
Published
2025-07-20
PARADEDA, Raul; SILVA, Euller Araújo da; SANTOS, Luiziane dos. Balancing Notification Frequency and User Satisfaction in Task Management Tools. In: PROCEEDINGS OF BRAZILIAN SYMPOSIUM ON UBIQUITOUS AND PERVASIVE COMPUTING (SBCUP), 17. , 2025, Maceió/AL. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2025 . p. 21-30. ISSN 2595-6183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbcup.2025.7931.