Annotif: A System for Annotating Mobile Notifications in User Studies

Notifications are an essential feature of smartphones. While they support users in staying up-to-date, they are also a prominent source of interruptions. A deeper understanding of mobile notifications is required to avoid adverse effects. However, assessing mobile notifications is challenging as user studies on mobile notifications are typically conducted in-situ. Surveying users may lead to additional interruptions, and the content of notifications is inherently private. In this paper, we introduce a privacy-aware system for annotating mobile notifications in user studies. In an in-situ case study, participants annotated their notifications for oneweek. Participants perceived 38.91% of their notifications as not important and over half (51.75%) as non-urgent. Only 6.33% of the notifications were rated as both very important and very urgent. We discuss influencing factors, including a breakdown of messaging notifications, and implications for future smart notification systems that continue to fulfill users' information need while respecting their digital well-being.