- Streaming Services:
- Scenario: Streaming platforms like Netflix, YouTube, or music services rely heavily on the user’s network conditions to determine the video or audio quality.
- Subscription Benefit: With the Device Quality Indicator API, these platforms can subscribe to real-time network status updates for their users. If a device’s connectivity status changes from 5G to 3G, the platform can automatically adjust the stream quality to avoid buffering and improve the user experience. When network conditions improve, the quality can be enhanced again without user intervention.
- Example: A user starts watching a video in 4K (on 5G) and as they move into a low-coverage area, the network drops to 2G. The API immediately sends an alert, triggering the platform to switch the video to SD or audio-only to ensure playback continuity.
- Gaming Platforms:
- Scenario: Online multiplayer games need to maintain a stable connection for real-time gameplay. Fluctuations in network quality (e.g., moving from 4G to 3G) can impact gameplay, causing lag or disconnections.
- Subscription Benefit: Game developers can subscribe to the Device Quality Indicator API to receive notifications when a player’s network status changes. When a player’s device moves from a high-speed connection (e.g., 4G) to a lower speed (e.g., 3G), the system can automatically adjust game settings to reduce the data load (e.g., lowering the game’s graphical quality or switching to less frequent server updates) to maintain a smoother gaming experience.
- Example: A player’s device switches from 5G to 3G, and the gaming platform gets an instant update via the subscription, prompting it to reduce the resolution and data requests to minimize latency.
- Mobile Video Conferencing:
- Scenario: Video conferencing apps (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) need to ensure a stable connection for quality video and audio calls, and user experience can degrade with network changes.
- Subscription Benefit: With the subscription model, the application will receive notifications whenever a participant’s network connection changes (e.g., from 4G LTE to 2G). This will allow the app to adjust the call quality or switch to audio-only mode to avoid disruptions during the conference call.
- Example: A participant in a video conference moves from 4G to 2G. The system, upon receiving the real-time notification, automatically switches the call to audio-only to maintain connection stability.
- Mobile Content Delivery & Media Apps:
- Scenario: Content providers (e.g., video or image-heavy apps) need to deliver the appropriate media content based on the device’s available data and network conditions.
- Subscription Benefit: Content providers can subscribe to network status changes for their users, so they can send lower-quality content when the network is slow or prioritize high-definition content when a fast connection is available. This reduces data wastage and improves the user experience.
- Example: A content delivery app subscribes to network changes. When the user moves from 4G LTE to 3G, the system automatically switches to sending lower-quality images or video to ensure the content is delivered without buffering or data issues.
- Smart Home Devices:
- Scenario: IoT (Internet of Things) devices in a smart home environment, like security cameras or smart thermostats, often depend on the device’s mobile network for data transmission.
- Subscription Benefit: The Device Quality Indicator API allows the system to adjust frequency or data volume of transmissions to avoid overload.
- Example: A smart metering device only sends data if the device is reachable by 3G, 4G or 5G.
Device Quality Indicator
API Description
The “Device Quality Indicator” API enables developers to access real-time insights about a mobile device’s network status. It returns a quality indicator that provides an indication based on device, historical congestion, and the connectivity type (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G). By querying this API, developers can tailor their application’s behavior based on the network status of the user’s device, optimizing user experience, network resource usage, and application performance.
Use Cases
Benefits
- Comprehensive Network Insights: The indicator provides a holistic view of the network status by combining various KPIs, enabling more accurate app adjustments to current network conditions.
- Proactive Optimization: By continuously analyzing KPIs like network congestion and available data volume, the app can dynamically adjust performance to avoid bottlenecks and delays.
- Enhanced User Experience: The indicator helps evaluate network quality, allowing for adaptive media or data usage to ensure an optimal user experience even in fluctuating network conditions.
API Portfolio: Device Information
SubProject Wiki: Device Status
(incl. how to meet the team)
API Wiki: Device Quality Indicator
API Repository: Device Quality Indicator
API Repository Status: Sandbox
API Status: Upcoming
API Version(s) and Release Date(s):
- In progress
API availability: Information which APIs are available in which country and network, and how to get access can be found on the GSMA public launch status page.