This relates to the work in T256819

Problem (per @Dbrant’s observation):

Since our last release on Oct 1, usage of the Search feature has been declining, instead of increasing:

This implies that Search might no longer be as discoverable as it was previously. We should take our learnings from this, and decide what to do next asap.

First conclusions from looking at the data

• Less people are using search since the week of August 31. The decline started before the release of the new search in the week of September 28 (see Android Search Actions Weekly).
• Comparing before/after release, the proportion of search queries via floating bar on Explore and search button(s) stayed the same. (see Start Search by Source) → this might indicate that the change to the bottom search did not have a negative impact
• Since the release of the new version of the app, the rating in the app store has been better than in previous releases (+2.7%, see Google Play Console)
• Article page views via Android app have increased after the release of the new version in the week of September 28 (see Turnilo)

Next steps

• Qualitative research
  • @schoenbaechler is going to perform usability tests for the new search in the week of October 26, identify issues and solve them
• Quantitative research
  • @SNowick_WMF
    • Mentioned that the trends are not alarming. We should look more deeply and broadly at stats to get a holistic view and draw the right conclusions (T266056).
      • Shay will perform a trend analysis for decline search start events and search by source to isolate the issue further and come up with recommendations.
      • Shay will look at iOS stats to compare the data - how did their numbers develop during this period?