The development of e-Government has established the use of mobile applications (mG-App) for service delivery, yet studies on their adoption within developing countries, notably Indonesia, are still limited. Given user acceptance challenges, this study analyzes social media discourse to empirically investigate the key factors contributing to the success of mG-App adoption in Indonesia. Social media discourse significantly impacts government initiatives by fostering consensus or dissent. While prior studies on digital co-production often focus on formal-rational factors using the Unified Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this research aims to bridge this gap by integrating the rational factors outlined by UTAUT with the intricate social context. Leveraging aspect-based sentiment analysis and social media netnography, this study examines citizens’ perceptions and highlights mG-App adoption factors from two perspectives: government-to-citizens and citizens-to-citizens, using public reviews from X/Twitter as primary data. By innovatively integrating qualitative with quantitative methods for data processing, this study offers insights into new technology adoption, contributing to the evolving landscape of digital co-production in government services. It elucidates technical factors like performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions while delving into social dimensions such as accountability, transparency, trust, privacy, and cost. Findings reveal widespread public concerns over mG-App performance and effort expectancy in Indonesia, shedding light on how the UTAUT social environment concept influences public resistance. Additionally, the study offers practical recommendations to optimize mG-App performance, secure third-party support, instill trust, and enhance efficiency, ultimately elevating user experience and driving adoption in Indonesia’s public sector.