A method for user-desired delay estimation for mobile-cloud applications includes: collecting, by a mobile device, data for a mobile application using at least one of sensors, an application logger and a user feedback module of the mobile device; inferring, by the mobile device, a quality of experience based on the collected data; determining, by the mobile device, a desired delay based on the inferred quality of experience; and offloading, by the mobile device, a task to a cloud together with the desired delay.