Aspects of the disclosure are directed to solutions for determining context for a mobile computing device. The context represents a current user activity or environment in which the mobile device is used. The device generates a query for transmission to a remote community context service in response to a determined need to obtain community context information, such as when the device is unable to determine context with a sufficient confidence measure. Community context information is obtained from the remote community context service. The community context information is based on a remote context determination of at least one other mobile computing device determined to be similarly situated to the first computing device. The device's current context may be updated based on the community context information.