Android Privacy
Guard Mode is a novel feature tailored for Generation Z Android users, intended to bolster smartphone privacy and security during their daily phone-sharing activities.
Background
This is a project in collaboration with the Google team, aiming to design privacy features for Gen-Z users (those born between 1997 and 2012) on the Android platform to meet their privacy protection needs. The project is called "Google Orbit," focuses on enhancing and improving the privacy of Android Gen-Z users and is primarily divided into three parts: "Guard Mode," "Big Data," and "Discover." I am part of the "Guard Mode" team.
Information
Roles
Tools
My work
Researcher/
UX designer
Figma
Adobe suite
-
Engaged in preliminary research
-
Proposed the concept of "Guard Mode" and led the team
-
Conduct prototype and user testing.
Timeframe
Team
4 people
10 Weeks
Problem Statement
-
Most people have experiences of sharing their phones, but many feel uncomfortable about privacy breaches during such instances, especially Gen Z, who prioritize face-to-face phone privacy over broader data concerns. Our research indicates that around 80% of Gen Z individuals develop increasing anxieties over time when sharing their phones, leading to a decline in user experience.
Design Goal
-
Our design goal is to create a new feature that ensures the secure and uninterrupted protection of phone privacy for Gen-Z during face-to-face phone sharing, enabling them to share their phones conveniently and confidently.
Timeline
Concept Video
Research Process
1. Why sharing phone issue is matter?
a. First Round Research:
For a better understanding of the worries and concerns of Gen-Z users on privacy issues regarding Android, we conducted the first round of research.
We did secondary research from "Android VS Apple"; "Gen Z", "Third party Apps"; "privacy".
Secondary Research
We Interviewed 24 Gen Z base on 'Managing Mobile Privacy'; "security" ; "Android and other brands"; "opinions and attitudes towards privacy" and other aspects.
Interview
Survey
Based on the research content of the interview, we created a questionnaire to quantify user privacy data from "managing mobile privacy" to "trust in the Android brand", and collected 586 valid responses.
Cultural Probes
We have created privacy labeling cards and let people choose between "authentic & not authentic" and "what is privacy".
Key Insights
1
Gen-Z is more accepting of big data sharing
Compared to other age groups, Gen-Z is more accepting of big data, more willing to share their data if it benefits others
3
Gen-Z value privacy but limit management time
While most Gen-Zers care about data privacy, they prefer not to spend too much time managing it, with about 73% willing to allocate less than 10% of their effort to privacy management.
2
Gen-Z frequently share offline and value phone privacy
Gen Z frequently engages in offline sharing, yet they are deeply concerned about the privacy of their phones, sometimes even more so than big data privacy.
4
Gen-Z distrusts Android due to unclear data collection.
Many Gen-Z individuals are unclear about how companies collect their data, leading to distrust in the Android system and concerns about data leakage.
According to the research, we identify three main areas of focus: daily sharing privacy, big data privacy, and optimizing the utilization of big data privacy.
2. Second Round Research:
To delve deeper into Gen-Z's smartphone sharing habits, we conducted a second round of surveys and interviewed 8 Gen-Z individuals. We also gathered close to 100 valid survey responses, focusing on three main aspects:
1. Gen-Z's sharing experiences and feelings.
2. What Gen-Z considers private on their phones.
3. Gen-Z's behavior when sharing their smartphones.
Finding Summary
1
Frequency of Sharing
Around 90% have shared their phones, with 26% doing so nearly every day. About 65% express moderate to high privacy concerns during phone sharing.
4
Shared Content
Typical shared content includes videos, web pages, images, files, and chat records, with photo albums being the most frequently shared category.
2
The Ways of Sharing
The most common way of sharing is to either hand over the phone or hold it up for others to see, with people offering various gestures depending on the situation.
5
Privacy Hierarchy
Regarding privacy, photo albums are considered most private, followed by chat messages and browsing history.
3
Sharing Recipients
Family, friends, and colleagues are the main recipients, but a few shared with strangers.
6
Sharing Preference
Many Gen-Z individuals express a reluctance to invest too much effort into privacy settings.
Based on our previous research findings, we conducted a "CARD SORT" activity and invited 8 Gen Z to sort of the card of app they usually used. What are most worried when sharing and what are the most frequent shared? According to the result, we created the following table.
Define Problems
3. Persona:
Extensive interviews and research on smartphone sharing among Gen-Z revealed differing habits across age groups, leading us to create two user persona for better design insights.
4. Define 2 Scenarios:
Acknowledging that user smartphone sharing behaviors and privacy content vary with different recipients, we've categorized sharing scenarios into two types and created storylines for each.
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Ideation
5. Design principle
Efficiency
Users should be able to effortlessly manage offline phone sharing without investing excessive time, as they prefer not to allocate too much attention to managing privacy settings
Convenient
Users can effortlessly switch privacy protection on or off according to their preference, as they value its ease of use.
Seamless
The sharing process should remain undisturbed, as users prefer uninterrupted experiences when sharing.
6. HMW Questions
- HMW ensure that privacy information on the phone remains confidential during sharing?
- HMW create a user-friendly, efficient, and discreet privacy protection feature?
- HMW provide enhanced privacy protection for users in two different scenarios?
7. Brainstorming
According to the HMW questions, we gave the ideas. Finally, we selected the following ideas with the evaluation methods (Impact Score).
- HMW ensure that privacy information on the phone remains confidential during sharing?
Block top message notification, such as text messages and incoming calls.
Block sensitive apps.
Hide desktop and restore system settings.
Hide browser history.
Hide specific sensitive information within the app.
- HMW create a user-friendly, efficient, and undisturbed privacy protection feature?
Open this feature in the quick launch bar.
Privacy mode automatically activates via facial recognition.
Activate this feature through specific gestures.
Configure privacy setting within the Android system settings.
Access settings through long-pressing on the shortcut button.
- HMW provide enhanced privacy protection for users in two different scenarios?
Block specific content when sharing, with the specific content defined by system settings.
Block specific content when sharing, with specific content manually set by the user.
Lock the screen when sharing thrid-party software, preventing users from navigating to the next page.
System file selection for sharing a single file.
Hide privacy apps.
8. Weighted Impact Score
We assigned scores based on five criteria: "convenience", "fluency (non-disruptiveness)", "feasibility", "compatibility with the original system", and "creativity".
We weighted "feasibility" three times higher than the other criteria, followed by "convenience", "compatibility with the original system", and "creativity", and finally "fluency (non-disruptiveness)". Finall, we prototyped them based on the results.
9. User Flow
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
10. Initial Idea & User testing
A. Open the Mode
- HMW create a user-friendly, efficient, and undisturbed privacy protection feature?
IDEA 1:
Quick Access Bar (Selected)
IDEA 2:
Certain Gesture
USER TESTING
User Interview
We invited 6 Gen Z individuals and presented both ideas to them, seeking their opinions and experiences with each. Ultimately, we decided to proceed with the first idea for the following reasons:
1
Idea 1 aligns better with user behaviors.
Interviewees commonly expressed that when attempting to access a new feature, their instinct is to find it via quick access methods. While gestures are appealing, they require time to learn, and over time, users may not consistently utilize them.
2
The gesture could potentially conflict with existing features in Android apps.
One interviewee mentioned encountering a similar gesture interaction with another app, causing confusion when trying to share content within that app. Additionally, some interviewees expressed concerns about accidentally activating the mode.
Based on the feedback from the interviews, we ultimately selected IDEA 1.
B. Define Features in the Two Scenarios
- HMW provide enhanced privacy protection for users in two scenarios?
"Hide Top Notifications" & "Anonymous Caller/Message Display"
Based on interviews, users have felt awkward when sharing phones due to message notifications. To address this, we block these during sharing, preserving message and call urgency with anonymity.
"Hide Sensitive Apps"
Our research shows users consider photo albums, chat records, and some third-party apps as sensitive content. To address this, we've added a feature to hide private apps during sharing.
"Hide Browser History" & "Hide Desktop"
Furthermore, browser history and the desktop are frequently mentioned by users as elements they consider private. Consequently, we have implemented a feature to hide these elements.
"Share Certain Content"
In our research, in scenario 2, when sharing phones with less familiar individuals, privacy becomes a top concern. To address this, based on the commonly shared content we've identified before, we implemented screen lock protection, restricting access to only the designated content, thereby safeguarding all other data on the phone.
- Example: Album
1. Turn on Guard Mode
2. Select the pics users want to share
3. Screen locked; only the selected pictures can be viewed
Manage features
Taking into account the two scenarios, we have categorized the features accordingly.
In both scenarios, "hide top notifications" and "anonymous caller/Messages display" are deemed essential for privacy by users, while also ensuring they can promptly respond to emergencies.
In Scenario 1, where privacy concerns are lower, our focus is on concealing only limited privacy-related content to maintain seamless sharing experiences.
On the other hand, in Scenario 2, users generally prioritize higher privacy levels and often share only specific files on their phones. Hence, the feature "share certain files" is more pertinent for Scenario 2.
Feature Map
C. Personalized Settings
IDEA 1:
Set within the existing settings page
1. Set Guard mode in the privacy setting of phone system
2. Manage Guard settings
3. Manage Sensitive Apps
IDEA 2:
Set within the quick access bar
Long Press
1. Find Guard mode in the privacy setting
3. Manage Privacy Apps
2. Manage privacy settings
USER TESTING
User Interview
We invited 6 Gen Z individuals and presented both ideas to them, seeking their opinions and experiences with each. Ultimately, we decided to proceed with the first idea for the following reasons:
1
Idea 1 aligns better with user behaviors.
Interviewees commonly expressed that when attempting to access a new feature, their instinct is to find it via quick access methods. While gestures are appealing, they require time to learn, and over time, users may not consistently utilize them.
2
The gesture could potentially conflict with existing features in Android apps.
One interviewee mentioned encountering a similar gesture interaction with another app, causing confusion when trying to share content within that app. Additionally, some interviewees expressed concerns about accidentally activating the mode.
Based on the feedback from the interviews, we ultimately selected IDEA 1.
User Testing
We invited 15 Gen Z individuals to participate in user testing. We presented them with our existing prototype and had them use this mode, then asked for their opinions and feedback. Based on their responses, we summarized several points that need improvement.
1. Opening and closing Guard Mode is cumbersome
”I feel it a bit bothersome to constantly toggle Guard Mode on and off, especially when sharing things with friends—I prefer it to be automatic.“
2. Adding a setting for Share Mode
”I'd like to have a setting specifically for this mode, so I can quickly adjust my Share Mode preferences.“
3. The usefulness of sharing multiple interface third-party apps is limited
I feel that constantly being asked for access permissions when sharing on third-party apps is somewhat bothersome. I might not use it because in most cases, I don't share sensitive third-party app interfaces.
"I typically only share individual files and rarely share entire third-party apps."
4. The appearance of the icon is somewhat distracting
"While I think the lock icon is a good indicator, I'd prefer it to appear for a shorter duration. I don't want to constantly be aware of it—I want the sharing process to be uninterrupted."
Use Case Scenario
Before
.png)
After
.png)
Design Instruction
A. Activate & Quick Setting
According to our research, most users expressed that they don't want to spending too much time on privacy settings. Therefore, we want to offer quick, convenient, and simple privacy features, all the while ensuring the protection of users' private content.
-
Users activate Guard Mode from the quick access bar.
-
In Guard Mode, phones with facial recognition automatically hide private content when they detect other faces. Users can also use fingerprint authentication to toggle privacy mode.
-
Users can access the settings page by long-pressing the Guard Mode button.
How to active Guard Mode?
Quick Setting
-
In the settings page, users can choose the features during sharing.
-
In the settings page, users can select sensitive apps
-
In the settings page, users can set time or location preferences.
B. Basic Privacy Features
In our research, when sharing, the top notifications is seen as the most embarrassing moment that users often experience, so we will want to block the top notifications as the most basic "Guard Mode" privacy function.
In addition, considering the urgency of call notifications and information notifications, we don't want users to miss important things when sharing. Therefore, we have modified the call and message notifications to display as anonymous while retaining the notifications.
When the Guard mode is activated, the basic privacy features include:
1. Blocking top message notifications.
2. Displaying calls and messages as anonymous.
Users can turn it on/off on quick settings based on their demands.
Anonymous Message Display
Anonymous Call Display
C. When “Scenario 1”
In scenario 1 (sharing with close recipients, diverse sharing content, continuous high-frequency sharing), due to the demands, we want to provide a privacy protecting feature which is invisible, unconscious to share different content while protecting special contents.
Based on our research, "browser history", "desktop" are most frequent content that are considered as privacy by user. Meanwhile, some contents on the third party app are also often mentioned. Therefore, we provide users with the ability to select "sensitive apps", and when sharing, those apps would be hided.
In scenario 1, the features on Guard Mode setting:
1. Hide browser history.
2. Hide sensitive apps.
3. Hide desktop display (display the system desktop).
Hide Browser History.
Hide Sensitive Apps
Hide Desktop Display
D. When "Scenario 2"
In scenario 2 (low intimacy level with sharing recipients, targeting a single file, sharing with multiple people), we want to provide users a higher level of privacy feature. Users can choose to individually share a file, while other contents on the phone are blocked.
-
During the sharing process, the recipients can only view the shared content, and the screen is locked to prevent accidental touches.
-
Users can enter and exit the sharing mode using facial recognition or fingerprint lock.
Share Certain Contents
-
Select the items users wish to share and then click "share."
-
The sharing recipient can only view the shared content.
-
Uses facial recognition/ Fingerprint lock to start/exit share mode
Branding
Thank you for watching!
My Other Projects
.png)
