Here’s an idea
A small step towards taking control of our own data
I recently noticed something when I was gardening my apps. Many of the applications that I have denied the use of push notifications (when launching the app for the first time) still had this option activated in the Notification Center.
I wasn’t surprised, but I did find it a bit annoying. Just for the heck of it, I continued to go through all 3rd party application settings as well. What I found out was that many of them were collecting usage data anonymously. Many of the applications that was collecting my usage data did not ask me to accept this the first time, most likely this was stated in the terms and conditions, which I have to admit that I never ever read. Who does?
One reason might be linked to the life span of apps, which is approximately two months. Perhaps the app developers are in a rush to collect as much data about the user as possible e.g. location data, facebook related data, usage data, contact data, crash report data, well basically any data that can be recorded. Could this be the reason why so many applications asks me to have access to things that is not even related to the feature set? Somehow I get the feeling that the application designers and developers are a bit too information hungry.
I am a User Experience designer by day (and Batman by night, but don’t tell anyone) so it’s my job to make an application experience as nice and smooth as possible, both the application design itself and the service around it. For instance, letting the user browse content without the need for signing up. And if there is a need for signing up, the service should ask for as little information as possible from the user. This is just one example of a feature that makes the app a bit more user-friendly. But when it comes to asking the user for access, to let’s say, the current location, there is no way to ask for this in an subtle way. It’s always a pop-up! Half of my collegues claims that no one ever accepts this popup and the other half think they do.
Anyhow, I started thinking of a different way for application designers and developers to ask for this information in a smoother way, in a way that is coherent with the application itself.
My idea is to harmonize this experience in line with the whole application design by replacing multiple pop-ups asking to use your current location or access your gallery etc. with one screen. In this screen the user can select what the application should have access to and also the developers get’s the chance to explain the purpose of collecting usage data, location information and so on. It’s as simple as that.
This idea is not just about an alternative design for pop-ups, but rather a small step to take control over our own data and whoever should have access to it. The concept doesn’t really change the way applications collect data or use our information but at least with this design I know what I agree to when I allow an application to collect information about me.
