UX: End of onboarding not clear enough?

[sventuerpe]

Where to find the issue

Onboarding sequence, home screen, and notify function of the app

This report is based on the Android version of the app but likely concerns both.

Describe the issue

The onboarding sequence and the design of the home screen may make it difficult for new users to recognize the end of onboarding, let them accidentally run into the notify/register test functions from the home screen, and make it difficult for them to understand they should return to the home screen.

I had a messenger conversation with an elderly person earlier today. They had succeeded in downloading, installing, and running the Android app on their own, but then asked me confusedly what to do next when asked by the app to scan a QR code or enter a TAN. Unfortunately I have no first-hand observations how they got there. However, a look at the onboarding sequence and other screens of the app suggests a hypothesis:

• The onboarding sequences leads through five different screens (welcome, privacy, enable exposure logging, two more information screens). From each of these screens the user continues to the next by touching a blue button at the bottom of the screen. The only interruptions or deviations from this scheme occur when when a confirmation popup appears after enabling logging or when the user chooses to not activate.
• After onboarding they are taken without further notice to the home screen, which has a blue button at its bottom and may look at first glance like yet another screen to be skipped. As a consequence, some users may remain unaware they have reached the home screen and touch the Notify and Help button.
• When they do that, another information screen appears (“This is how the Corona-Warn-App works”), which looks like the ones seen before. This may reassure the user that onboarding is not finished yet.
• After touching the “Next” button – the seventh consecutive blue button at the bottom of a screen in a row – they end up with choices to scan a QR code, enter a TAN, or contact the call center. Still unaware they ran into a specific function through the home screen, the user then gets confused and does not know what to do.

Screen size may contribute to the effect. On my device, a 2019 model, the home screen shows me the clipped heading of the FAQ section below the button. The person I talked to has got an older device with a shorter display, so that the only blue button on the home screen may end up pretty much in the same location as all the other blue buttons.

Suggested change

Verify – or falsify – my hypothesis through user testing and if necessary, modify preferably the onboarding screens or the home screen to make user errors less likely. For example:

• Add a popup at the end of the onboarding sequence / at the first show of the home screen telling users concisely they are now ready to go and have reached their home screen.
• Make the home screen more visually distinguishable from the onboarding screens. Also make screens reached from the home screen more distinguishable from those leading to the home screen.

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Internal Tracking ID: EXPOSUREAPP-2887

[SebastianWolf-SAP]

Thanks for that report, @sventuerpe. We are continuously running end user tests - and recommendations from there will also be included in future versions of the app. This report is certainly very valuable and from my point of view the suggestions make sense. We will forward this to our UX colleagues.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Best regards, SW Corona Warn-App Open Source Team

[SebastianWolf-SAP]

In the meanwhile we received feedback from our UX team:

Thank you for the valuable input. We will investigate this issues during our representative end-user testing to gain deeper understanding of end user behavior, expectations and error rates.

As a consequence, we'll move this issue to cwa-backlog for future follow-ups.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Best regards, SW Corona Warn-App Open Source Team

[HeiDasGri]

A simple solution might be, to disable the Button "informieren und mitmachen" for a few minutes after installation. There is no need to share a test result immediately. An additional message "Everything worked, you can close the app now" would be very helpful

[sventuerpe]

@HeiDasGri On the other hand, users might want to explore the app and familiarize themselves with it right after having installed and activated the app. Disabling the „notify and help” (“informieren und mitmachen“) button would force them to postpone this activity. As this button itself is rather harmless – it merely leads to a menu via an information screen – disabling seems a bit too strong.

[Ein-Tim]

@dsarkar You applied the https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/labels/Add%20to%20FAQ label here 1 1/2 years ago, however, this was never added to the FAQ. I don't think the end of the onboarding is not clear enough. Anyways, leaving issues open without any process on them for ca. 2 years makes no sense, so please either close this issue or let us know what the intention of the team how to proceed here is.