@jeffd’s user videos and our user interactions reveal significant barriers creating Blockstack Accounts on mobile. These include:
- Users confused that creating a Blockstack Account takes them away from the app and into a browser.
- Users redirected to the Blockstack webpage instead of the originating app because of pressing ‘Deny’:
- Users don’t understand the permissions they’re granting and sometimes hesitate, clicking ‘Deny’. This takes them to the Blockstack webpage leading to further confusion.
- Users don’t understand why they’re providing an email. Users are hesitant to provide an email.
- Users can end up lost in the 12 word phrase portion of creating an account (confirming that they saved their key).
- Many steps in the flow are very slow to respond.
I’ve included a brief mash-up of user videos showcasing some of these problems at the end of this post. I think @yukan made a great suggestion in another forum post about giving the dApp developers more control over the onboarding process. If that were the case, Stealthy would try and do the following:
- Simplify / shorten the flow
- Explain more clearly what the email is used for, if it is stored, and provide another mechanism that doesn’t use personal information (i.e. render the password and urge the users to screenshot it).
- Allow users to enter their first and last name and provide a profile image, explaining how this is used and why.
We think this would go a long way towards helping users quickly start using Blockstack apps while understanding more precisely how and if their data is used. All the while preventing the common problem of losing users when they get redirected to the Blockstack webpage.
This is probably Stealthy’s biggest challenge currently and likely to be for any other Blockstack dApps going mobile.