iPhone setup

Apple

OVERVIEW

A redesigned onboarding experience for iPhone making iPhone setup faster and more user friendly.

Conducted user research and usability testing to identify pain points in the iPhone setup process, and presented tested improvement recommendations to the iOS team.

User Experience Research + User Experience Design + User Interface Design + Interaction Design + Prototyping + Presentation

CONTEXT

Every year, millions of people unbox a brand new iPhone.

Before they can fully enjoy the benefits of an iPhone, they must first set it up.

For some, it’s a smooth process; for others, it’s filled with technical hurdles. I see these interactions everyday. And what I noticed was that there are gaps in the setup experience—gaps that the iOS team up in Cupertino doesn’t always see first hand.

PROBLEM

There was a lot to improve. Many problems existed within the current, iOS 15 iPhone setup experience.

It was clear we needed to take a step back, evaluate what wasn’t working and build a better experience forward. The goal was simple: identify the problems, back them up with research and deliver the solutions to the iOS team.

RESEARCH

To start, I worked with a control group to uncover pain points in the current setup flow. What I found was a mix of technical, contextual and user-related issues, all leading to a disjointed experience. I analyzed system metrics, observed users firsthand and identified recurring problems on key screens.

Each issue told a story of where the experience was falling short and what we needed to address.

BREAKING HUMAN INTERFACE GUIDELINES

Here’s where things got really interesting. Apple has strict Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for developers to ensure consistency, but we weren’t even following our own rules. For example, some loading screens and interactions were breaking the very guidelines we ask others to follow.