Improving Apple Home’s experience through user research

How Apple can improve the current Home app design based on usability testing

At Glance

Length
3 months

Tools
Sketch, ProtoPie

Role
Researching, Designing, and Prototyping (Individual Project)

Overview

Apple Home app is a home automation and smart home hub for iOS connecting HomeKit-enabled smart home accessories. It offers an Operating System-level integration such as shortcuts in the control center and Siri integration which differs from Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

The Problem

It’s difficult to organize and find accessories with many accessories. Home app allows users to add favorite accessories on the Home tap, but every button looks similar. It’s a design that makes device buttons nearly impossible to distinguish from one another at a glance.

In addition, on the Rooms tap, users can swipe left/right to navigate rooms, but there’s no indication this gesture is available.

Solution

The solution is to create a new layout on the Home tap to organize buttons efficiently and offer an additional feature on the Rooms tap for navigation which also acts as a hint.

Research

To identify and address my own bias, I found five interviewees in Georgia Tech and performed usability testing.

Define

Before diving into user research, I began by defining who my target users were and what distinguishes them.

Target Users:

Men and Women
Homeowner
Apartment renter
Ages 22 - 40

My goal was to interview an older Georgia Tech students who may be more interested in decorating and automating their home utilities.

Tasks

After defining my target users, I created tasks which interviewees are going to solve. As I provide these, I asked them to simply verbalize their thoughts as they move through the user interface for “Thinking Aloud” testing.

Example Tasks:

You just got home and wanted to turn on the bedroom light. Show me how you can do the task.
You want to check the accessory status in a kitchen. Browse to the kitchen tab and turn off the kitchen light.

Feedback

After the user testing, I spent some time hearing their opinions on the app.

Ideas I gathered:

Two suggested a floor plan-like design for reorganizing the home screen.
There’s a room list button on the Rooms tap which four testers weren’t able to find. They suggested enlarging it or use a relevant icon.

Problem Statement

During user ability testing, I found:

Four interviewees instantly felt overwhelmed as they saw grid button sets.
Four interviewees accidentally learned the swipe gesture while they tried to figure out how to navigate to a different room.
Three interviewees did not see the room list button on the top of Rooms.

Persona

Wireframing

I started prototyping ideas with a low-fidelity wireframe on iPad. In this wireframe, I implemented inspirations from interviewees. For instance, I loved the floor plan idea so I decided to implement this idea on the Home screen. I also got an inspiration from Windows Phone’s “Live Tiles” design by implementing a Manu list on the top of Rooms tap.

Hi-Fidelity Prototype

After a few iterations, these are the final designs for Apple Home app. My goal was to ensure the interface seamlessly adopt new additions on top of the original design.

1. Floor Plan

As users open Home app, they see the floor plan with the current home summary and temperature at the top. Active buttons have designated colors such as light color or cooling temperature. Users can also create multi-floor layout.

2. Rooms

Inspired by Windows Phone UI, I adopted the menu list on top. This UI 1) gives a hint that the swipe gesture is present and 2) provides a new way to navigate rooms. Just like the floor plan layout, multi-floor rooms can be organized in hierarchy.

The Second Research

After creating a prototype, I conducted another usability test. In a same environment, I found five different interviewees doing same tasks using a prototype. Here are a few findings:

All five understood the floor plan design and completed the task.
All five used the rooms list on the top to navigate rooms.
Additionally, two used the swipe gesture for navigation at first. When asked why they chose to swipe, they told me invisible menu items hinted they could swipe.

Reflecting on Findings

In the future I would want to improve the visibility of the top rooms list for accessibility. I would also want to dive into Automation based on location, time, and additional triggers to automate home accessories.

Two Ways To Improve Apple Home App