[system-settings] 'location access' and 'other app access' separation is confusing

Bug #1374570 reported by Jamie Strandboge
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ubuntu UX
Fix Released
High
Matthew Paul Thomas
ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityAndPrivacySettings lists various privacy settings for the phone. Location was one of the first designed and implemented, but since then, 'Other app access' was added to accommodate video and audio recording. First, 'other app access' is not clear-- if anything, it should say 'other service access' because video and audio recording represent services with trust store integration. Second, there really isn't any reason why Location shouldn't be grouped with the other trust-store-enabled services and it is awkward that it is separated out.

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityAndPrivacySettings#Phone>: "“Location” should navigate to the “Location” screen. “App permissions” should navigate to the “App permissions” screen."

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AccountPrivileges#Phone>: "Except for Online Accounts, which has its own screen, these access lists should be summarized in the “App permissions” screen of System Settings ... the item should go to a screen listing “Apps that have requested access to your {property}:”, except for the “Location” item, which should go to the same “Location” screen as its uncle item in “Security & Privacy”."

description: updated
Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)
Changed in ubuntu-ux:
assignee: nobody → Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)
Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
assignee: Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) → nobody
Changed in ubuntu-ux:
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :
Download full text (3.5 KiB)

I knew, when designing the "Location" settings, that I'd soon be designing settings for other app privileges too. I didn't put "Location" in its own screen merely because I designed it first, and it's not correct that "there really isn't any reason why Location shouldn't be grouped with the other trust-store-enabled services". There are two reasons. First, most people using the phone will not, and should not, have any idea that audio recording is a "service", nor any idea that the Ubuntu code includes something called a "trust store"; so that's not relevant to which organization is best. And second, there are three non-app-specific items in the "Location" settings design: the global "Location detection" switch, the "Send occasional location data" switch, and the "Privacy policy" item. Since those aren't about individual apps, they would seem weird inside a branch of System Settings that was labelled as if it *was* controlling individual apps, while separating them out would mean we'd awkwardly have two screens of location-related settings.

Now, it might still be best to group all the app privileges together ... just not for those reasons. What makes the word "should" a danger sign, in a bug report title, is that it both assumes the problem and assumes there is only one possible solution. Here, there's little empirical evidence for a problem, and there are at least three other ways these settings could be arranged.

(A) As you suggest, all inside "Security & Privacy", something like "Things apps have access to", then organized by service: a screen for each service, each with a toggle list of apps.

(B) All inside "Security & Privacy", something like "Things apps have access to", then organized by app: a screen for each app, each with a toggle list of services. (Benjamin Keyser has suggested this.)

(C) As many as possible inside related screens: for example, app access to location with the rest of the "Location" settings, app access to the microphone with the rest of the "Sound" settings, and app access to your call history with the rest of the "Phone" settings.

These aren't mutually exclusive. For example, we could do both (A) and (B) with a control to toggle between those views. Or we could take approach (C) for some services, and a different approach for others. It's fortunate we can mix and match, because some services are much more interesting than others. For example, notifications are a high-profile service where we provide external control over whether apps can use them. (I don't know whether notifications use the trust-store or not, but remember, that's not relevant.) It's harder to tell, in the first few minutes of using an app, whether it's a good idea to give it the ability to send notifications than whether it's a good idea to give it the ability to access your location. Therefore, people will change their mind about whether an app uses notifications much more often than about whether an app uses their microphone. That's why "Notifications" deserves to be at the top level of System Settings, while "Microphone" is much deeper.

As for the wording, it's true that "Other app access" is not a brilliant example of clarity...

Read more...

Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: New → Incomplete
Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
summary: - 'location access' and 'other app access' should be merged
+ [system-settings] 'location access' and 'other app access' should be
+ merged
Revision history for this message
Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand) wrote : Re: [system-settings] 'location access' and 'other app access' should be merged

I don't really care what the bug summary says-- I saw a problem and I described it with a possible solution in the best way I could and then asked design for comment. Please adjust as necessary.

If nothing is going to change, 'Other app access' should be reworded because it is confusing.

I find the current implementation is inefficient and have thought this for a while (and I understand what is happening with the system). I ended up filing the bug because I was talking about the permissions and where to find them with two other people and they were puzzled why they weren't found together (this discussion was on something unrelated to this bug and there opinion was given before me offering my own).

I don't care if the term 'service' is used-- I made a suggestion that made sense to me to get the ball rolling. I also agree that people shouldn't care if we use something called a trust-store (and my suggestion didn't say to reference the trust-store in the UI). However, it happens that services that use the trust-store express permission requests to the user in a similar (if not identical) manner, so it makes sense to group these permissions in the same area since users are likely thinking about them in the same way. I think that because I and two other people feel the same way supports this.

Whether it is 'A' or 'B' I defer to design. If they are also expressed in other areas too (a combination of A/B and C), that's ok (I don't have a strong opinion, but personally I've found that having some settings expressed in multiple areas somewhat confusing, but if user testing shows this to help people, fine).

Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: Incomplete → New
Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → New
summary: - [system-settings] 'location access' and 'other app access' should be
- merged
+ [system-settings] 'location access' and 'other app access' separation is
+ confusing
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

I wasn't trying to say that "nothing is going to change", just giving some idea of the landscape of possible designs.

Consider Online Accounts. Besides notifications, they are the other big thing where an app's ability to use them can be toggled externally (and I've just discovered they're controlled by trust-store). Now, we could put Online Accounts inside "Security & Privacy", alongside Camera and Microphone ... but people wouldn't think of them as a security/privacy thing, so they'd be hard to find there. Alternatively, we could promote Camera and Microphone to the top level of System Settings, alongside Online Accounts ... but that would be giving high prominence to settings that are neither frequent nor urgent. So that's an example of where frequency/urgency trumps logical grouping.

A smaller possible change would be to abolish "Other app access", hoisting its contents up alongside Location inside "Security & Privacy". Location, Contacts, Camera, Microphone, etc. What do you think?

Revision history for this message
Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand) wrote :

"A smaller possible change would be to abolish "Other app access", hoisting its contents up alongside Location inside "Security & Privacy". Location, Contacts, Camera, Microphone, etc. What do you think?"

Like you, I'm not sure all of them should be at that same level, but looking at the system settings on my phone, I can imagine this and I can see that it would be a lot clearer. This might be a reasonable short/mid-term solution.

(FYI, online accounts doesn't use the lp:trust-store library, but it does use a similar concept (and implementation) as trust-store).

Revision history for this message
Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand) wrote :

"I'm not sure all of them should be at that same level" - this was not clear: I too am not sure that all of them should be at the toplevel in Security & Privacy or if it would be best to group them all under something like 'App access'.

That said, I'm not changing my stance that I do think putting them all in the toplevel is a lot clearer and easier for people to find things.

Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: New → Triaged
Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: Triaged → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

Specification updated. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AccountPrivileges?action=diff&rev2=20&rev1=19> (This change also included part of the design for bug 1224756.)

The changes step by step:
A. "Other app access" is renamed to "App permissions".
B. Since "App permissions" is no longer "other", "Location" is included in "App permissions".
C. "Location" also remains at the top level of "Security & Privacy", because it's not *just* about app access to location. So you can get to that screen from two places.

Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
status: New → Triaged
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Bartosz Kosiorek (gang65) wrote :

I think these changes was already implemented.

Can we close this ticket then?

Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

that landed with
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-system-settings/0.3+15.10.20150909-0ubuntu1

" * [security-privacy] small bugfixes and ui tweaks update some strings
    to match the design translate the list items names include online
    accounts button (LP: #1488016, #1487382)"

Changed in ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

Verified in 15.04 r178.

Changed in ubuntu-ux:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.