Akshay Deshpande
Password Manager app Cover Image

SafeKeep

A Password Manager for Older Adults

Overview

I designed a simple password management app to help any one not familiar with technology. I'm passionate about making technology accessible and understandable to older adults unfamiliar with using tech, so I made most UI and UX choices keeping them in mind.

Problem Statement

How might we make it easy to securely manage passwords and share them with close family or friends if needed?

Many older adults may find it difficult to use technology. For the sake of convenience, many services have moved online. The COVID-19 pandemic made it even more necessary for them to have to use technology - whether to buy groceries, communicate with family or friends, or perform transactions online in order to protect themselves from having to step out of the house.

Most services require creating a profile, which includes creating passwords, which in turn means that they have to remember those passwords. While noting passwords in physical diaries or having one password for everything is convenient, it isn't a secure option.

Additionally, many older parents require assistance with using these services and they rely on their children, who aren't always geographically nearby. In such scenarios, reading out the passwords over the phone or typing it over a messaging app isn't very secure either.

Solution

A simple password manager app that's easy to understand and use.

  • Understandable screen directions
  • No complicated iconography
  • Simpler interface with larger text sizes.
Sign up screens for the app
Sign up screens for the app
Sharing passwords within the app
Sharing passwords within the app

An easy way to share and manage passwords with close family.

  • Flexibility to share a few or all passwords with specified users.
  • For older adults - Allows close family or friends to access accounts such as healthcare, utilities, etc.
  • For others - Allows close family or friends access to accounts such as streaming entertainment services, etc.

Secure

  • Suggest and save secure passwords.
  • Use existing smartphone authentication to restrict access to the app.
  • Implementation idea: Save encrypted password data in user's own iCloud/Google Drive to make it less vulnerable to company-wide data breaches.
Secure features of the app
Secure features of the app
Team and my role

This was an individual project. I solely performed the following processes:

  • User surveys
  • Brainstorming and ideation
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Analysis of academic studies for good UX and UI practices when designing for older adults
  • Usability Testing
  • Low-fidelity prototype creation
  • High-fidelity prototype creation
  • Design improvements based on user feedback
Design Process
Surveys

I conducted surveys targeting older adults or their children to understand how they manage passwords, and other behaviors related to online/phone security.

45% of respondents said they recorded their passwords in a physical notebook
45% of respondents said they recorded their passwords in a physical notebook
54% said they often need the help of someone close with passwords
54% said they often need the help of someone close with passwords
73% already use some kind of phone security mechanism like fingerprint authentication
73% already use some kind of phone security mechanism like fingerprint authentication
54% respondents have the same password for all their online accounts
54% respondents have the same password for all their online accounts
Personas

I identified inclusive personas for users that I was trying to solve the problem for. I included:

  • An older adult with less experience using technology.
  • A busy millenial who has to help their parents from time to time with remembering or resetting their passwords, especially for lesser used accounts.
  • A working parent who has to handle and share many passwords between close family, and isn't too comfortable paying a premium subscription that many password managers demand.
Image showing different Personas - an older adult, a millenial helping their parents, a working mother.
I tried including a diverse group of users who may have different kinds of need from a simpler password manager.
Exploring different solutions

Similar to the Crazy 8s method , I sketched different ideas to solve the problem. Below is a sketch of the different solutions I came up with.

Image showing different ideas.
I thought of 3 different possible solutions - click to enlarge the image.

Out of the solutions I considered, I decided to go for a smartphone app for the following reasons:

  • Ubiquity of smartphones - This has the least barrier to entry for a solution.
  • Security - A smartphone app can use the smartphone's inbuilt security methods like face or fingerprint authentication to avoid unauthorized access to saved passwords.
  • Ease of sharing - Sharing of passwords is easier between family across technology that everyone has.
Competitive Analysis

I analyzed popular password management currently on the App/Play Store. Some major cons that stood out amongst them were:

  • Requirement of expensive subscriptions.
  • Complicated user interfaces and jargon.
  • Limited or no way to share passwords.
Pros and cons of the different apps we analysed.
Pros and cons of the different apps we analysed.
Low-fidelity prototypes

I sketched low-fidelity mockups on paper for each feature or flow I planned to add. After fixing any flow/interaction issues, I then created low-fidelity prototypes in Figma.

Low-fidelity sketches
My low-fi sketches for figuring out flows and interactions.
User testing

I tested the prototype with 2 older adults using the think-aloud method. I iterated my prototype based on what I observed in the user testing.

User testing picture

Some key insights from user testing were:

  • No signup wizards: The testers tried tapping to jump across steps and wondered if every step was necessary.
  • Explanation for jargon: Testers asked questions about terms like "Master Password"
  • Phishing concerns: A tester asked who verification emails would come from to make sure it was a genuine email.
Low-fidelity screens.
Sign up and sign-up completion
Low-fidelity screens
Adding/Editing a password
  • Website name: Testers wondered what the field for the Login/website was, and where they could get it from.
  • Iconography: Testers didn't really understand the concept of show/reveal password with the eye icon.
  • There was confusion about the password generation and customization feature - "what password is this customizing?".
  • URL: There was some confusion about the term URL.
  • When sharing a password, testers confused the invitee's email with their own.
  • The concept of sharing only some passwords would need better explanations.
Low-fidelity screens
Password sharing functionality
High-fidelity prototypes

After refining the low-fi prototypes with feedback from user testing, I created high-fidelity prototypes of my user flows in Figma.

Sign-up Flow

Adding a new password/login

Editing password/login details

Sharing passwords/login details

Retrospective and lessons learned
  1. As a designer, it's easy to assume that certain UI or UX paradigms that are understandable to younger people are understandable to everyone.
  2. Technology should also be accessible, inclusive and understandable to older adults, or those unfamiliar with using it.
  3. The realism of a clickable prototype has to be managed well. Some participants in user testing will expect each screen to be mocked up, and each detail to coincide between screens.
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