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Riseup VPN Mobile User Testing Findings 5/21

Initial connection

  • Intuitive (5)

Change location to New York

  • Couldn’t do it initially (4)
  • First thought it would be in settings (1)
  • First thought to click the current location text (“Seattle”) - (4)
  • Then thought to click settings (1)
  • Then found the correct button (1)
  • Had to tell them where to click (1)
  • “No visible prompt”

Suggestions

  • Maybe bring location icon down to where it tells you what location you’re connected to (1)
  • Could have tabs on the bottom instead: status on top, change location on bottom (1)

Redirect screen (only tested one user on this)

  • Took a bit of time to understand what the pop-up was saying - wording issue (1)

Slow screen

  • Message
    • All understood it’s a slower connection.
  • Suggestions:
    • on the pop up screen, could be a representation of what "slow" is or the status — like the yellow status bars on the location screen
    • says "busy" in pop up, and then server traffic says "heavy" on the connection screen
    • It should tell you the location is busy right away, before waiting to connect (1)
    • Where do they want to go?
    • Clicking “no” should reconnect you to your previous location (1)
    • Instead of “no” it should be “No and pick a new location” (1)
    • Clicked “yes” bc if they wanted to connect to Paris it would be for a reason (1)
    • Clicked “no” bc don’t want a slower connection -- people like to connect to cities with strong connection, don’t expect people to connect to slow ones (1)
    • “I don’t think the user needs to know they’re being redirected”

Error page:

  • All users thought that they should be able to connect to another city instead of turn of VPN, when possible
  • Thought “try again” would connect them to another location (1)
  • "it would be nice if it just allowed me to connect to a recommended location as a third button on this page" (2)
  • "How about ‘being redirected to a recommended location in 5 seconds?’"
  • Turning off the VPN is not desired unless they have a personal connection issue and cannot connect anywhere bc they wouldn't want their IP to leak. (1)
  • Wouldn’t turn it off, keep trying again — want to keep the VPN on.
  • if problem wasn't with local internet, would be helpful for it to offer to connect to another recommended city
  • instead of "try again" it could say "try a different server" —> would see if it's the local connection vs server that's broken
  • “turn off ? isn't it off already?”
  • is it blocking your internet until you select another location?
  • is this app stopping all of my internet activity from the start? from the very beginning?
  • Only makes sense if you’re already connected

Suggestions

  • is there a way to determine if it's the local person's internet that's broken vs amsterdam that's broken? in the latter case, could connect to a different city
  • Pop up text a bit wordy

Back to recommended location

  • “Is the recommendation automated?” -- it looks static
  • Need to be able to click the whole bar
  • if you have some cities listed down, people won't think to click on the "recommended" section itself, they think the cities are recommended

Suggestions:

  • flag the different cities as "recommended" instead of needing to click on the recommended words
  • Button:
  • don't know why it's starred
  • very common pattern in VPNs to have a recommended version of where to connect
  • star makes them think of something they've chosen previously — some apps have that. can star specific servers bc of their security or bandwidth

What info do you use to choose a location to connect to?

  • Close country, Low traffic
  • High speed, not usually interested in location. If choosing a location, want one not in the US -- more about the country than the city
  • people normally select the "good cities in the world" — new york, toronto, brazil, big cities in the world rather than not-famous cities bc they seem well-equipped, and people feel proud to connect to big cities
  • depends on the service, because some of the services have a lot of servers, which can get daunting to select, so the recommended is easier. some of the time VPNs have meta settings — i want to connect to a fast server, with this kind of privacy –– and then you can quick-connect with that —> like protonVPN ("quick connect" instead of recommended)
  • some of them have an exploratory kind of thing — more of a map where you can have fun with the interaction. i want to connect from this country instead of a rational decision
  • how do they differentiate themselves from other providers? it could be a very technical decision (where servers are located, legal implications, security offerings)depends on the user and their knowledge of what server they could use for their use-case and how can the app leverage those decisions

General suggestions

  • could be interesting in the scenario that it's the personal internet that's not working, that the VPN app can be put on hold — waiting to get info/connect to server, and when it senses that there's internet again, it could automatically connect? Would that be a performance problem for some devices? If not too hard, would be good.
  • Riseup should make a guide explaining the VPN and all of the necessary info so that people can train with it
Edited by Karissa McKelvey