Are my Apps Peeking? Comparing Nudging Mechanisms to Raise Awareness of Access to Mobile Front-facing Camera

Abstract

Mobile applications that are granted permission to access the device's camera can access it at any time without necessarily showing the camera feed to the user or communicating that it is being used. This lack of transparency raises privacy concerns, which are exacerbated by the increased adoption of applications that leverage front-facing cameras. Through a focus group we identified three promising approaches for nudging the user that the camera is being accessed, namely: notification bar, frame, and camera preview. We experimented with accompanying each nudging method with vibrotactile and audio feedback. Results from a user study (N=15) show that while using frame nudges is the least annoying and interrupting, but was less understandable than the camera feed and notifications. On the other hand, participants found that indicating camera usage by showing its feed or by using notifications is easy to understand. We discuss how these nudges raise user awareness and the effects on app usage and perception. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Mobile computing; Mobile devices; • Security and privacy → Human and societal aspects of security and privacy.

Privacy-Enhancing Technology and Everyday Augmented Reality

“…• UI and noti cations e.g. using noti cations and nudging to raise awareness of device camera activity [55,105,108] • Change blindness and inattentional blindness may lead to ignoring such prompts.…”