Where can I find the Nexus 6？
As a team working on multiple mobile projects, we have tons of cellphones for design, develop and testing usages.
It’s always simple on the iOS side, but the Android devices come with all different kind of shapes, hardware specs, firmware versions, etc. It had become a problem to keep tracking of all the devices. People have to spam the whole team with emails like “Where can I find the Nexus 6? I need it to verify a bug.” However, these kind of emails usually don’t get back, because people are busy, lazy and forgetful.
So I was thinking, maybe we could do this in a better way.
It’s always simple on the iOS side, but the Android devices come with all different kind of shapes, hardware specs, firmware versions, etc. It had become a problem to keep tracking of all the devices. People have to spam the whole team with emails like “Where can I find the Nexus 6? I need it to verify a bug.” However, these kind of emails usually don’t get back, because people are busy, lazy and forgetful.
So I was thinking, maybe we could do this in a better way.
Gotcha!
The problem of Android devices being that they don’t have built-in services like “Find my iPhone”. So I started to work with one of our best developers to build up our own “Find my Android” service and the app. You can send the request via the app and the server will help locating the target device by sounding the alarm at the maximum volume.
Despite how simple and crude the app itself looked, it worked well locating the missing phones.
Despite how simple and crude the app itself looked, it worked well locating the missing phones.
Stop ringing!!
At same time that people fell love with it, we however also started to get annoyed since the loud ringing couldn’t stop for the whole day! People were relying on the tool too much! We had to look for another way to do this.
We looked at what we got at the moment. The truth was that, in order to make the tool work, we had already put all the device information into our database. We suddenly realized that we could change the case from “finding a device” to “find a person”, which is way much easier to do. All we needed to do is to add an “owner” column to the database.
We looked at what we got at the moment. The truth was that, in order to make the tool work, we had already put all the device information into our database. We suddenly realized that we could change the case from “finding a device” to “find a person”, which is way much easier to do. All we needed to do is to add an “owner” column to the database.
(the image was blurred on purpose to protect some sensitive information)
Then to create an easier way for people to check the ownership of the devices. Besides, make it beautiful and enjoyable.
People are lazy
Next up, we built an MVP with basic features to validate the idea. The idea was well accepted by the team. However, after testing it for ~2 weeks, we found out that people had to exchange phones very often. Asking them to change the owner’s name every time is kinda an impossible mission. Because, like you and me, most people are busy, and lazy.
How could we make people less busy?
How could we make people less busy?
The lock screen experience
As an Android user, I always felt that the lock screen experience on Android sucks. It’s super easy to fail to unlock the screen, and it lacks an option like “Don’t require password for 15 minutes”. I felt that half of my life had been wasted on unlocking the damn screen.
My life could have been much better :-(
Since this is the screen that you have to see every time you light up the screen, and it sucks, so I was wondering, why don’t we create our own lock screen and integrate the tracking system into it?
Don’t disturb me, assist me
I kind realized that we had been focusing too much the experience of the person who’s looking for the device. What we overlooked was the experience of the person who’s currently using the device. An sudden alarm is certainly not the best choice (could be the last though).
The last iteration was to create a stunning lock screen experience. Tapping or swiping on the small button at the bottom of the screen could access you to the device management and locating screens.
The last iteration was to create a stunning lock screen experience. Tapping or swiping on the small button at the bottom of the screen could access you to the device management and locating screens.
When someone is looking for your device, a notification will be shown on the screen. You have to either accept or decline the message in order to keep using the device.
Once accepted, it will guide you through the remaining processes. The magic part being that, when the device is handed over to the new user, the device owner will automatically be changed!
Keep being busy and lazy, we got the dirty work covered :-)
Once accepted, it will guide you through the remaining processes. The magic part being that, when the device is handed over to the new user, the device owner will automatically be changed!
Keep being busy and lazy, we got the dirty work covered :-)
