Since Apple Watch was launched in 2015, it has helped users become more active, more motivated, and more connected.
The conversation around safety during outdoor exercise has been happening for a while. 34% of women feel afraid running, biking, walking, or hiking alone outdoors (2016 Survey from Wearsafe Labs) and 50% of women admit to being too afraid to walk home at night in their neighborhood (2010 Gallup Survey). In 2018, a few health and safety features were introduced to the Apple Watch, like ECG, Emergency SOS, and Fall Detection, but there are still opportunities for improvements. Apple already has an emergency system integrated with the the watch, as well as a location tracking system (Find My). If some of these features can be linked to the workout capabilities to put more athletes, especially female-identifying, at ease, Apple can enhance the user experience and well-being even more than it does already.
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The first step was to understand more about wearables and safety, especially within the context of the Apple Watch. Research was a large focus for this project to make sure the product made sense as an add-on feature within the existing Apple Workouts app. The primary research strategies included market research, user interviews, and a survey.
Because I didn’t know who to talk to, there was an iterative process with the research methodologies. Initial interviews and market research define the scope and questions for the survey. The survey helped determine the focus of the second round of conversations and who I should interview.
A major part of design challenge was also understanding the landscape (with safety and Apple) and the users.
As part of my secondary research, I wanted to understand more about the issue of safety through the lens of Apple products. I looked into how Apple shares information about its Apple Watch features. Health and safety are foundational elements of the Apple Watch.
More women than men feel generally unsafe while exercising outdoors
Almost everyone (95%) considers the time of day when planning an outdoor workout
Most people prefer working out by themselves
44% of participants who shared live location during a workout did so for safety
Familiarity of location impacts perception of safety
People don’t feel as safe working out when it’s dark outside
Notable results from my survey comparing behavior related decisions about working out after dark.
This information aligns with studies done about women and perceptions of safety. In 2016, a survey from Wearsafe Labs found that 34% of women feel afraid exercising outdoors. A 2010 Gallup survey found that 50% of women admit to being too afraid to walk home at night.
Since I was designing a feature to make people feel more safe, I wanted to define what safety meant for users. These quotes are all from women from my user research.
After analyzing the data from the research, it was time to define the user. The survey results already helped to dictate who I should be talking to for the secondary interviews, so I was able to use key insights from the research and my conversations to create realistic user personas. I crafted the personas to include categories related to safety and location-sharing preferences.
To continue developing the flow for this product, I spent time ideating through user stories and journey mapping. Ultimately, I landed on a simple flow through the Apple Watch screens, but made the decision to also build out the supporting screens on the iPhone since users would have the opportunity to enable and customize their safety settings there.
As a woman who runs in the morning and night depending on my schedule, I want to be able to choose when I share location during a workout so that I don't have to always share.
As a woman who lives in a big city, I want to share location during my outdoor run so someone knows where I am in case of an emergency.
As someone living in a rural area, I want to have the option to share location during my long outdoor runs so they can check in on me if they don't hear anything.
Once the user has set up the safety setting in their preferences, this sketch shows where additional screens will be added into the flow with the new safety mode.
How can we implement screens that fit into the existing flow without adding too many steps?
After making several design decisions on the direction of the flow and number of screens to build, I created preliminary sketches and mid-fidelity wireframes. I added a few additional details before moving to the hi-fidelity wireframes for the prototype and usability testing. The screens below reflect the final designs on the iPhone and Apple Watch.
I did usability testing with three people through remote, moderated video calls through Google Meet.
Once the settings are turned on within the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, the alert will appear for selected workouts. Otherwise, users can toggle the Safety Mode on or off from the watch.
This project was an exciting challenge to look at a product that exists and create justification for why a feature should be included in future updates. It challenged me to work within constraints of an existing product and design systems of the Apple Watch. I wanted to practice designing on screens that were not just mobile or desktop, and I’m glad I ventured down the wearables path.
The major focus of this project was research, and getting robust data from the interviews and survey was rewarding to help support or refute initial hypotheses. Because I designed an add-on to an existing product, I had to remind myself that I didn’t need to design every possible screen, but enough for the concept flow.
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