Saturday, April 30, 2022

Zenly app for iOS: The Ghost Mode Instructions Are Nearly Inaccessible for New Users Who Limit Contacts or Who Don't Have Friends - Is This By Design?

 iOS 15.3

Zenly app for iOS (version 5.0.2)

Date: 04/30/2022

Description: 

Today I downloaded the Zenly app for iOS. I created an account using a phone number, but I purposefully did NOT give the app access to the contacts on my phone. 

I wanted to browse through the app while giving the app as limited amount of access to my personal information as possible. 

After creating an account, I see the familiar gear-box option for settings:

After creating an account, a setting options is available in the upper right.

This settings option takes me to a settings page where information about a "ghost mode" option is on screen:


I am just trying out the app, and I am weary about what type of information I am sharing. I want to read about this "ghost mode" which seems like a privacy feature I might be interested in...


This text appears on screen for perhaps 1 second. Before I can even focus on what any of it says...


This message appears. Why would I want to add friends before I understand all of the privacy features of the app? Why did text flash and disappear before my eyes in a split-second? 

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new Zenly account - do not give app access to Contacts/do not add any friends
2. Select the Settings option in upper right
3. Scroll down and select "Ghost Mode" 
4. Text about "Ghost Mode" flashes quickly and disappears 

Result: The "Ghost Mode" instructional text appears and disappears in a brief moment 

Expected: A portion of the UI related to privacy features should always be accessible - text appearing and then disappearing is not an optimal end user experience 


1 comment:

  1. Hey there ! Clemence here from the Zenly team. Thanks for flagging this bug with us, our team are on it.
    To share a little bit more about Ghost Mode: it can be enabled to freeze or blur your location from your friends on Zenly if you ever want some time off the map. Therefore, if you don’t have any friends on Zenly yet, the feature doesn’t work. The bug here is that we shouldn’t have briefly flashed the ghost mode options to you, we’re working on a fix for that ASAP.
    If you have any other questions about the app you can head to settings -> need some help, and you can chat directly with a member of our Care team 😊 Thanks again for flagging this, we really appreciate it !

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