Case study: WhatsApp’s biggest UX failure
Although WhatsApp doesn’t need any introduction but still here is some brief about it, WhatsApp is a FREE messaging app available for Android and other smartphones. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, calls, photos, videos, documents, and Voice Messages.
Understanding the challenge 💪
WhatsApp was just what messaging needed to be. Quick, easy, painless, and endless. It is so effective it has become synonymous with texting.
The challenge was identifying problems in a system that already worked well. Everyone knows how to fix a bad experience. I believe the real test lies in making good things work even better!
I identified 2 problem areas 🧐
Problem 1- Message deleting option in WhatsApp
CURRENT DESIGN
When we select any message (send by us). A bar comes up with a delete icon when we click on the delete button a pop-up comes with three options, Delete for me, cancel and delete for everyone.
What is the problem?
Imagine you sent the message in the wrong group and in hurry to remove that message, instead of clicking on “delete for everyone”, you clicked on “delete for me”. so what will you do now? You can’t get that message back.
Here the design failed to prevent a user from accidentally clicking that button.
UX Improvements
Error prevention is the most important concept to have good usability in a design.
There can be two ways to solve this problem.
Add a pop-up for confirmation
After selecting the “delete for me” option. It should ask for confirmation. It's worth the interruption because you want to prevent accidental clicking.
Add an undo option
Having an undo button is a great way to at least prevent errors from becoming permanent. If someone goes down that path of making mistake, they can still catch it and hopefully undo it.
Problem 2
The process of deleting the chat of the group is lengthy.
Solution
There can be a simple approach to this. When we press on any group then a bar appears with a delete icon When we click on the delete icon a pop-up message appears that allows us to delete the entire chat at once. :smile
Ending Notes
I do not work for WhatsApp, nor was I contracted for this project. I did this project purely out of interest and desire to solve problems I often face.
Thanks for reading! 😇
checkout this amazing blog: CASE STUDY: UX FLAWS IN WHATSAPP THAT NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT
