The more useful an app seemed, the more people wanted to install it
With fictional apps, choosing permissions went along with greater willingness to install the weather app, but not the messaging or puzzle apps.
The key idea
The more important an app seemed, the more people wanted to install it. Choosing permissions coincided with greater interest only for the weather app.
The study, in plain language
An app can seem very useful while also asking to access personal data. Two experimental surveys showed Norwegian students fictional versions of a puzzle app, a messaging app, and a weather app.
For all three, the more important the app seemed to a person, the greater their stated intention to install it. When the second study allowed people to choose permissions one by one, intention was somewhat higher for the weather app, but the difference was not clear for the other two examples.
The option to choose data access and permissions was thus connected to the install decision differently depending on what the app seemed to do.
What they found
- The more important an app seemed, the greater stated intention to install it across all three examples.
- General privacy concerns were not associated in the same way with willingness to install each app.
- Choosing permissions coincided with greater interest in the weather app, a difference that did not clearly appear for the other two.
Something to think about
When an app asks for permissions, consider what matters more to you: the function it offers or the data it requests.
How they studied it
Two parallel experimental surveys with 441 participants recruited from a Norwegian university. In one, 227 people evaluated fictional puzzle, messaging, and weather apps with all-or-nothing permissions. In the other, 214 could choose permissions individually. The study measured stated intention, not actual installs, and people were not randomly assigned to the two formats.
What the study cannot show
- Fictional apps and survey responses rather than real phone permissions; a young university sample recruited in one setting; the two study conditions were collected in parallel, but the same people were not randomly assigned to each format.
- That granular control guarantees privacy, that people grant the same permissions when installing a real app, that intention equals actual installation, or that the sample represents users of different ages and countries.
The original study
The privacy and control paradoxes in the context of smartphone apps
Source under CC BY 4.0. English adaptation and explanation by PaperFlow, with AI assistance. The text has been reorganized for a general audience; it is not the complete paper and does not imply endorsement by its authors.
One study alone does not represent a field's consensus. Educational content does not replace professional advice. Report a possible error.
