This is a self-driven project I posted on Medium. Highly recommend you to open the full case study where I spilled a lot of time and effort into redesigning one of my most used app, WhatsApp. This project is incredibly meaningful to me because I had such an enjoyable time crafting it!
In November 2020, I set out to conduct a case study on WhatsApp and identify how it could be improved. My initial hypothesis was: If WhatsApp created more front-end solutions on privacy, it would help more users feel secure when using the app.
As an international college student, I used WhatsApp religiously to talk to my professors and colleagues in the US. The frequency of my usage increased even more once COVID struck. With international calls and text messages being free, with tools functioning just like any other mobile chatting app got me wondering why some people around me prefer other chatting apps over WhatsApp.
However, despite WhatsApp’s promise to ensure user privacy and security, the app lacks front-end solutions that prove its confidentiality. In addition, WhatsApp generally seems user-unfriendly and I as a user felt frustrated.
Here is a sneak-peak of my prototype, as it doesn't depict the full process of how I ended up creating a lock feature to ensure user privacy. If you would like to view the full process of how I reached this stage, please check out my full case study!