Applock Pro had 80M+ new downloads with impactful redesign

My Role: Product Design, Visual Design, Animation & Video

Team: 1 UI Designer, 1 Lead Android Developer, 3 Android Developers

Timeline: November 2021 - February 2022

Applock Pro is a mobile app that lets users lock their apps to keep intruders out. The goal of the redesign was to make the app easier to use and attract more users worldwide.

In 3 months after the redesign, downloads grew by over 50% to reach 50 million, and monthly active users increased by 37% to over 2 million.

I tested the app by using it from the top like a first-time user and obtained some pain points. The product owner validated these pain points from the usage statistics on Google Play.

Along with reviews in Google Play, the most common pain points were:

Users were getting bored with the redundancy of setup screens after onboarding.

Setting Passcode screen was not clear for users.

It wasn't being told clearly why the permissions are needed.

It was difficult to find a setting on the navigation bar.

The themes in the app were not attractive enough to use.

Purchase screen and premium features didn’t encourage the user to buy.

The setup pages are the ones where the most users are lost. That’s why I wanted to use the customer journey method for this part.

With this method, it was easier to detect pain points that may occur on each screen.

And it's time to put the insights I have gained into ideas!

In this step, we examined the old design of the app and different competing applications and brainstormed as a team.

I started to create sketches based on those ideas. I prefer sketching because I can quickly transfer what's in my head to paper. To be honest, I like traditional methods more. 🙃

I created wireframes based on what I found good in my sketches.

I find this step useful because we can discuss the functions of the product more easily as a team without confusing with colors and other details.

I believe it’s important to try all possibilities as possible.

Ta-da! 🥳

After it’s done in terms of flow and functionality, my goal is to finalize the product and make it ready for coding.

I designed some custom lock screens for themes screen to satisfy users even more.

We did great things while working on the project as a team. It was a fun experience to me working with those people who are friendly and kind.

Here are some of their reviews for me. I quoted those recommendations from LinkedIn.

After new version launched, in 3 months, the app had 50M+ downloads and 2M+ active users keeps growing.

It has currently 100M+ downloads and ★4.6/5 rating with 1.5M+ reviews! Check it out on Google Play ↗️

It causes less confusion than high fidelity work, especially if you have ADHD like me 🤘🏻

I realized that working with a product owner/manager requires good communication skills. Otherwise, the process may take longer and the quality of the work may decrease.

Working with the developers while implementing the design is important. Because, for example, the components in the design and the coded components can sometimes be different.

I would work on user research and testing more. Since the deadline for this project is a bit short and the stakeholder claimed the product to be on the store as quick as possible, I could not work on it as much as possible. I could have reviewed better at usage stats and reviews on Google Play Store.

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