and what to do if the user denies

Product Breakdown analyzes different products every week and lists noteworthy product and UX learnings. We believe that the best way to master good product practices is to learn from others.

Intro

We’re taking a departure from our usual app-a-week model to delve deep into one specific area — how apps ask for permissions. From the beginning, iOS apps have asked users for permissions when the app runs (and not during install). Android is moving to this model as well starting with version M.

The challenge here is that iOS only gives you the ability to ask for a permission once — if the user denies the request, they must now go deep into the OS settings to turn the permission back on. As a result of this, apps have gotten very creative about how they ask users for permissions.

1. Just Ask and Pray

A number of apps asks for permissions right off the bat. Easiest to do, but hardest to recover from if the user denies, as you lose the ability to ask again.

Some apps go further and hit you with a series of requests on first launch (Allow camera access? Location? Notifications?). While this can work if the user is already familiar with the app, there is the risk of the user getting trigger happy and turning them down.

Some apps (Whisper, Pinterest, and Tinder seen here) ask you for permissions right off the bat on first launch

2. Nudge the User

This is similar to the “just ask” approach, but these apps try to give the user a little nudge on what to click on. Check out how Lyft does this: