Are my Apps Peeking? Comparing Nudging Mechanisms to Raise Awareness of Access to Mobile Front-facing Camera

Mobile applications that are granted permission to access the device’s camera can access it at any time without necessarily showing the camera feed to the user or communicating that it is being used. This lack of transparency raises privacy concerns, which are exacerbated by the increased adoption of applications that leverage front-facing cameras. Through a focus group we identified three promising approaches for nudging the user that the camera is being accessed, namely: notification bar, frame, and camera preview. We experimented with accompanying each nudging method with vibrotactile and audio feedback. Results from a user study (N=15) show that while using frame nudges is the least annoying and interrupting, but was less understandable than the camera feed and notifications. On the other hand, participants found that indicating camera usage by showing its feed or by using notifications is easy to understand. We discuss how these nudges raise user awareness and the effects on app usage and perception

Camera-based virtual environment interaction on mobile devices

Abstract. Mobile virtual environments, with real-time 3D and 2D graphics, are now possible on smart phone and other camera-enabled devices. Using computer vision, the camera sensor can be treated as an input modality in applications by analyzing the incoming live video. We present our tracking algorithm and several mobile virtual environment and gaming prototypes including: a 3D first person shooter, a 2D puzzle game and a simple action game. Camera-based interaction provides a user experience that is not possible through traditional means, and maximizes the use of the limited display size

Editorial: CGI 2008

10.1007/s00371-008-0253-9Visual Computer247-9463-VICO