Beyond the Primary User: 3 Types of Smart-Home Users
Summary: Smart-home devices often serve multiple users with different needs and preferences. Designing for shared use can reduce unnecessary friction and dependency.
Smart-home devices, such as smart cameras, thermostats, and lights, are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, with Horowitz Research and Aviva reporting that nearly half of American households and about 80% of adults in the UK own at least one connected home device. While many of these devices are shared, their design remains mostly centered on a primary-user model and provides limited multi-user support. For example, by default, most devices tie control to a single account owner who can then add additional users and assign various levels of access. This assumption does not accurately reflect the actual use of smart-home technology in households.
To ensure that these devices are readily adopted and cater to people’s needs, designers need to consider how households actually distribute control over shared smart-home technology. Our recent 2-week diary study revealed that this complexity operates on two levels: a device’s location determines who has physical access to it, while a user’s role in the household determines how much control they actually have over the technology.
Smart-Device Zones and Shared Control
In our study, we saw that in multi-user households, smart technology was often separated into zones of control, where physical location typically determined who could interact with and control the device .
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