Overview

Modern automobile companion apps are critical touchpoints for vehicle owners, enabling remote operations, safety monitoring, and document management. However, the existing automobile app faced major usability challenges, platform inconsistencies, and unclear system feedback, leading to frustration and low user confidence.
This project focused on identifying critical UX issues, prioritizing them through heuristic evaluation, and delivering a clear, consistent, and user-centered redesign for the UAE market.

The Problem

Through early analysis, several issues became evident:

• Onboarding and login flows were confusing and error-prone

• Dashboard was cluttered and difficult to scan

• Remote controls lacked clear feedback and reliability

• Significant iOS and Android inconsistencies

• Error messages were generic and unhelpful

A usability audit revealed:

• 235+ total usability issues

• 10 usability catastrophes (Severity 4)

• 47 major usability issues (Severity 3)

• 94 minor usability issues (Severity 2)

These issues directly impacted task completion, trust, and perceived product quality.

Research & Evaluation

1. Heuristic Evaluation
The application was evaluated using:

• Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics

• Severity scale (0–4)

• UX laws and platform guidelines

Each issue was scored based on:

• Severity – How critical the issue is

• Impact – Effect on user experience

• Frequency – How often users encounter it

This allowed us to prioritize fixes strategically rather than reactively.
2. User Interviews
Interviews revealed consistent pain points:

• Frustration with unclear authentication errors

• Anxiety around remote engine start reliability

• Confusion caused by separate lock/unlock controls

• Lack of confidence due to missing system status feedback

Users expected the app to feel reliable, predictable, and reassuring, especially for safety-critical actions.
3. Competitor & SWOT Analysis
Competitive analysis showed that:

• Leading apps use real-world language

• Feedback is visual, animated, and immediate

• Status indicators are persistent and easy to understand

This highlighted opportunities to:

• Improve system visibility

• Reduce cognitive load

• Align UI with real-world mental models

Key UX Challenges Identified
 

• Inconsistent error handling and messaging

• Poor visibility of system status

• Lack of user control and recovery options

• Platform-specific feature gaps (iOS vs Android)

• Overloaded dashboards with low information hierarchy

Design Strategy

We focused on four principles:

1. Clarity over complexity

2. Consistent behavior across platforms

3. Immediate, visual feedback for actions

4. Real-world language and interaction patterns

Key Design Solutions

1. Login & Authentication
Problem

• Inconsistent button behavior

• Generic “Authentication failed” messages

• No guidance on recovery

Solution

• Clear validation states

• Actionable, human-readable error messages

• Visual feedback for success and failure states

Impact

• Reduced confusion during login

• Improved trust and perceived security

2. Dashboard Redesign
Problem

• Cluttered layout

• Unclear access to remote controls

• Poor visual hierarchy

• Inconsistent behavior across iOS and Android

Solution

• Clean, modular dashboard layout

• Quick-action buttons for high-frequency tasks

• Color-coded fuel range indicators

• Centralized alert and vehicle status system

Impact

• Faster scanning and decision-making

• Reduced cognitive load

• Improved cross-platform consistency

3. Remote Controls & Engine Start
Problem

• Separate lock/unlock buttons caused confusion

• No clear confirmation when engine started

• Remote actions felt unreliable

Solution

• Combined lock/unlock control

• Integrated remote controls directly into the dashboard

• Interactive animations showing command execution and success

• Clear visual confirmation for engine start/stop

Impact

• Increased user confidence

• Reduced repeated actions and failed attempts

• More intuitive mental model for remote actions

Information Architecture & Iteration

• Reworked navigation hierarchy

• Reduced redundant screens

• Aligned labels with real-world terminology

• Iterated through wireframes → prototypes → final UI

Each iteration was validated against:

• Heuristic principles

• User interview insights

• Platform design standards

Outcomes & Learnings

What Worked Well

• Clear documentation and labeling

• Functionality-driven design

• Improved readability and accessibility

Opportunities Identified

• Better haptic feedback

• More concise system feedback

• Further reduction of technical language

Key Takeaways

This project reinforced the importance of:

• Structured usability audits

• Severity-based prioritization

• Designing for trust in safety-critical systems

• Consistency across platforms

The redesign significantly improved usability, clarity, and user confidence in the connected vehicle experience.