A User Study to Evaluate a Web-Based Prototype for Smart Home Internet of Things Device Management

With the growing advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, IoT device management platforms are becoming increasingly important. We conducted a web-based survey and usability study with 43 participants who use IoT devices frequently to: 1) examine their smart home IoT usage patterns and privacy preferences, and 2) evaluate a web-based prototype for smart home IoT device management. We found that participants perceived privacy as more important than the convenience afforded by the IoT devices. Based on their average scores of the privacy vs. convenience importance, participants with low privacy and low convenience significantly reported less privacy control and convenience preferences than participants with high privacy and high convenience. Overall, all participants were satisfied about the proposed website prototype and their actual usability evaluation demonstrated good understanding of the website features. This paper provides an empirical examination of the privacy versus convenience trade-offs smart home users make when managing their IoT devices.