A Deep Dive into User's Preferences and Behavior around Mobile Phone Sharing

Users share their personal devices with different entities in various circumstances. While prior research shed light on the broad reasons behind the sharing of mobile phones, there is a dearth of systematic study to understand the user's decision-making process and the underlying preferences and concerns in the context of phone sharing. To address these gaps, we designed a prototype that we leveraged to investigate the interplay between a user's relationship with sharees, preferences of sharing a subset of apps with a certain entity, perceived sensitivity of the apps being shared, and how these factors relate to their authentication behavior. We conducted a multi-session study with 50 participants from three countries (USA, Turkey, and Nepal), where the participants interacted with our prototype and took part in semi-structured interviews. The findings from our study revealed the need for phone sharing at a granular level, where we identified the factors that could influence a user's decision-making process in sharing. Our analysis unpacked the relation between a user's perceived sensitivity of apps being shared, and authentication behavior to protect information from unauthorized access. Overall, our findings advance the CSCW community's understanding of how the user attains a balance between privacy protection and the need for phone sharing.