User Perceptions and Experiences with Smart Home Updates

Updates may be one of the few tools consumers have to mitigate security and privacy vulnerabilities in smart home devices. However, little research has been undertaken to understand users’ perceptions and experiences with smart home updates. To address this gap, we conducted an online survey of a demographically diverse sample of 412 smart home users in the United States. We found that users overwhelmingly view smart home updates as important and urgent. However, relationships between update perceptions and security and privacy perceptions are less clear. We also identify problematic aspects of updates and gaps between current and preferred update modes. We then suggest ways in which update mechanisms and interfaces can be designed to be more usable and understandable to users.