Creating a sharing app without accounts

We wanted to avoid that friction. Completely. Not delaying registration, but not having it at all. No sign-up process that can frustrate Grandpa or that takes ages to do on that lethargic iPad 2 in your drawer.

So we set out to craft a private sharing experience where there is no registration. We don’t have your email. Or your phone number. Or your social log-in. We wanted to know as little about you as possible.

As our initial experience connects phones to old tablets across distances, we couldn’t use any of the native services that Apple or Google provide to connect devices over the same network. We needed to work both across platforms but also across networks.

We started with a small code that we generate for each customer. Instead of giving data to us, we give data to you. The customer can then give this code to a family member to enter in our app on a tablet device. The code is temporary, easy-to-enter on a slow tablet and impossible to guess. (We also add security to prevent hackers attempting to guess codes).

Once Grandma has that code, she can enter it on her iPad to connect the two devices and always have the tablet updated automatically. The devices and apps are linked and the phone can update the tablet remotely, at any time.

We really struggled with naming conventions and the expectations they set. We didn’t want to use the term ‘account’, as that would imply that you could move from one device to another and sign-in anywhere. Not having a registration process is a plus, but then there’s a challenge in explaining what the customer actually has. In the end we relied on language that reinforces to whom you’re connected, not how you’re connected to the service. So we used sections of the app like ‘Contacts’, instead of ‘Account’.

As our experience is available on the main app stores, we have to go through the relevant review processes. Normally reviewers are given test accounts for apps and can register on whichever device they test it on: phone or tablet. Without accounts, our experience works differently. Differently from any app our reviewers said they’d ever tested. And that required explaining to the app store reviewers on the phone, email wasn’t sufficient. (The review team were really helpful and supportive once they understood).

As we didn’t want mischief-makers to try guessing someone’s access code, we lock the app for 24 hours after three failed attempts. This can cause issues for older family members who make mistakes entering the code, but so far we’ve not had any complaints.

Customers of course upgrade phones, and without accounts they may fear that they will lose their Framee Plus subscription (the core experience is free, but to share as many times to as many family devices as you want, you can pay a small fee per year). So we did our subscriptions with in-app purchases only. That way the subscription is held with your Google and Apple account, not with a Framee account. And when you upgrade your phone you will automatically have your Framee subscription without having to sign in.

Normally when people want to leave a service they may expect to delete their account. But we don’t create accounts. You simply delete the photos and delete our app. So our FAQ and support team must explain how deletion works when there aren’t any actual accounts. So people feel comfortable they are not leaving behind any trace.

Thanks for reading!

Alberto and Nick from Framee

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