Apple Coin

Apple’s First Crypto Platform

Project overview

Apple Coin is the first Apple’s crypto exchange that is linked to Apple Pay. With Apple Coin, Apple users now can instantly enjoy a hassle-free experience with the crypto market and start trading cryptocurrencies without going through a long and arduous process.

Timeline

4 weeks

Tools

Figma
Qualtrics
Maze

My roles

UX Designer

Try the prototype

Project background

According to Deloitte’s report, “more than 2,300 US businesses accept bitcoin, according to one estimate from late 2020, and that doesn't include bitcoin ATMs. An increasing number of companies worldwide are using bitcoin and other digital assets for a host of investment, operational, and transactional purposes.”

The future of crypto technology is predicted to go further beyond people’s expectations. Some restaurants can even take Bitcoin for payments. Along with the growth of the crypto market, there are tons of different crypto exchanges that people can choose to start their crypto experience. As one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world, Apple typically keeps up with the latest tech trends but has yet to venture into cryptocurrencies.

Disclaimer : this is a hypothetical project for education purposes and not an actual Apple product.

If Apple decided to join the market, how would the company offer a solution for their users to pay for services by cryptocurrencies in the future?

My hypothesis

According to eMarketer, Apple Pay is the top mobile payment system in America, with 43.9 million users in 2021. If crypto-currencies are available to use in Apple's products, most likely that this new feature would be connected to Apple Pay.

How I validated it

To validate my hypothesis, I created a short survey on Qualtrics and distributed it to a crypto group chat. This short survey consists of only 5 questions about what if we could pay for services by cryptocurrencies on Apple Pay; the possibility and the expected qualities. I have a total of 22 responses but only 8 people completed all 5 questions. Although the responses received are limited, they are insightful.

What crypto users said about this potential feature

“It would work if Apple created their own easy-to-use blockchain wallet. But they would have to convince people to use it instead of the other ones already out there”.

“I think it's possible because there was a time credit cards weren't possible to use to pay online so anything is possible! I think Apple Pay would need to link to the crypto exchange first. You'd need to give permission for that but it can be risky if your phone is stolen so a strong password or face ID would help. It would be nice if there was a card in the Apple Wallet that we could use to pay with as well.”

“I think such a feature is definitely possible and will slowly have to be available given the rise of cryptocurrencies overall.”

Target users

The target audience for this feature is Apple users who are above 18 years old and live in America. Due to some limitations and crypto restrictions from different countries, this study only focuses on the U.S market.

I sent out another survey to learn more about the users. Based on their responses, the age range of crypto users is wide - mostly from 20 to 45 years old. For this persona, I chose to focus on the younger group of people because crypto is a high-risk investment and young adults are more likely to take risks than older people, according to psychology. They also tend to use contactless payment than the older age group who prefer cards and cash.

Brian is an ideal user who has a stable income and a minimum of experience in investments for Apple Coin. He owns some common stocks and other types. His goal is to be able to make purchases by crypto, catch up with the trends, and have a passive income with a quicker ROI than other types.

Understand the market

Competitor Analysis

According to my research, the biggest competitors for Apple Coin are Coinbase, Bitpay, and Robinhood. Venmo's crypto feature was recently released with a more beginner-friendly approach than other apps so I also want to have a quick analysis on that. I focus on the numbers of cryptocurrencies, security features, types of transactions, and overall pros and cons.

Both Coinbase and Bitpay have their own crypto debit card that users can use on Apple Pay. However, they are still third-party apps so there would be some inconveniences like extra fees, complicated processes, and more. Therefore, it’s an opportunity for Apple to step in.

What is the main thing preventing people from buying cryptocurrency?

After researching, I have identified the top frustrations that are preventing Apple and non-Apple users from enjoying the crypto experience:

1. Knowledge and industry gap: People found that it's hard to understand the concept behind cryptocurrencies and there is a lack of guidance in the journey. However, since this project is hypothetical and about future technology, crypto could be more well-known in the future than now.

2. Confusion on how to start: The first step is always the hardest. Even though the market has a lot to offer, finding the right crypto platform which is beginner-friendly yet reliable to start is not easy. Most people picked their crypto exchange based on their friend's recommendations, but what if they wanted to start the experience by themselves?

4. Fear of scams and unsecured transactions: Netflix's series Trust No One has portrayed the biggest scam in the crypto industry and proves why choosing the right platform to start the investment is important.

For those reasons, I have zoned in on a more specific problem to open up better solutions and help craft the ideation stage.

Reframe the problem

How can Apple offer an efficient, user-friendly, and secured crypto platform for Apple users to access the crypto services?

Proposed solutions

Based on the responses and suggestions collected from user surveys, I would like to propose Apple Coin be developed as Apple's first crypto app that supports all crypto basic services with the most expected features from the users. It can be quickly enabled in Wallet & Apple Pay. Users will then be led back to the in-app QR code scanner to make transactions.

The reason why it has to be QR scanning instead of using NFC (Near Field Communication) like other Apple pay transactions is that the current tech is not supporting payments by cryptocurrencies through NFC.

Task flows

Sitemap

Sketches and wireframes

Design patterns were quickly formed after the initial sketch work was done. I was able to quickly sketch out the first few wireframes and vectorize them in Figma afterward.

The first prototype

Usability testing

To validate my design, I invited 10 participants who are 18 years old and Apple users to conduct 3 sessions of usability testing on Maze. They were asked to complete 2 missions:

Activate the Apple Coin account and Use Apple Pay as the main payment method to purchase $60 of LUNA coin.
After the purchase, send $45 of LUNA to a friend.

3 iterations were made following that based on the feedback. Here is the testing summary.

The first test

Responses: 5
Completion rate: 80%
What works well:
- Simple and user-friendly UI.
- The main tasks can be completed in the most straightforward way
What needs improvement:
- The body text is small.
- Adding a new card is more prominent than Apple Pay. People easily miss that option.
- Missing a few screens for indirect paths which have caused confusion to the testers. Once they clicked the wrong button, they couldn’t go back.

The heatmap shows that the Apple Pay switch button got barely touched. Testers mostly tried to edit the top part and went straight to "Confirm".

Iterations

Move Apple Pay up to make it the first option for payment. Make a clear separation between adding a new card and Apple Pay

Rephrase some words to avoid confusion. In this case, “Your wallet” to “Remaining balance” and “you assets” to “your wallet”.

Increase the body text by 1 pt
Add more interactive screens

before

after

The second test

After the first session, I recruited some new people to participate in the second run and re-invited the testers who failed in the first testing to test the prototype again. We discovered the new issue with this test even though the completion rate and average completion time improved.

Responses: 8

Completion rate: 88%
What works well:
- All the issues from version 1 are fixed.
- Reduced the misclicks
- “Pay by Apple Pay” is more noticeable
What needs improvement:
- "It’s not snappy as other Apple’s apps." - one of the testers said. Hitboxes are small for thumbs.
- Too many confirmation screens for the app’s activation stage
- The text is still small

Before: users were trying to select a coin multiple times because the hitboxes were small

Final iterations

Add the Apple Chat support
Increase the hitbox, improve the visual, and add more space between each coin.
Increase all the text sizes by 2 pt.
Combine the Agreements screen with Verify information screen to reduce the activation steps.
Change text fields type from underline to top-aligned labels for ease of use (according to UI components and the Evolution of Text Fields)

After: the hitbox is wider and each item is separated visually

Final user flows

This is the most comprehensive and completed version of this prototype. It addresses all the feedback, missing details in the previous versions, and what-if scenarios discovered in the 3 usability testing sessions per my observation.