Gaia/System/AppsManagement

Team

• UX: Josh Carpenter (IRC: jcarpenter)
• UX: Casey Yee (IRC: cyee)

Status

• Stage: Development
• Release target: B2G Milestone 3 [Alpha], Q2 2012

UX Requirements

Last updated: Mar 27, 2012 (Josh Carpenter)

Summary

The ability for users to add, remove and modify applications that are installed on their device. A app life cycle can be described in 3 phases:

1. App installation
2. App usage and management
3. App removal

App Installation

Applications can be installed from a number of different sources:

Web

Apps can be installed from websites, so long as they conform to B2G / Open Web App standards.

Marketplaces

Apps can be installed from Marketplaces, whether Mozilla's official version or third-party.

Shipped

Gaia devices will come preloaded with apps. These apps will fall into two classifications: locked, and unlocked.

• Locked: cannot be uninstalled. Reasons can include security, adherence to regulations, user privacy, device operability, etc. Current locked apps include:
  • Home screen
  • Dialer
  • Messaging
  • Camera
  • Contacts
• Unlocked: can be un-installed.

App use and management

Requirements

• the ability to change the layout position of the application icon on the home screen / application menu
  • the ability to easily change the application settings
    • through a common applications settings menu within the device settings
    • through the application itself
    • or combination of the above two
  • applications should only have 1 icon and no other dependencies and delivered in a single package.
  • can work offline without relying on internet connection

Exposing application data

• the ability to make application data searchable and accessible from other apps
• the ability to application that can act as service to other applications

Home screen visibility

• have the ability to update it's icon with live application data. for e.g.:
  • Weather application icon should show current weather condition for current locale
  • Messages application should be able to display number of messages unread.

Detriments

• app manifest does not have support for exposing app data or services
• security implications of inter-application operability

App removal

• User prompts to verify removal of application and application data
• removing and adding applications should be very easy and done in as few steps as possible and leave no remnants.