A Qualitative Study on Trust Perception in IoT Mobile Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a paradigm where devices, equipped with sensing and data processing capabilities, can communicate with each other seamlessly. In this context, the smartphone, considered as the ultimate IoT device, plays a key-role in this environment. These appliances that initially had limited functionality, nowadays are charged with a full set of sensors and capabilities. Service Providers and development companies encourage their community to take advantage of these embedded hardware components through the creation and deployment of mobile applications and thus, offering new services and enhancing user experience. However, to do so, this kind of applications gathers personal data from direct or indirect interaction, most of the times without awareness from the user.We performed a qualitative study by conducting semi-structure interviews with participants from different backgrounds, in order to understand user’s perception regarding trust in IoT Mobile Applications. With a grounded theory analysis, we concluded that not only people should be recognized as the central entity of any system that seeks the collection of their personal data, but also that trust in IoT technology depends on who controls and has access to it. We believe these results contribute for further application development, concerning the construction of new privacy models and user experience.