ConsumerTech · Personal Safety

A UX audit that broke the journey open — and lifted activation for a safety app

MySheriff came to us for a UX audit just to test our approach — and it became a turning point. We broke the user journey into clear steps, found exactly where people dropped before seeing value, and turned it into hypotheses and a roadmap. The result: clarity on why users weren’t activating, higher activation, and confidence that every screen now drives engagement and retention.

My Sheriff
The client

MySheriff — a mobile safety app

MySheriff helps families, students, travelers and expats feel secure and connected — wherever they are: live location, trusted places, a family circle and one-swipe SOS. The technology was strong; the challenge was helping new users feel that value fast enough to stay.
Market
Mobile safety · families, travelers, expats
Engagement
UX audit → prioritized roadmap, in ~2 weeks
Focus
Activation & retention
The problem

The tech was strong. Users just didn’t get why they needed it right now.

The foundation worked, but the core message didn’t land. Onboarding was generic — repetitive screens that never showed the real value of SOS. Post-subscription felt disjointed: setup steps lacked structure and feedback, so users stayed uncertain. The core feature couldn’t be tested — people didn’t trust the SOS button would actually work, or know how. And the interface rarely confirmed actions, so many felt unfinished, triggering anxiety and early drop-off. Together these frictions hit the metrics hard: weak activation, low engagement, high churn.
What we changed

We broke the whole journey open — and tied every friction to a metric.

The Friction Map

We walked the product as a first-time user and tied every UX pain to a measurable drop — low onboarding completion, few SOS activations, dead ends after payment. Friction became a map, not a hunch.

Audit
The Friction Map

From Findings to a Roadmap

Top frictions, growth hypotheses, quick wins and A/B ideas — a clear, step-by-step plan of exactly what to fix first for the biggest activation impact, not vague “improve onboarding.”

Priorities
From Findings to a Roadmap

Let Users Try SOS Immediately

The core feature couldn’t be tested, so people didn’t trust it. We put an interactive SOS test inside onboarding — feel it work, trust it fast. Trust is the real activation lever for a safety app.

Trust
Let Users Try SOS Immediately

Onboarding Rebuilt for Activation

A guided start that explains value, with clear setup and a confirmation at every step — “you’re all set, you’re protected” — so users reach their first safe moment without anxiety or drop-off.

Activation
Onboarding Rebuilt for Activation

Flexible Place & Address Setup

Simplified, international-ready address input and clearer place setup — fewer errors for travelers and expats, less friction, more completed setups.

Clarity
Flexible Place & Address Setup
Sound familiar?

Every click should earn revenue — not burn it.

Book a Bottleneck Audit
The outcome

From guesswork to a foundation for predictable growth.

Instead of guesswork, the team got a foundation for predictable growth — a roadmap of where trust breaks and exactly what to fix first for the biggest impact. The audit also gave clarity on activation potential: hidden UX blockers exposed, every flow streamlined around fast, frictionless activation. And it earned a competitive edge — in a market full of clunky, confusing safety apps, MySheriff now gets users to value faster, so they’re more likely to stay. As we see it: an Equal UX audit isn’t just a PDF — it’s a working tool and a strong foundation for real activation and retention growth.
  • Clearer platform perception
  • Stronger content discovery
  • Better article and author experience
  • More scalable design foundation
Visual showcase

Inside the audit & redesign

Brand system
Brand system
Places and control levels
Places and control levels
Adding a place
Adding a place
Peace of mind in every tap
Peace of mind in every tap
Family circle and tracking
Family circle and tracking
Activation-first onboarding
Activation-first onboarding
Onboarding: trusted places
Onboarding: trusted places
The full audit
The full audit
Audit: plan clarity
Audit: plan clarity
Audit: subscription flow
Audit: subscription flow
Audit: onboarding friction
Audit: onboarding friction
The product at a glance
The product at a glance
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