ASTRO File Manager
for Android
1. Why revamp ASTRO?
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New installs, active-users and user-satisfaction were in decline.
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Increased number of file managers on Google Play showing exciting new features.
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Android launched their new material design system and ASTRO was falling behind.
The “old” ASTRO File Manager from 2019
The starting point. From here on out, we had to look for ways to improve this app.
2. Defining product opportunity & measuring UX
2a: Launching quantitative and qualitative research studies
Quantitative “satisfaction tracker”
Implementing a research method to keep track of general user satisfaction. This would enable us to measure user satisfaction version after version update.
Qualitative “survey study”
This enabled us to get qualitative user feedback from our survey. Here we could ask for what users would like to see improved in ASTRO File Manager, giving us the opportunity to collect insights from real users.
The app looks outdated and it can be hard to find what I’m looking for
– ASTRO File Manager user
Defining ASTRO’s core user persona’s
Kenneth, 32
- Tech-savvy.
- Wants to spend less time on his phone.
- Cares about cloud storage.
- Likes to do things manually.
Yana, 52
- Always out of phone storage.
- Doesn’t like change.
- Uses an older phone model.
- Afraid of losing losing her pictures.
Marc, 41
- Lives to work.
- Needs access to his files anywhere at any time.
- Using multiple apps for similar functionality.
- Cares about privacy.
2b: Analyzing the competition
Creating a competitor-feature-matrix
Visualizing the features of other File Managers and comparing those to the ones ASTRO File Manager had, made it clear where product feature opportunities were.
Finding the right product-market-fit
Visualizing the ‘space’ of file managers, gave us clear insights into finding opportunity to grow ASTRO in the right direction in order to get a competitive advantage.
2c: Studying Android Material Design & Android design patterns
Google Material Design System
Around the time Google launched a whole new Material Design UI library for Android. This was an additional motivation for us to move forward with our ASTRO redesign initiative.
3. Launching the new ASTRO and expanding on features
3a: Working towards the all new ASTRO 8.0
The road to the all new ASTRO 8.0. Defining a release plan from ASTRO 7.6 to 7.9. During these phases we took the opportunity to monitor user satisfaction and track analytics for newly introduced features.
Teasing ASTRO 8.0 with version 7.9
To prepare users for the big change we introduced a ’teaser’ in the latest version before the big new ASTRO release. This allowed users to watch a video that would show them what they could expect in ASTRO 8.0.
3b: Tracking user satisfaction version after version
v7.6
3.69 /5
The starting point. Our initial goal was to get user satisfaction to a 4 out of 5.
v7.7
3.78 /5
The new bottom navigation was very well received, users could navigate through the app more easily.
v7.8
3.89 /5
The ASTRO clean feature together with new colors and a more spacious home screen were very well received.
v7.9
3.85 /5
Introducing a new home screen with cards was a big change for users and we anticipated a small drop in user satisfaction.
v8.0
3.81 /5
The big ASTRO 8.0 launch. Again we expected a small drop in user satisfaction as “people don’t like big change”. Predicting this would recover over time.
v8.1
3.92 /5
From version 8.1 onward, user satisfaction kept on rising towards a 4 out of 5, indicating we were on the right track!
3c: ASTRO File Manager today
We never stopped learning and listening to our users. By keeping track on user satisfaction and by analyzing the qualitative feedback we kept receiving, we continued to improve ASTRO. Examples are introducing dark mode and bringing back the ‘classic’ storage indicator (the orange bar) on the ASTRO home page.
✓
New installs, active-users and user-satisfaction continued to trend up!
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New features like search, clean and better cloud storage support meant we became a stronger competitor.
✓
With the all new design we improved Play Store presence and met UX expectations.
I love this app. No matter what phone I have, every single time I switch it up I have to make sure ASTRO is downloaded and ready to go. It saves me time and offers a user-friendly interface and features. Great design and layout.
– 5 Star Google Play Store reviewer
ASTRO File Manager designs
