When a participant receives all permission requests at once, they might feel overwhelmed and suspicious of these requests. Without an understanding of why permissions are required to collect the data, and why this data is valuable to researchers, the participant could deny permissions during the onboarding process. If they decide to grant permissions later, they will have to navigate their phone’s system settings and update the app’s permissions.

This extra burden could create frustration, especially among less tech-savvy users. Even worse, it could cause them to leave or delete the app before their participation has even begun.

With just-in-time permission, the participant is provided the context to make an informed decision to allow or deny permissions that collect data for study-related tasks. Just-in-time permission also lays the groundwork for long-term engagement, by fostering mutual understanding and trust between researchers and participants.