LeakSmart
Mobile App — IoT water leak detection UX that helps homeowners monitor their homes, receive instant alerts, and prevent costly water damage
Mobile App — IoT water leak detection UX that helps homeowners monitor their homes, receive instant alerts, and prevent costly water damage
Challenge
Water damage is one of the most costly and preventable home emergencies. Most homeowners discover leaks only after significant damage has occurred — by then, thousands of dollars have already been lost. LeakSmart's challenge was to bring early detection to home water systems through an IoT sensor network, but the real UX challenge was much deeper.
The app needed to translate complex hardware setup, real-time sensor monitoring, and alert management into an experience that non-technical homeowners could confidently navigate. This required making a technical product feel approachable, turning IoT complexity into simple actions, and ensuring that critical water leak alerts felt urgent without feeling chaotic.
Users
LeakSmart serves three primary groups of homeowners, each with different technical comfort levels and monitoring needs.
Proactive Homeowners
Homeowners who actively maintain their homes and want early warning of potential problems. They're willing to set up smart home systems if the value is clear.
Tech-Comfort Users
Users who have smart home experience with other IoT devices. They understand wireless networks, mobile apps, and notifications but still need clear guidance specific to water leak detection.
Non-Technical Users
Homeowners installing their first smart home system. They need reassurance, step-by-step guidance, and minimal technical jargon. Confidence-building is as important as functionality.
Property Managers
Managing multiple properties with different sensor configurations. They need system-level insights, bulk alert management, and the ability to delegate device control to tenants.
The app needed to serve all four groups without overwhelming non-technical users or insulting experienced ones.
My Role
I led end-to-end UX and UI design for the LeakSmart mobile companion app, from initial discovery through implementation.
My focus was making water leak detection feel inevitable and simple — where every user, regardless of technical skill, felt confident that their home was protected.
Research
Initial research focused on understanding how homeowners interact with water systems, their mental models of IoT devices, and what "protection" means to them.
Key research findings:
Key insight
Homeowners don't want to manage IoT devices — they want peace of mind. The app's job is to get out of the way until something matters.
Problem
The core problem was that IoT water leak detection requires homeowners to understand and manage hardware connectivity, sensor states, alert configurations, and multi-device relationships — concepts most users have never encountered.
The UX problems
1. Hardware onboarding complexity
Users need to connect sensors and hubs to WiFi without knowing WiFi passwords, understanding network requirements, or what to do when pairing fails.
2. Sensor reliability communication
Users need to know if sensors are working without understanding WiFi connectivity, battery levels, or signal strength metrics.
3. Alert clarity and action
Alerts about water detection, low batteries, and connection failures all need different tones, but users shouldn't be overwhelmed by notification volume.
4. Multi-device household management
Families need shared access and group alerts without creating confusion about who can control what.
5. Confidence-building for non-technical users
Users from all technical backgrounds need to feel that their home is protected, even if they don't fully understand the technology.
Design goal
Create an onboarding and monitoring experience that translates IoT complexity into human-friendly actions, where every user feels they can confidently set up and manage their home's water protection.
Architecture
The app structure balances immediate access to protection status with deeper settings for users who want more control. Four primary workflows guide users from initial setup through ongoing management.
APP STRUCTURE
Home Dashboard → Devices → Alerts → Settings → Account
Primary user workflows:
The home dashboard always shows system health at a glance — if everything is working, users see green and move on. If something needs attention, the dashboard surfaces it immediately.
Wireframes
Four primary user workflows showing how homeowners discover sensors, set up their system, manage devices, and control their LeakSmart experience.
Workflow 1: Add a New LeakSmart Sensor
Workflow 2: Adding and Managing a Sensor
Workflow 3: Setting Up Your LeakSmart Hub
Workflow 4: Manage Your LeakSmart System
Evolution
The design evolved through six core phases, each solving a critical challenge in making water leak protection accessible to non-technical homeowners.
01 — Onboarding clarity
Transform hardware pairing from a technical checklist into a guided journey where every step felt approachable and errors provided helpful recovery paths.
02 — Status at a glance
Design a home dashboard where users immediately understand system health without needing to understand technical metrics or network connectivity.
03 — Sensor confidence
Communicate whether sensors are actively protecting homes through visual indicators that don't require technical knowledge.
04 — Alert hierarchy
Design different alert types (water detected, sensor issue, system offline) with appropriate urgency and action guidance for each.
05 — Shared household management
Enable families to access and control the system together without creating permission confusion or alert notification chaos.
06 — System reliability
Build redundancy and clarity around connection failures so users understand when their system is protected versus when attention is needed.
Final direction
The evolution was about shifting from "showing IoT capability" to "building confidence in protection" — where technical complexity stayed behind the scenes and users only saw what mattered.
Decisions
Six core decisions shaped how users interact with water leak protection and trust the system to protect their homes.
01 — Hide technical complexity by default
WiFi signal strength, battery percentages, and network protocols are invisible to most users. Show them only when they're relevant to solving a problem.
02 — Color and language convey urgency
Water detection uses red. Connectivity issues use amber. Everything working uses green. Language matches: "Help needed" vs "Check this" vs "All good."
03 — Confirmation comes before action
When users delete devices or change critical settings, they confirm they understand the consequence before action is final.
04 — Notifications are strategic, not constant
Only send alerts for things that require action. Let users opt into optional monitoring notifications rather than defaulting them on.
05 — Sensor placement guides discovery
During setup, suggest where sensors should go (under sinks, near water heaters, in basements). This reduces user anxiety about placement decisions.
06 — Account structure follows family workflows
One person sets up the system, but multiple family members can receive alerts. Permissions default to "see and alert" rather than "full control."
Reflection
The most powerful moment in LeakSmart's UX isn't when a leak is detected — it's when a user completes setup and feels certain their home is protected. Every design decision downstream of that moment is in service of maintaining that confidence.
01 — Non-technical users are your most important teacher
When a non-technical user confidently navigates setup alone, everyone can. But when they get stuck, it reveals assumptions that technical people stopped noticing.
02 — Onboarding is product design
First-run experiences aren't secondary features. They're the moment users form mental models about how the system works and whether they can trust it.
03 — Alert design is security design
Over-alerting undermines trust as much as under-alerting. Users need to believe that only truly important messages reach them.
04 — Device naming is UX, not a detail
When users name their sensors "Basement," "Under kitchen sink," they're internalizing the system's mental model. Help them succeed at this step.
05 — Error states are selling points
How the app handles WiFi failures, sensor disconnections, and connectivity issues determines whether users feel protected or worried.
The biggest insight from LeakSmart was that smart home UX for non-technical users is fundamentally about reducing cognitive load and building confidence. People don't want to understand IoT — they want to understand their own homes and know they're safe. Good UX disappears and lets the home speak for itself.