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Android Pattern Locks (APLs) are a prevalent yet vulnerable password mechanism. Despite their potential for heightened security compared to 4-digit PINs, users often resort to simple and common APLs, particularly emergent users. We enhance the APLs with additional dimensions of single-select graphical layers to increase the password space and report a systematic, within-subjects, counterbalanced study involving 36 emergent users comparing two enhanced versions of APLs against the original, to evaluate aspects of usability, memorability, graphical layer popularity, and user preferences. Our results indicated a 100% success rate in first-time usability in all 3 password mechanisms, and no significant differences in 4-day memorability with 94.44% success rates in the original APL and 2-Layer + APL, and 100% success rate in the 5-Layer + APL. We present an analysis of the security and memorability of these enhanced APLs and discuss the implications of our results.

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More is Still Easy: Adding Dimensions to Android Pattern Locks to Enhance Security for Emergent Users Without Compromising Usability and Memorability

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Ishita Sharma,
  • Anirudha Joshi

摘要

Android Pattern Locks (APLs) are a prevalent yet vulnerable password mechanism. Despite their potential for heightened security compared to 4-digit PINs, users often resort to simple and common APLs, particularly emergent users. We enhance the APLs with additional dimensions of single-select graphical layers to increase the password space and report a systematic, within-subjects, counterbalanced study involving 36 emergent users comparing two enhanced versions of APLs against the original, to evaluate aspects of usability, memorability, graphical layer popularity, and user preferences. Our results indicated a 100% success rate in first-time usability in all 3 password mechanisms, and no significant differences in 4-day memorability with 94.44% success rates in the original APL and 2-Layer + APL, and 100% success rate in the 5-Layer + APL. We present an analysis of the security and memorability of these enhanced APLs and discuss the implications of our results.