Understanding User Privacy Perceptions of GenAI Smartphones

Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 7 Apr 2026] Understanding User Privacy Perceptions of GenAI Smartphones Ran Jin, Liu Wang, Shidong Pan, Luona Xu, Tianming Liu, Haoyu Wang GenAI smartphones, which natively embed generative AI at the system level, are transforming mobile interactions by automating a wide range of tasks and executing UI actions on behalf of users. Their superior capabilities rely on continuous access to sensitive and context-rich data, raising privacy concerns that surpass those of traditional mobile devices. Yet, little is known about how users perceive the privacy implications of such devices or what safeguards they expect, which is especially critical at this early stage of GenAI smartphone adoption. To address this gap, we conduct 22 semi-structured interviews with everyday mobile users to explore their usage of GenAI smartphones, privacy concerns, and privacy design expectations. Our findings show that users engage with GenAI smartphones with limited understanding of how these systems operate to deliver functions, but show heightened privacy concerns once exposed to the technical details. Participants' concerns span the entire data lifecycle, including nontransparent collection, insecure storage, and weak data control. In a follow-up focus group, participants discuss a range of privacy-enhancing suggestions that call for coordinated changes across system-level controls, data management practices, and user-facing transparency. Their concerns and suggestions offer user-centered guidances for designing GenAI smartphones that balance functionality with privacy protection, offering valuable takeaways for system designers and regulators. Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR); Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) Cite as: arXiv:2604.05571 [cs.CR]   (or arXiv:2604.05571v1 [cs.CR] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.05571 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Ran Jin [view email] [v1] Tue, 7 Apr 2026 08:13:45 UTC (621 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-04 Change to browse by: cs cs.HC References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)