Add user feedback for when Tor connects (Android)

Summary

Currently there is no user feedback for when the bootstrap finishes, other than the app automatically navigating to the browser screen (but only if the connect screen is shown). If the user taps on connect and navigates to say settings, there is no way of knowing when tor has finished bootstrapping other than navigating back to the connect screen (or checking logs I guess, but that's also on a different screen).

Steps to reproduce:

How one can reproduce the issue - this is very important.

1. Launch TBA
2. Tap connect
3. Go to settings
4. Notice that there is no feedback for when the bootstrap finishes

added Android label

assigned to @clairehurst

I'm debating between a toast notification (easy) and making the progress bar visible on all screens of the app (harder). Thoughts from UX? @donuts?

I think as a narrow fix for this issue specifically, a toast (or similar component) to confirm when Tor Browser has connected sounds super sensible. Do you have any advice on what would work best here, @felicia?

Perhaps a wider conversation could be had about the problem of system status in Settings in general, which came up as an issue in the usability testing for Tor VPN too: tpo/ux/research#69 (closed)

We've since experimented with various design fixes for the VPN, but haven't moved forward with one yet: Figma link

One of those ideas was to make the bootstrapping bar visible globally on the VPN, as you suggested doing here too @clairehurst. However we're probably leaning more towards displaying a simple status in the navigation bar (i.e. the "Connect" tab) instead, which unfortunately doesn't help us here, as the same component doesn't exist in Firefox or Tor Browser for Android.

So – long story short:

• This came back as an issue for Tor VPN, so is likely an issue for Tor Browser for Android users too.
• However consistency between Tor Browser for Android and Tor VPN in terms of connection status may not be possible or necessary.
• In the meantime, a toast (or similar component) to announce when Tor Browser has connected sounds great.

@donuts what do you mean by "a toast [...] sounds super sensible"?

I went to check how this situation is handled in TB for desktop and noticed there isn't a direct feedback in this case, but it's possible to notice the label changing in the tab with torconnect - so it kinda works as a feedback.
I like the idea of making the bootstrapping bar visible globally on TBA, but since it's harder that way, we could go with a Snackbar component as we already have a precedent for a similar use in the "Add bridges" flow. So, we could have different scenarios:

1. Bootstrapping succeeds: the component says something like "Connection succeeded" and maybe displays a button with a "Browse" label (but that's up to discussion);
2. Bootstrapping fails: we use the warning variant of the Snackbar saying that "Connection failed" with a button for the user to go directly to torconnect (not sure about its label, though).

How does this sound to you?

@donuts what do you mean by "a toast [...] sounds super sensible"?

Claire is suggesting using a snackbar too, which is what Google calls toasts on Android.

They don't necessarily need to have an action though, and can be used to display a simple status that auto-dismisses – see here:

• https://m3.material.io/components/snackbar/guidelines#12145fa5-ada2-4c3b-b2ae-9cdf8ee54ca1

Ah, that I know haha my question was about the meaning of "sensible" in this case.

Oh, I mean it sounds like a good idea :)

@donuts seems Project 163 -ish yeah?

changed title from [android] Add user feedback for when tor connects to [android] Add user feedback for when Tor connects

added Backlog label

added Feature label

added torconnect label

added Apps::Type::Enhancement label

added 20m of time spent

changed title from [android] Add user feedback for when Tor connects to Add user feedback for when Tor connects (Android)

added Project 163 label

added Apps::Impact::High label