Charlie Warzel, New York Times, writing about this experiment by Harvard researcher Dan Svirsky:

Svirsky ran a series of tests where he had participants fill out online surveys for money and made them decide whether to share their Facebook profile data with a survey taker in exchange for a bonus (in some cases, 50 cents). In a direct trade-off scenario, Svirsky found that 64 percent of participants refused to share their Facebook profile in exchange for 50 cents and a majority were “unwilling to share their Facebook data for $2.50.” In sum: Respondents generally sacrificed a small bonus to keep from turning over personal information.

And:

But things changed when Svirsky introduced the smallest bit of friction. When participants were faced with what he calls “a veiled trade-off,” where survey takers had to click to learn whether taking the survey without connecting to Facebook would be free or cost them 50 cents, only 40 percent ended up refusing to share their data. And 58 percent of participants did not click to reveal which payment option was associated with privacy, even though doing so cost them nothing more than a second of their time.

I came across this article in this Daring Fireball post. From the post:

The lack of friction in the Sign In With Apple experience — especially using a device with Face ID or Touch ID — is a key part of why I expect it to be successful. It’s not just more private than signing in with Google or Facebook, it’s as good or better in terms of how few steps it takes.

The genius of the Google button is reducing friction for the user, easing them into sharing data from an already existing account. Even if your browser or app makes it easy to enter your email and password, using Touch ID or Face ID, there’s still friction in that sequence. The Google button is one simple step. With a privacy cost.

Sign in with Apple (SiwA) has the same lack of friction as the Google button. But without the privacy sacrifice. To me, this takes a good thing and makes it a great thing. I look forward to seeing SiwA in the wild.