Is it a good practice to auto "switch-on" a setting based on a dialog confirmation?

Question

Imagine that as a user, you can use an app to start the A/C of your vehicle remotely. To do that you just simply need to open the app, tap on "A/C" and then press start. But if the car is not plugged-in (electric powerwall), the function requires that you activate a certain setting to confirm that you allow the vehicle to use battery power.

Which is the best workaround?

A) When the user Press start A/C a dialog will ask to activate the setting, after taping activate, the setting will be automatically activated and the A/C process will start.

B) When the user Press start A/C a dialog will ask to activate the setting, after taping activate, settings screen will be displayed and the user will have to manually activate the setting.

All the feedback will be welcomed :)

Answer 1

This behaviour is similar with the permissions one in the mobile apps.

When an app is asking for a permission and they direct you to the apps permissions page to approve a permissions for an app. As a user, I'm always annoyed that I have to find my way to activate that permission.

I understand why the mobile OS is not allowing permissions changes from the app menu, but this is frustrating me every-time. If they ask me for permissions and tell me what are the consequences of doing that, I will allow it or not from the app.

I think the answer here is A, it's creating less friction for the user. I would not call it automatically activated, you are asking the user for permission. Also, you should consider inserting a warning message in that permission request that this feature will drain the battery of the car.