Problem
I had to aid many users in setting up Element, because they have trouble understanding what happens during E2EE backup creation (and, in the worst case, gave up frustrated or lost their E2EE-key right away after "trying out" Element, aborting the backup process and losing their initial session).
I observed the following challenges (for non-technical users):
Users don't understand why they need to create a backup when setting up a messenger and are therefore likely to abort the dialog
Users don't understand the difference between a "security key" and a "security phrase" (and often have no concept whatsoever of things like "keys", "encryption", "cryptography" or "E2EE").
Describe the solution you'd like
Streamline the E2EE backup, so that there is one easy-to-use and recommended option and move the alternatives to an "advanced" section.
I would recommend to offer the security key as default, because in my experience, many users confuse the backup passphrase with their account password and don't know which to use in which context.
Additional thoughts
\~Encrypted backup keys could be synced over the home server (protected by a password) or various cloud providers could be supported for uploading backups.\~ This might already be the status quo. I'm not sure if I understand the dialog correctly...
Clearly state that the "security key" is a text file (and suggest users to print it, at least on web/desktop)
Just to say that this is a fair point and a known issue / limitation of the way things currently work and folks at Element are aware of this and working to improve things.
Problem I had to aid many users in setting up Element, because they have trouble understanding what happens during E2EE backup creation (and, in the worst case, gave up frustrated or lost their E2EE-key right away after "trying out" Element, aborting the backup process and losing their initial session). I observed the following challenges (for non-technical users):
Describe the solution you'd like Streamline the E2EE backup, so that there is one easy-to-use and recommended option and move the alternatives to an "advanced" section. I would recommend to offer the security key as default, because in my experience, many users confuse the backup passphrase with their account password and don't know which to use in which context.
Additional thoughts