# Profile best practices

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Whether you customize pre-built designs or build your car profiles flows uniquely for the vehicle, be sure to follow best practices for designing profile flows.

## Profile selection best practices

When designing a profile selection screen, it is best practice to:

- **Make profile selection easy**: Design a way for users to see and select their profile.
- **Decide how many profiles** you want to support.
- **Provide a way to add profiles**: Create an "Add a profile" affordance.
- **Differentiate profiles** from each other. Consider using color, profile images, or naming to create distinction.

For examples of the AAOS profile selection experience, see [Selecting a profile](https://developers.google.com/cars/design/automotive-os/product-experience/system-ui/profiles/how_profiles_work#selecting_a_profile).

## Profile lock best practices

When designing profile lock flows, it is best practice to:

- **Offer multiple unlocking options**: Create options for users to unlock their profile via PIN, password, or pattern.
- **Provide recovery flows** (see best practices below) for users who may forget their password, to help them avoid using AAOS in a 'guest' state.

For examples of the the AAOS profile lock experience, see [Locking a profile](https://developers.google.com/cars/design/automotive-os/product-experience/system-ui/profiles/how_profiles_work#locking_a_profile).

## Profile recovery best practices

To create a positive experience for users who have forgotten their profiles lock, you can:

- **Provide alternative pathways forward**: If a user has forgotten their profile lock, you can give them the option to add a new profile so they can continue to use the car's infotainment system. To facilitate this, provide locked-out users an affordance to create a new Android user profile, create an alternate user profile, or choose to continue using a guest profile.
- **Offer a pathway back to profile selection**: If a user arrives at the profile lock screen and can't remember their lock, they should still have a pathway to continue. Ideally, users can access a 'back' affordance to return to the profile selection screen, where they can then create a new profile or continue as a guest.

![Profile selection screen](https://developers.google.com/cars/design/automotive-os/product-experience/system-ui/profiles/images/Diagram.png) Give users who've forgotten their password a pathway to back to profile selection