Beyond Immersion: Designing Ambient Companions for Wildlife Adoption Engagement

Conservation organizations often invite the public to adopt endangered animals, but it is difficult to sustain engagement once the initial excitement fades. We explore an alternative to one-off immersive media by designing and studying an ambient digital companion that keeps adopters peripherally aware of their animal in everyday life. Drawing on a survey (N=162), interviews (N=18), and co-design with adopters and staff (N=10), we created WildCompanion, an iPhone widget and Apple Watch app that delivers short, vetted updates and photos. We deployed WildCompanion with adopters (N=22) for 30 days, combining logs, weekly questionnaires, and exit interviews. Our findings show how an ambient companion can become a calm, always-there presence that fits into routines, nurtures emotional connection, and prompts small conservation-related actions without causing notification fatigue. We contribute empirical insights and a design framework for ambient companions in conservation and related cause-driven domains. We discuss implications for future conservation technology research.