Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy is for

TigerSensing is a platform that research teams use to run studies. This policy is for two groups: participants who use the TigerSensing mobile app, and researchers or staff who use the web dashboard.

Each study is run by a research organization, such as a university lab or a clinical research team. That organization decides which signals are turned on, why they are collected, who can see them, and how long they are kept, within the limits of your consent form, the study plan, ethics review, and the law.

2. What TigerSensing collects from participants

When you join a study, TigerSensing collects only the signals that study turns on, only if your device can measure them, and only if you have given the matching permissions. Depending on the study, your device, and any connected wearable, these can include:

Movement and orientation

How your device moves and is held, measured by sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass (magnetic field), and related motion signals.

Location and travel

GPS location, places you visit, distance, speed, and how you move over time.

Health and body signals

From a connected wearable where available: heart rate, optical pulse (PPG) readings and samples, wrist temperature, whether the device is on your wrist, step counts, sleep sessions, and face-related usage measurements. This never includes photos or video.

Communication patterns

Summaries of phone and messaging use and, on supported devices, call and text logs. These are used to study timing, direction, duration, and patterns. TigerSensing does not upload the words in your messages or the content of your calls.

For voice-assistant and phone-call audio, TigerSensing collects only patterns your device calculates, such as how loud the audio was and general scores that estimate tone or mood. It never captures the words spoken and never keeps a recording.

Your surroundings

Weather, light level, sound level, air pressure, temperature, humidity, and how close objects are to the device. For sound, TigerSensing measures loudness from short microphone snippets and immediately throws the audio away. It never saves a recording.

Device, app, and network use

How you use your apps and device, including screen time, app and media activity, notifications, web-use summaries, typing measurements (counts and timing, not the text), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, battery level, screen brightness, and network connection status.

3. What we never upload or store

No matter which signals a study turns on, TigerSensing never uploads or stores:

• The words inside your messages or calls;
• Photos, video, or audio recordings;
• The characters you type on your keyboard; or
• Advertising profiles about you.

4. How we scramble sensitive details on your phone

Some signals can contain details that identify you directly. Before those details leave your phone, TigerSensing replaces them with a scrambled code. This happens on your phone, using a secret key that stays on your phone (a standard method called HMAC-SHA-256).

The scrambling only goes one way: the same value always turns into the same code, so researchers can notice repeats, such as that you contacted the same number more than once, but no one can turn the code back into the original detail.

Details scrambled this way include:

• Phone numbers in your call logs;
• The phone numbers you message and the text inside those messages;
• Wi-Fi network names; and
• Bluetooth device names and IDs.

Scrambling lowers the chance of identifying you, but it does not make everything anonymous. Location, timing, and combined sensor patterns can still be sensitive, so we also use access controls, encryption, and study oversight to protect your data.

5. Account and technical information

For dashboard users, we handle your account information needed to sign in and manage access, such as your name, username or email, organization, and role. Sign-in is handled through a dedicated authentication service.

For both participants and dashboard users, we handle technical information needed to run and protect the service, such as app version, device and operating system details, timestamps, upload details, and diagnostic logs. When it is turned on, error and performance monitoring is handled through a third-party monitoring service.

6. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Run the research studies you agree to join;
• Collect, upload, check, export, and analyze study data;
• Run, secure, fix, and improve the app, dashboard, and servers;
• Sign users in and enforce organization and role-based access;
• Meet research ethics, legal, and security obligations; and
• Create de-identified or combined results that are not meant to identify you.

We do not sell your information, do not use participant data for advertising, and do not share it with advertising networks.

7. Your consent and control

Your data is collected based on your informed consent for a specific study, and taking part is always voluntary. You can stop future collection at any time by leaving the study, signing out, turning off TigerSensing's permissions in your device settings, or uninstalling TigerSensing.

Stopping ends new collection. Whether data already collected can be deleted may depend on the study plan, legal requirements, research ethics rules, and whether the data has already been de-identified, combined, or used in results.

8. Who we share your information with

We share your information only as needed to run the study and the service:

• With the research organization and study team responsible for your study;
• With the service providers that help us operate TigerSensing, such as hosting, storage, sign-in, and monitoring providers;
• With third-party weather data providers our servers use to look up local conditions when a study turns on weather collection. The provider receives only an approximate location — rounded on your phone to about 1 kilometer — and never your name, account, or study. Your exact position never leaves your phone;
• In research results, only in de-identified or combined form not meant to identify you; and
• When the law requires it, or to protect participants, researchers, the public, or the security of the service.

9. Where your data is kept and how we protect it

Your data travels over encrypted connections, and the study data you upload is encrypted before it is saved. It is stored on secured cloud servers located in the United States. Getting into the dashboard requires signing in, and what each person can see is limited by their organization and role.

We also use activity logs, checks on uploads, limits on how often requests can be made, and role-based access to help protect the platform. No security measures can promise perfect protection, but these are designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized access, disclosure, changes, and loss.

10. How long we keep data

Participant data is kept for as long as it is needed for the study, research integrity, legal requirements, security, and audits. Dashboard account data is kept while the account is active, or as long as needed for administration, security, and records.

11. Your rights and choices

Depending on the laws and study rules that apply to you, you may be able to ask to see, correct, export, or delete your personal information, or to withdraw from a study. You can also control many permissions directly in your device settings, including location, microphone, health, background activity, notifications, and Bluetooth or network access.

To make a request, contact the study team listed in your consent form or email us at info@tigeraware.com.

12. Children's privacy

TigerSensing is not aimed at children. If a study allows minors to take part, the study team must get the parental or guardian permission and the participant's agreement required by the approved study plan and the law.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When changes are important, we will update the "last updated" date and, where appropriate, let you know in the app, the dashboard, the study materials, or the consent process.

14. Contact us

For questions about this policy, email info@tigeraware.com. For questions about a specific study, contact the study team named in your consent form.