Privacy Policy

PulseESM ("PulseESM," "we," "us") is a platform for experience sampling method (ESM) research. Researchers use the PulseESM website and API to build studies, and participants use the PulseESM mobile app to receive and answer short surveys. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. Questions: [email protected].

Researchers and participants

When you join a study, the researcher who runs that study decides what questions are asked and how the answers are used. PulseESM stores and delivers that study data on the researcher's behalf. Your participation is also governed by the study's consent form, which is typically approved by the researcher's Institutional Review Board (IRB). For questions about a specific study, contact the researcher listed in its consent form.

Information we collect

If you use the mobile app (participants)

• Account information: email address, name (optional), and password. We store passwords only as a one-way hash, never in readable form.
• Device information: a push notification token, your device platform (iOS or Android), and your time zone, so surveys arrive at the right local time.
• Participation checks: when you sign up, sign in, or submit a survey, we record your IP address, a random ID for your app install, your device's time zone offset, operating system version, and language. We look up the approximate location and network type (for example, mobile carrier or VPN) of the IP address. Researchers of the studies you join can see these signals and the location, so they can spot fraudulent or duplicate participation. PulseESM only marks possible problems; the researcher decides.
• Camera check (only if a study asks for it): you may be asked to blink, turn your head, or smile for the front camera at signup and before a gift card. The check runs on your phone; no photo or video is saved or sent. We store only whether it passed, when, and how long it took. For open-ended answers the app also records how the text was entered (for example, typed or pasted, and typing speed), not the keys themselves.
• Study data: the studies you join, your survey answers, screening answers, any demographic questions the researcher includes, and when each survey was sent, started, and completed. From your own answers we show the researcher answer-quality checks for that study: whether you passed attention-check questions, how long each survey took, and whether you gave the same answer to most questions in a row.
• Ratings: after you answer at least one survey you can rate a study from 1 to 5 stars with an optional comment, and research teams can rate your participation the same way with a private note. A study's average is shown to participants, and your average is shown to researchers of studies you join, only once there are at least 3 ratings. Your comment reaches the research team without your name, also only after 3 ratings. Notes researchers write about you stay with their own team.
• Compensation information: earnings records and the gift cards issued to you. Gift cards are sent through Tremendous from the research team's own account; we share your name and email with Tremendous to issue the card. We do not collect bank account details.
• Location: most studies require Location to be on while you answer. With each answer the app sends an approximate point (rounded to about 1 km), how accurate it was, whether the phone reported a faked location, and the country and state your phone looked up. Researchers of that study can see them to confirm participation. PulseESM never collects location in the background. Studies that show local air quality also send your coordinates to an air quality provider for that lookup; those coordinates are not saved.

The app also keeps some data on your device: answers waiting to be uploaded when you are offline, your notification history, and your settings (such as language and theme).

If you use the website or API (researchers)

• Account information: name, email address, and password (stored as a hash).
• API keys, which we store in hashed form.
• Study content you create: surveys, schedules, participant invitations, collaborators, webhooks, and an activity log of changes to your studies.
• Ratings you give participants (score and private note) and the average rating your studies receive from participants, which participants see once there are at least 3 ratings.

Technical information

Our hosting providers record standard server logs, such as IP address, time, and the request made, for security and to keep the service running.

We do not show ads, we do not use third-party analytics or advertising trackers, and we do not sell personal information.

How we use information

• To run the service: deliver surveys, send scheduled notifications, and sync answers.
• To give researchers the data from the studies they run.
• To process compensation and payout requests.
• To send account emails, such as email verification and password resets.
• To protect studies and the service, including detecting fraudulent or duplicate participation.
• To respond to support requests.

How information is shared

• With researchers: your study data is available to the researcher(s) and any collaborators of the studies you join.
• With service providers that operate parts of PulseESM for us: Railway (API hosting and database), Vercel (website hosting), Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (push notifications), Resend (account emails), Cloudflare (domain and email routing), and AirNow (U.S. EPA) or Open-Meteo (air quality lookups, which receive coordinates only), ip-api.com (approximate location of IP addresses, which receives the IP address only), Apple or Google (your phone's own map service turns the approximate point into a country and state), and Tremendous (gift card rewards).
• When required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of users and the service.

Retention

We keep account information while your account is active. Study data is kept as long as the researcher needs it for the study. When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your account and personal information from PulseESM. Researchers may keep copies of study data they already exported, as their research protocol allows.

Your choices and rights

• Delete your account at any time in the app (Profile, Delete Account). This immediately removes your account, study enrollments, survey answers, and earnings records from PulseESM.
• Access or correct your information, or ask for deletion, by emailing [email protected] from the email address on your account.
• Withdraw from a study at any time by contacting the researcher or us.
• Turn off notifications or location access at any time in your device settings.

If you live in California, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right to know, correct, and delete personal information. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We will not treat you differently for using these rights.

Security

Data is sent over encrypted HTTPS connections, passwords and API keys are stored as hashes, and access to study data is limited to the researchers of each study. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.

Children

PulseESM is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us information, contact [email protected] and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date above. For significant changes, we will notify users by email or in the app.

Contact

[email protected]