Technology

We focus only on touchscreen taps: We register when the user touches the screen to type or navigate. Important: We only collect the time of a tap, not what is typed or where the user clicks. We do not collect any content, we only look at the timing patterns: tap - no tap - tap - no tap. Sounds simple, yet from that we can derive powerful insights into the user’s brain health.

The timing data of the taps is sent to our server in regular intervals, where our powerful AI algorithms compare them to our database of clinical data and can detect patterns (“behavioral markers”). For example, the speed of tapping provides insights into the user's cognitive speed (how well the brain performs). Even very subtle changes in tapping speed over time can reveal changes in brain health (such as can occur with fatigue or burnout).

Our solution does not directly observe whether the user sleeps or not. We only capture when there is a tap. But from that, we can predict the likelihood of when the user is sleeping, because sleep is driven by daily cycles of the brain, and our models are very powerful in estimating the likelihood of when a user sleeps. This has been scientifically validated in comparison with traditional sleep tracking devices, and our system performs with high accuracy. Also, we can show how tired the user is before sleeping, and how fresh after waking up. This generates a comprehensive understanding far deeper than many conventional sleep tracking tools.

Tap data contains important markers of brain activity that are relevant to neurological domains (including MS, stroke, Parkinson’s, dementia / Alzheimers) and even mental health. For example, we can detect small abnormal neural events (typically associated with seizures) in epilepsy patients. We can track markers of cognitive performance over time, which is a key ingredient in detecting age-related cognitive decline. Or we can track the brain recovery progress of patients after neuro-surgery.

Regular phone usage is sufficient to pick up the data to run our analysis. In fact, we encourage limited screen time as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Yes, there are 20+ studies ongoing or completed, and more to come. We work in a broad ecosystem of renowned scientific institutions, and our publications are featured in top-rated peer reviewed journals. See our Science section for more information.

We take privacy very seriously:

• First of all, the user is at the center: This is your phone and your data, and we want to empower you to manage your own health. Nobody else can see your health data if you don’t want to share it.
• The data is 100% anonymous: We only receive the data together with an ID. Nobody, including us, can map the ID to the user.
• For our employee health solution: The data is shared with the employer only in aggregated form (combining multiple users into a group anonymously), and only if the user actively consents.
• We only collect the timing patterns of taps and limited metadata (such as phone model type, to adjust the measurements for accuracy), no content is tracked.
• The data is encrypted and sent over a secure connection.
• We are fully compliant with European GDPR privacy regulations.
• We value transparency and publicly share our research results in the scientific community.

For more information regarding privacy, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

We take privacy very seriously:

• The data reaches our servers 100% anonymously, where it passes through our algorithms to generate the health indicators. We only receive the data together with an ID. We can not map the ID to the user.
• The data is encrypted and transmitted to us via a secure connection.
• We only collect the timing patterns of taps and limited metadata (such as phone model type, to adjust the measurements for accuracy), no content is tracked.
• We are fully compliant with European GDPR privacy regulations.
• We value transparency and publicly share our research results in the scientific community.
• We require third parties who use our technology in their applications to take all the following measures:
  • Compliance with local data protection regulations, e.g. GDPR in Europe or the CCPA in California
  • Any sharing or sale of data to fourth parties shall only be permitted in anonymized and aggregated form or with the explicit permission of the user from whom the data originated.

Our platform currently works for all versions of Android. iOS is coming soon. We also have an SDK, so our functionality can easily be integrated in third-party apps as well.

Our R&D product and the Employee Health SDK are already in use. We are working on our vision to offer screening for early detection of brain diseases. Stay tuned.