AwareMind will collect responses to the in-app survey, input interaction, and app usage history. AwareMind will not collect any personally identifiable information.

Responses to the brief in-app surveys

The in-app surveys contain one question that could be answered on a 0-10 Likert scale. The surveys will appear randomly while the phone is unlocked, at most twice in each usage session (from an unlocking to a locking). It will collect up to fifteen responses each day.

The surveys are designed to not appear while the participants are driving. But because of the accuracy and latency of the Google Activity Recognition API, it is still possible that the participants will receive the surveys while driving. In this case, the participants should either dismiss the survey or ignore it (which will auto-dismiss in 30 seconds).

Below is an example of the data of a response to the brief in-app surveys:

Answer to the Question: 4,
Delay since unlock in millisecond: 7000,
Timestamp of the survey appearing: 2024-01-29 13:18:42.329,
Timestamp of the survey submitted: 2024-01-29 13:18:43.712.

Dismissed surveys will also be recorded as:

Dismissal type: auto or manual,
Delay since unlock in millisecond: 7000,
Timestamp of the survey appearing: 2024-01-29 13:18:42.329,
Timestamp of the survey dismissed: 2024-01-29 13:18:43.712.

Input interaction

AwareMind records users’ input interaction, including three types of interaction: taps, scrolls, and text edits. This function uses the AccessibilityService API.

For each interaction, AwareMind will record the interaction type and the timestamp. For scrolls, it will record the distance of the scroll, both horizontally and vertically. For text edits, it will not record the content of input, but only the number of characters typed by the user.

Below are examples of each type of interaction.

Tap

Interaction type: tap,
Timestamp: 2024-01-29 20:59:10.524.

Scroll

Interaction type: scroll,
Timestamp: 2024-01-29 20:59:15.745,
Horizontal distance: 407,
Vertical distance: 0.

Text edit

Interaction type: text edit,
Timestamp: 2024-01-29 20:59:48.329,
Number of characters typed: 6.

For example, if you type "hello!", we will see you have typed six characters but won't know what the six characters are.

App usage history

AwareMind also accesses App usage history. It will record the app package name, class name, starting time, and ending time of each usage.

Below is an example of app usage.

Package: com.google.android.calendar,
Class: com.google.android.calendar.AllInOneCalendarActivity,
Starting time: 2024-02-01 13:49:54.509
Ending time: 2024-02-01 13:49:56.281

We won't know what you did in each app.

Other data

After you log in, Awaremind will check and upload the time zone information (in the format of "America/New_York") and the device information (Android version, Brand, and Model).

Data storage

Data will be stored in Cloud Storage for Firebase (https://firebase.google.com/).

Permissions

Several permissions are needed for the app to work. The participant will grant each permission explicitly before the data collection starts.

Notification

To keep the app alive in the background and not killed by the Android system, the app needs the notification permission to show a persistent notification, telling Android system the app is in usage. No other notifications will be sent.

Overlay Display

To keep the interruption minimal, the app displays the survey in an overlay window. Once you have completed the survey, the app you were using previously will return to the foreground automatically.

App usage

To understand how you use your phone, the app needs to access app usage history. Only the app information (e.g., App names, like 'Twitter', and time stamps, like '2024-01-01 10:00:00:000') will be collected. No personal or sensitive user data will be collected.

Accessibility

To understand how you use your phone, the app needs to record your interactions with the phone like taps, scrolls, and text edits. For text edits, it will only record the number of characters you type, but not the content of the text. No personal or sensitive user data will be collected.

Physical activity

To prevent the survey from showing while you are driving, the app uses Google Activity Recognition API, which requires the physical activity permission, to detect whether you are in a vehicle.

Location

Location is needed for recognizing physical activities.

Uninstall

The app could be easily uninstalled by holding (long-pressing) the app icon, and selecting uninstall.

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