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© 2024, Pathverse Inc | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions

Pathverse Privacy Policy 

Pathverse Inc. built the Pathverse app and a web interface to support health research. It is free to use with limited functionality, advanced features would require payment of fees to access. 

Pathverse Inc. (“Pathverse”, “we”, “us” or “our”) aims to accelerate mobile health research and learning. We respect your privacy and are committed to being transparent about how we collect, use and share your personal information. 

This policy applies to all Pathverse services, products, and mobile applications (“Service”). 

This page is used to inform visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service. 

If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this policy. The Personal Information that we collect is used for providing and improving the Service. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. 

The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, which are accessible at Pathverse unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy. 

What information does Pathverse collect? 

Researchers 

Pathverse collects information directly from you for your registration and user profile. We also automatically collect your usage information to help us improve the platform.  We only collect the minimum amount of personal information necessary from you, unless you choose to provide more. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. 

From researchers we collect: 

Registration Information 

  • Email address 
  • Password 
  • Full name 
  • Organization they work for 
  • How they heard about Pathverse (optional) 
  • Ethics approval certificate for study uploaded on Pathverse 

User Personal Information 

  • Email address 
  • Full name 
  • Organization they work for 
  • How they heard about Pathverse (optional) 

Study Information 

  • Study name 
  • Study description 
  • Study module content 
  • Study card content 

Analytics Information 

  • Admin portal usage data 

How we use this information 

  • We use your Registration Information to create your account and to provide you the Service. 
  • We use your User Personal Information, specifically your email address, to identify you on Pathverse. 
  • We use your organization information to verify you are who you say you are. 
  • We use your email to communicate with you if you’ve said that’s okay, and only for the reasons you’ve said that’s okay. 
  • We may use your User Personal Information if it is necessary for security purposes or to investigate possible fraud or attempts to harm Pathverse or our Users. 
  • We may use User Personal Information to invite you to take part in surveys, beta programs, or other research projects, subject, where necessary, to your consent. 
  • We may use the ethics approval certificate to verify the uploaded study. 
  • We may use your study information to verify the validity of your study. 
  • We may use your Analytics Information to improve our platform and the Service. 

App User 

Pathverse collects information directly from you for your registration and user profile. We only collect the minimum amount of personal information necessary from you, unless you choose to provide more. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. 

From App Users we collect: 

Registration Information 

  • Email address (can be fake, for anonymity) 
  • Password 

Analytics Information 

  • Lesson completion log 
  • Survey answers 
  • Login log 

How we use this information 

  • We use your Registration Information to create your account and to provide you the Service. 
  • We use your User Personal Information, specifically your email address, to identify you on Pathverse. If you use a fake email, for anonymity, we won’t be able to personally identify you. 
  • We use your email to communicate with you if you’ve said that’s okay, and only for the reasons you’ve said that’s okay and have used a real email. If you use a fake email, for anonymity, we may not be able to contact you. In case you need to reach us, we are at support@pathverse.ca. 
  • We may use your Analytics Information to improve our platform and the Service. 
  • Study admins and creators (researchers) may use your Analytics Information to conduct on relevant research, after which you have consented. 
  • Study admins and creators (researchers) may use your provided email address to enroll you in their study. You may provide a non-existent email to stay anonymous. 

Steps – from Google Fit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your steps from Google Fit to provide a custom daily step goal dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Step Data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your step data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Active Minutes – from Google Fit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your active minutes from Google Fit to provide a custom daily active minute’s dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Active Minutes Data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your active minutes in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your active minutes data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Steps – from Apple Health 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your steps from Apple Health to provide a custom daily step goal dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Step Data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your step data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Exercise Minutes – from Apple Health 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your exercise minutes from Apple Health to provide a custom daily exercise minutes dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Exercise Minutes Data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your exercise minutes in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your exercise minutes data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Sedentary, Lightly Active, Moderately Active, Very Active Minutes (collectively, Active Minutes) – from Fitbit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your Active Minutes from Fitbit to provide a custom daily Active Minutes from Fitbit dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Active Minutes from Fitbit Data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your Active Minutes from Fitbit in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your Active Minutes from Fitbit data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Step Data – from Fitbit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your Step Data from Fitbit to provide a custom daily Step Data from Fitbit dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Step Data from Fitbit in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your Step Data from Fitbit in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your Step Data from Fitbit to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

 

Heart Rate Data – from Fitbit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your Heart Rate Data from Fitbit to provide a custom daily Heart Rate Data from Fitbit dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Heart Rate Data from Fitbit in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your Heart Rate Data from Fitbit in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your Heart Rate Data from Fitbit to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

 

Sleep Data – from Fitbit 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your Sleep Data from Fitbit to provide a custom daily Sleep Data from Fitbit dashboard to promote health. 
  • We DO NOT collect your Sleep Data from Fitbit in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your Sleep Data from Fitbit in our secure servers. 
  • All stored data is encrypted with industry-standard encryption and de-identified. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your Sleep Data from Fitbit to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Blood Pressure – Self-reported 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • We DO NOT retrieve your blood pressure information from any other services. This feature is strictly user-self-input. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your self-input blood pressure data to provide a custom dashboard to help you track. 
  • We DO NOT collect your blood pressure data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your blood pressure data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Blood Sugar A1C – Self-reported 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • We DO NOT retrieve your blood sugar (A1C) information from any other services. This feature is strictly user-self-input. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your self-input blood sugar (A1C) data to provide a custom dashboard to help you track. 
  • We DO NOT collect your blood sugar (A1C) data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your blood sugar (A1C) data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Weight – Self-reported 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • We DO NOT retrieve your weight information from any other services. This feature is strictly user-self-input. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your self-input weight data to provide a custom dashboard to help you track. 
  • We DO NOT collect your weight data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your weight data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

Waist Circumference – Self-reported 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • We DO NOT retrieve your waist circumference information from any other services. This feature is strictly user-self-input. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your self-input waist circumference data to provide a custom dashboard to help you track. 
  • We DO NOT collect your waist circumference data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your waist circumference data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

 

Heart Rate – Self-reported 

  • This feature is not available to everyone. 
  • It is ONLY available to users participating in a research study that requires it. 
  • It is ONLY enabled if all the participants of that study have signed a consent form allowing it. 
  • We DO NOT retrieve your heart rate information from any other services. This feature is strictly user-self-input. 
  • If this feature is enabled, we may use your self-input heart rate data to provide a custom dashboard to help you track. 
  • We DO NOT collect your heart rate data in our servers UNLESS it is a part of your study requirement. Then, only after your signed consent, we may collect and save your steps in our secure servers. 
  • We DO NOT sell or use your data for advertising purposes. 
  • If you are a part of a research study, we may transfer your heart rate data to the research coordinator, ONLY after being presented with a signed consent form from the user permitting the data transfer. 
  • You can request to delete all your data at any time. 
  • All your data on the local device is deleted when the app is deleted. 
  • All your data on the local device is encrypted at rest with industry-standard encryption. 

 

Survey and Lesson Completion and Goal Setting Data 

 

Survey and lesson completion data collected through Pathverse will be stored on Amazon servers in Canada. Although your data is stored in Canadian servers, Amazon is a US-owned and operated company. As such, there is a possibility that information about you that is gathered for this research study may be accessed without your knowledge or consent by the U.S. government, in compliance with the U.S. Freedom Act. Data will be deleted from these servers after three years. Goal setting data that is added by the user along with fitness data, collected through Google Fit or Apple Health Kit, is stored on the device and is strictly for display purposes. Therefore, uninstalling the app will permanently delete all data related to them.  

Study Consent Process 

In order to enrol in studies, you will need to give consent to the study admin (researcher). Each study will have its respective consent forms and processes you would need to go through. This process is between the app user and the study admin (researcher). All study admins must ensure their study participants give relevant consent before they are enrolled and gain access to their study content. 

For questions about the enrolment process please email admin@pathverse.ca. 

Health and Health Research 

Health, fitness, and medical studies are especially sensitive and apps in this space have some additional rules to make sure user privacy is protected: 

  • Studies must not write false or inaccurate data into Pathverse. 
  • Studies conducting health-related human subject research must obtain consent from participants or, in the case of minors, their parent or guardian. Such consent must include the (a) nature, purpose, and duration of the research; (b) procedures, risks, and benefits to the participant; (c) information about confidentiality and handling of data (including any sharing with third parties); (d) a point of contact for participant questions; and (e) the withdrawal process. 
  • Studies conducting health-related human subject research must secure approval from an independent ethics review board. Proof of such approval must be provided upon request. 

For researchers who want to deliver content on Pathverse and conduct research, you must provide proof that your study has been approved by an ethics review board, this can be done by uploading a certificate of approval in the admin portal. 

For questions about the ethics process please email admin@pathverse.ca. 

Cookies 

Cookies are files with a small amount of data that are commonly used as anonymous unique identifiers. These are sent to your browser from the websites that you visit and are stored on your device’s internal memory. 

This Service does not use these “cookies” explicitly. However, the app may use third-party code and libraries that use “cookies” to collect information and improve their services. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies and know when a cookie is being sent to your device. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of this Service. 

Service Providers 

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons: 

  • To facilitate our Service; 
  • To provide the Service on our behalf; 
  • To perform Service-related services; or 
  • To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used. 

We want to inform users of this Service that these third parties have access to their Personal Information. The reason is to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose. 

Security 

We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security. 

Links to Other Sites 

This Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. 

Children’s Privacy 

These Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do the necessary actions. 

Changes to This Privacy Policy 

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. 

This policy is effective as of 2024-04-02 

Contact Us 

If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us at admin@pathverse.ca.