FAQ’s

No. We will never see your text messages, pictures, emails, or web browsing information. Data is collected via the sensors that are already installed on your phone to obtain daily activity, location, and phone usage data (such as number of steps taken, how often you move, how many unique locations you visit, whether your screen is on or off, etc). To clarify, we do NOT monitor any specific activities on your phone such as web browsing, apps, texts, calls, photos, etc.

As a company, we are committed to providing you with a tool to reliably measure your behavioral data to enrich your mental healthcare, all the while protecting your privacy. We do NOT collect your text messages, voice recordings, your activity on the web, or any other apps on your phone besides Health App/Google Fit.

If you joined as part of a pharmaceutical research trial: Your data will be assigned a code and we will not know your name, address, or any information that directly identifies you. All information collected will be kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the study unless required by law. You will not be named in any reports, publications, or presentations that may result from the study.

If you joined under the care of your mental healthcare provider: Only your care providers will be able to identify the data that belongs to you. Only the minimum required data will be shared with your care providers to help them support you in your care planning and treatment decisions. You will retain the right to revoke sharing with your provider at any time

Yes! Our app and our processes enforce strict compliance with HIPAA Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR 164.400-414) and adhere to technical safeguards according to the Security Management Process (§ 164.308(a)(1)) from NIST. This includes implementing measures for encrypted data transfer, access control policies, and ensuring data management practices that protect patient information​​. Your privacy protection is our number one priority.

Your app uses location data from sources such as GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell towers. You can measure your location based on the longitude and latitude of the places you visit, but we do not track addresses. Below is a detailed list of what your app DOES and DOES NOT collect regarding your location data: 

What the app DOES collect: 
- The longitude and latitude for places you visit
- Distance traveled between locations
- How often you visit places
- How long you stay in places

What the app DOESN’T collect: 
- Names of places you’ve visited
- Addresses of places you’ve visited

The Health Rhythms app uses data that your phone already collects to help you understand more about your daily activity and sleep patterns. In order to provide an accurate measurement of your mental health, you'll need access to the following sensors: activity, motion & fitness, and location. Once enabled, these sensors work passively in the background with no additional input needed from you. All you need to do is keep the Health Rhythms app window open in the background of your phone so the sensors can keep working, keep your phone charged, and take your phone around with you as often as possible.

Location information helps you measure your activity beyond how many steps you walk each day. Research has shown that activity data, such as how often one travels away from home, can be related to mood, especially as it improves or declines. The algorithm factors in the number and frequency of places you visit, but the app will not collect specific addresses.

If you joined as part of a pharmaceutical research trial: If you turn off a sensor permission, Health Rhythms will not collect any data from the associated sensor and your research team will not receive the behavioral information they need to best support their research. This could alter your eligibility for compensation, depending on the study. 

If you joined under the care of your mental healthcare provider: Turning off the sensor permission prevents you and your care provider from collecting important data that could support your care plan. Just like tracking your steps with a fitness watch can give you insights into your physical health, you'll use Health Rhythms to gain insights into your mental health through the protected data from your smartphone.

You can download the Health Rhythms app on the Apple app store or Google Play store. See links below for quick access:

For iOS users: click here to download from the Apple App store
For Android users: click here to download from Google Play store

If you joined as part of a pharmaceutical research trial: If you registered using a Subject ID as your username, you will need to reach out to your research support team to receive a link to reset your password. Health Rhythms support is also available by reaching out to Health Rhythms support is also available by reaching out to support@healthrhythms.com, but please note that Health Rhythms support will have access to your contact information. 

If you joined under the care of your mental healthcare provider: If you registered using your email address as your username, you can click “Forgot Your Password” within the app and you will receive an email to reset your password. You can always reach out to support@healthrhythms.com for additional support.

If you are a UCHealth patient: Go to the UCHealth app and tap the “Health Rhythms” button to login.

You'll use Health Rhythms to measure your mental health by passively collecting your daily activity and sleep patterns from your smartphone. Once you've completed onboarding and you've turn on your phone's sensors, you'll use the Health Rhythms app to passively measure your activity. There's no need for daily check-ins. All you need to do is keep the app open on your phone, keep your phone charged, take your phone around with you as often as possible, and complete surveys when you receive them. You'll receive a notification when action is required.

While it might be tempting to force close the app by opening all of your open apps and swiping up from the bottom to close, do not do this with the Health Rhythms app. You will need to keep the Health Rhythms app window open on your phone and have it running in the background at all times. If the app is closed, your measurement will be inaccurate. You should reopen the app as soon as possible after closing it or after restarting your phone. We’ll send occasional reminders, surveys, and helpful tips so that your data is efficiently and accurately documented for you and your healthcare team or research study.  

The most important thing you can do to get the most accurate measurement of your mental health is to keep your phone with you as often as possible during the day and charge it at night. If you don’t have your phone with you during the day, your activity won’t be factored in to provide accurate information. Keep your phone in your pocket or carry it in a purse or backpack wherever you go, even when moving around in your own home. You may receive notifications reminding you to respond to surveys or to keep the app open and sensors turned on, but nothing is intended to interrupt your daily life.

The Health Rhythms app will provide you with an accurate and objective measurement of your mental health through GPS location, activity, and whether your phone screen is on or off. Your GPS location (longitude/latitude, not the actual street address) and your phone's pedometer will connect to your activity measurement. For example, if you suddenly don't leave your home for days at a time, this could be an indicator of mental health deterioration. Only you and members of your research or healthcare team will be able to see this data. 

You'll use the Health Rhythms app to passively collect the following measurements:

- Location: The algorithm will factor in data from sources such as GPS, Wi-Fi and cell towers once you install the app and consent to the app’s sensing of your location. 

- Activity: The app monitors your physical activity using the sensors built into your smartphone. This includes pedometer data reported by the Operating System over a given time interval, as well as motion activities reported by the Operating System, derived via available hardware on the smartphone, e.g. accelerometer, gyroscope. 

- Smartphone Use:  With your permission, your app will measure whether your phone's screen is on or off, locked or unlocked. This can be useful to estimate sleep duration and how often you are using your phone. The app does not collect any data for how you are using your phone, or the contents of it, just if the phone is being used or not.

- Information from your device: This includes information about your operating system, carrier, language, battery performance, wi-fi or other network connections, or other data that you permit the app to access on your device including through permissions on your device (e.g., Google Play on Android). We do NOT collect information unique to you such as your device identifier number.

Information you provide: Demographic information such as your gender, lifestyle, and age/birthdate.

If you are using the Health Rhythms app for a research study, please do not delete the app without first reaching out to your study team. If you are having technical problems with the app, please contact your study coordinator. With the help of the Health Rhythms team, they may be able to help resolve the issue before you delete the app. If you choose to voluntarily withdraw from the study, are discontinued from the study, or if your participation in the study is complete, it’s important to contact your study coordinator so they can assist you with deleting the app to ensure study records are kept accurate and up to date. 

If you’re using the app under the care of your mental healthcare provider, please reach out to your provider to talk about why you want to delete the app. If you are having technical problems with the app, please contact your care team or Health Rhythms support at support@healthrhythms.com

Once deactivated, you'll no longer be collected via the Health Rhythms app. You can request data deletion by contacting the Health Rhythms team here: support@healthrhythms.com

Health Rhythms may send you surveys that have been selected by your care or research team to help you monitor your symptoms and well-being. These surveys will be the same or very similar to the types of surveys you’d be asked to fill out prior to a visit with a provider.

Most people can expect to receive surveys a few times a month, but it will vary based on your healthcare provider or pharmaceutical research trial. Surveys should take only a few minutes to complete.

The sooner you complete your surveys, the better. However, if the survey does not come in at a convenient time for you, aiming to fill it out within 24 hours is recommended.

Health Rhythms has been designed to use a minimal amount of your phone’s battery. Most people find that it uses less than 5% of their battery per day. This is less battery than most other apps, including Spotify, Instagram, and iMessage.

The Health Rhythms app uses a minimal amount of data (~1MB/day), which is the equivalent of sending one email with a small attachment, loading five web pages, or streaming less than one minute of music. Therefore, using the app should have minimal impact on your phone data plan.

Health Rhythms’ support staff are available to quickly address any technical difficulties that you may experience. You can reach out to us at support@healthrhythms.com or 347-580-5004. 

In order for the app to collect high-quality data, your location sensor permission setting must be enabled and set to “Always” allowed. If the location sensor is set to “Never” or “While using the app” this will result in incomplete data collection.

To check on your location setting, follow these steps:

‍iOS (iPhone) Steps:
1. Open your settings app
2. Tap on “Health Rhythms”
3. Tap on “Location”
4. Make sure you have “Always” selected

‍Android Steps:
‍1. Open your settings app2. Tap “Apps & Notifications”
3. Open “Permission Manager”
4. Find the Health Rhythms app and click on it (may need to choose the option to see all of your apps)
4. You should see permissions enabled for Location and Physical Activity. You can click on each of these to make sure Physical Activity is "Allowed" and Location is "Allowed All of the Time"

It’s common for app users to swipe app windows up and away when they are not actively using them. This force closes the app and is NOT a desired action for the Health Rhythms app because it will stop the app from collecting data from your sensors. Instead of force closing the app when you are done using it, we ask that you please keep the app window open, and simply return to your home screen (or click your home button). Do NOT swipe the app window up and off the screen. Don’t worry, keeping the app open in the background should not drain your battery. See the “Battery Impact” section of the FAQ guide for more information.

Android users sometimes struggle to connect their Google Fit data with Health Rhythms. Step-by-step instructions are available below. Do not worry, your privacy is always protected.

We will not have access to your email address or other personally identifiable information when you connect Google Fit to our app:

1. Tap the button that says “Connect with Google Fit”
2. Choose an account to connect. Typically your Google account will automatically appear as an option on screen here3. Tap “Allow”
4. Return to the Health Rhythms app

In order for the app to continuously capture high-quality data from your device, all of your sensors must be set up properly.

Follow the steps below to make sure your sensor settings are set correctly:

‍iOS Users:
‍1. Open the Settings app on your phone
2. Scroll down and find the Health Rhythms app
3. Make sure “Location” is set to “Always”
4. Make sure “Motion & Fitness” is toggled on (displaying green toggle)
5. Make sure notifications are on

‍Android Users:
‍1. Open the Settings app on your phone
2. Tap on “Apps & Notifications”
3. Tap on “Permission Manager”
4. Find the Health Rhythms app and tap on it (you may need to choose the option to see all of your apps)
5. You should see permissions enabled for “location” and “physical activity” - You can tap on each of these to make sure physical activity is set to “Allowed” and location is set to “Allowed All of the Time”