Terms of Service

1. Agreement and eligibility

These Terms of Service govern your access to and use of StudySync, including the StudySync website, mobile application, researcher dashboard, participant enrollment flow, support tools, and related services that link to these Terms.

By accessing or using StudySync, you agree to these Terms and to any study-specific terms, consent forms, researcher agreements, or institutional requirements that apply to your role. If you do not agree, do not use StudySync.

StudySync is intended for users who are at least 18 years old unless a specific study permits minors with legally required parent or guardian consent and institutional approval.

2. StudySync services

StudySync provides software tools for approved research workflows, including study enrollment, participant verification, Apple Health/HealthKit and Fitbit data connection, research dashboards, adherence monitoring, support workflows, and data exports for study teams.

StudySync is not an emergency service, medical device, diagnosis tool, clinical decision support system, or substitute for professional medical advice. If you may be experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or seek emergency medical help immediately.

3. Research participation and consent

Participation in any study is governed by the applicable consent materials, IRB-approved protocol, researcher instructions, and institutional policies. You should read those materials carefully before enrolling or authorizing data collection.

• Participants are responsible for providing accurate enrollment and contact information and for following study instructions.
• Withdrawal from a study must follow the process described in the study materials or provided by the study team.
• Revoking Apple Health, Fitbit, or other device permissions may stop future collection but may not delete data already collected, which may be retained as allowed by the study consent, law, institutional policy, or research integrity requirements.

4. Accounts and security

You are responsible for the accuracy of information you provide, the security of your account credentials, and activity that occurs through your account. Do not share your credentials or allow unauthorized access to StudySync.

Notify us promptly if you believe your account, study access, or participant data may have been compromised. We may suspend or restrict access if needed to protect users, studies, data, or the platform.

5. Device integrations and permissions

StudySync may receive information from Apple Health/HealthKit, Fitbit, or other supported integrations only when authorized through the relevant app, device, account, or study workflow. You can revoke those permissions through the relevant service settings.

Connected device data can be delayed, incomplete, inaccurate, or unavailable for reasons outside StudySync's control, including device settings, battery state, connectivity, third-party service outages, or changes to third-party APIs.

6. Researcher responsibilities

Researchers and study administrators are responsible for using StudySync only for approved and lawful research purposes.

• Obtain and maintain required IRB, ethics, institutional, and participant approvals before collecting or using study data.
• Configure studies accurately, including data sources, participant instructions, collaborators, and export settings.
• Limit access to authorized study personnel and remove access when it is no longer needed.
• Protect exported data and handle it according to study protocols, institutional policies, data use agreements, and applicable law.
• Do not use StudySync as the sole mechanism for participant safety monitoring, clinical decision-making, or urgent care unless the study has separately approved and validated that workflow.

7. Acceptable use

You may use StudySync only for lawful, authorized purposes consistent with these Terms, the Privacy Policy, and applicable study materials.

• Do not access data, accounts, studies, or systems without authorization.
• Do not interfere with platform security, availability, rate limits, or monitoring.
• Do not upload malware, attempt to bypass authentication, scrape the service, or reverse engineer non-public components.
• Do not re-identify de-identified or aggregated data unless expressly authorized by the study protocol and law.
• Do not use StudySync data for advertising, marketing, sale, or unrelated data mining.

8. Privacy and data

The StudySync Privacy Policy explains how information is collected, used, shared, retained, and protected. By using StudySync, you acknowledge that the Privacy Policy applies to your use of the services.

Study data may also be subject to study-specific consent forms, institutional policies, data use agreements, and laws that apply to the study team, research institution, or participant.

9. Intellectual property

StudySync, including its software, design, text, graphics, workflows, and other platform materials, is owned by StudySync or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. Subject to these Terms, you may use StudySync only for its intended research platform purposes.

You retain rights to information you submit, subject to the rights and permissions needed for StudySync and approved study teams to operate the services, support research, comply with applicable obligations, and enforce these Terms.

10. Third-party services

StudySync may interoperate with third-party services such as Apple Health/HealthKit, Fitbit, Firebase, Google Cloud, analytics providers, email or messaging providers, and cloud infrastructure providers. Those services may be governed by their own terms, privacy policies, account settings, and availability limitations.

11. Availability, changes, and termination

We may update, suspend, restrict, or discontinue StudySync features at any time, including to improve the platform, address security issues, comply with law, or support study requirements.

We may suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms, misuse the platform, create security or compliance risk, or if your study or institution no longer authorizes access.

12. Disclaimers

StudySync is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, availability, and error-free operation.

StudySync does not guarantee that connected device data, exports, alerts, dashboards, or analytics will be complete, accurate, timely, clinically meaningful, or suitable for any particular research, operational, medical, or regulatory purpose.

13. Limitation of liability and indemnity

To the fullest extent permitted by law, StudySync and its contributors will not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, punitive, or similar damages, or for loss of data, profits, goodwill, or business opportunities arising from or related to your use of StudySync.

If you use StudySync on behalf of a research team, institution, or organization, you agree that the organization is responsible for your authorized use and for compliance with applicable study obligations, approvals, policies, and laws.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, unless a separate written agreement or study-specific document states otherwise.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to arjo@stanford.edu. Study participants should also use the study team contact information listed in their consent materials for study-specific questions.