GeoEmoji is a research application for studying relationships between momentary emotion during walking and the surrounding environment. It is not a clinical, diagnostic, safety, or navigation service.
This policy explains what information GeoEmoji records, where it is stored, and what happens when a participant chooses to export and send a research file to the research team.
During a research session, GeoEmoji may record:
Participants should not enter their name, email address, telephone number, or other direct identifiers in the participant-code field.
GeoEmoji stores research-session data locally on the participant's iPhone. The current version has no user account, analytics service, advertising service, remote synchronization, or automatic research-data upload.
Research data remains on the device unless the participant deliberately uses the export function and chooses a destination through the iOS sharing or file interface.
At the end of a session, the participant can create a JSON research file. The app opens the standard iOS save dialog, in which the participant chooses where the file is written—for example, a folder on the iPhone itself or a cloud-storage location such as iCloud Drive. The saved file can then be sent or provided to the research team in a separate step, for example by using Mail, Messages, AirDrop, or the Files app.
GeoEmoji does not choose the transmission service or send the file automatically. The participant selects the destination and confirms the transfer. The privacy practices of the selected third-party service, such as an email, messaging, or cloud-storage provider, also apply to that transfer. In particular, if the participant saves the file to a cloud-storage location such as iCloud Drive, a copy is transferred to that provider's servers at the moment of saving, under that provider's own terms. Participants who wish to keep the file on the device should choose a location on the iPhone itself.
Once the research team receives an exported file, the data is processed for academic research in accordance with the participant information sheet, consent procedure, approved research protocol, and applicable institutional and legal requirements.
The exported data may be used to:
GeoEmoji data is not used for advertising, commercial profiling, or cross-app tracking.
The participant code is intended to reduce the use of direct identifiers, but pseudonymized data may still be personal data. Precise location traces can be identifying, particularly when combined with dates, routes, or a separate participant-code correspondence list.
The research team does not sell GeoEmoji data and does not share it for advertising or tracking.
Research data may be accessed only by authorized members of the Ochanomizu University Physical Activity Measurement Laboratory and approved research collaborators who require access for the GeoEmoji project and are subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection obligations. It may also be disclosed when required by law, research oversight, institutional audit, or ethics review. Any research publication or public dataset will use aggregated or appropriately de-identified information in accordance with the approved research protocol.
Data stored inside the app remains on the iPhone until the app or its data is removed. The current app version does not automatically delete completed sessions.
Exported files received by the research team will be retained for a period of 6 years from the reception of the JSON export, then securely deleted or irreversibly anonymized, subject to applicable research-integrity and legal requirements.
Participants may request information about access, correction, withdrawal, or deletion by contacting tripette.julien@ocha.ac.jp. The availability of a request may depend on whether the research team can identify the participant's data and on applicable research or legal obligations. Withdrawing from the study does not necessarily affect data that has already been irreversibly anonymized or included in completed aggregate analyses.
GeoEmoji uses the iPhone application container and iOS data-protection mechanisms for local files. Participants should use only the transfer method specified by the research team. The research team will store received files in an access-controlled institutional storage system approved for research data.
No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure. Participants should contact the research team promptly if an export is sent to the wrong recipient or if the device is lost.
GeoEmoji is not intended for use by children unless their participation is specifically covered by an approved research protocol and all required consent or assent procedures.
This policy may be updated when GeoEmoji's features or the research protocol change. The effective date above will be revised, and material changes will be communicated as required by the study procedures.
GeoEmoji is a self-contained iOS application built solely on Apple system frameworks. It contains no third-party libraries, software development kits, analytics, advertising, or tracking components, and no networking code of any kind: the application is technically incapable of contacting a server or transmitting data off the device. It uses no persistent device identifier and no remote push notifications, and it accesses no personal data on the device other than the location recorded during an active research session.
All research data is stored in the application's protected container on the iPhone and leaves the device only when the participant deliberately exports a file and chooses its destination. A complete manual review of the source code of version 0.1.0 (commit ff7ce49), carried out on August 25, 2026, found no hidden data collection, no concealed transmission, and no dynamically loaded code. This statement covers the application itself, not Apple's App Store and TestFlight distribution services, nor any third-party service a participant may choose when sending an exported file.
For questions about GeoEmoji, this policy, or research-data handling, contact:
Julien Tripette, PhD – Associate Professor
Faculty of Transdisciplinary Engineering, Ochanomizu University
Comprehensive Research Building, Room 808
2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan
tripette.julien@ocha.ac.jp