Category: movisensXS

The Institute for Psychology at the University of Vienna currently utilises movisensXS in the study: „The COVID-19 crisis, stress, mood, and behaviour: an ecological momentary assessment study“ headed by Claus Lamm, Urs Nater and Giorgia Silani. This study aims to investigate the effects of the acute phase of the COVID-19 crisis on stress, mood, and behaviour using an ecological momentary assessment approach via a smartphone-app.

Participants receive questions multiple times a day about their current current well-being via a notification from a customised version of the movisensXS-App on their smartphone. Using this method allows a thorough analysis of the different elements of the questionnaires and their changes over time.

Learn more about the possibilities of conducting studies with movisens in times of the Corona crisis.

SensorTrigger functionality fully integrated in movisensXS

We're proud to announce that the sensor trigger for Experience Sampling and Ecological Momentary Assessment studies is now out of Beta. Now you can implement innovative research ideas by coupling one of our class leading activity sensors with movisensXS - our intuitive and comprehensive experience sampling platform - to capture truly insightful data.



Our research grade sensors analyze physiological parameters in real time and transmit the results via Bluetooth Smart. This allows individually configurable algorithms to trigger forms in movisensXS based on changes in physiology that the researcher wants to examine. By implementing one of our existing algorithms, the detection of physiological changes, such as high activity levels, sedentary behaviour, heart rate variability (RMSSD), and heart rate thresholds (among many others), can act as a trigger within your EMA/ESM study.

You have the freedom to select different algorithms for each individual participant, and also further customize the existing algorithms within groups. There's a range of existing algorithms developed for specific research projects that provide a small sampling of what is possible with this innovative technology.



If you have an existing algorithm that you would like to utilize, or an idea for a physiological marker that you would like to have as a trigger, we can work with you to implement this idea and develop your study.

Since the Beta we have added the possibility to skip the coupling of sensors when starting a study, allowing you to couple or re-couple sensors later.

If you want to use the movisens Sensor trigger feature please drop us a line under support@movisens.com and tell us the Email address of your movisensXS account so we can grant you access to the feature. The full documentation describing the features can be found in our docs website.

Improved wizard for sending debug information

In case a study does not run correctly on a particular smartphone you can send us debug information from the Settings Screen. It is now required to type some description of the problem. This helps us to spot possible problems and continue to improve the user experience for everyone.

More Improvements

• Added Android 9 compatibility
• Fixed bug with Android Oreo or higher where notification sound can't be defined after startup anymore
• Added new dnd mode detection and prevention
• Changed behaviour in case of unexpected app restarts, which occasionally caused studies not to function in some rare cases
• Replaced Google Cloud Messaging with Firebase Cloud Messaging
• Fixed problems with DnD mode permission not being available in devices
• Fixed notification sound and channels with all different android versions
• Fixed bug in mutable values if they start with a whitespace
• Added possibility to disable the feedback for the cognitive Tests PVT and SART
• Fixed smaller bugs

Improvements of beta features (available on request)

• Changed Sampling Block "Log device running" to log every minute
• Added new "One Of" block to select randomized actions like forms
• Added possibility to analyze the results on an external server and trigger actions based on the analysis
• Added "Multi Geofence Trigger" which allows the specification of multiple geofences in a csv file
• Added "Log Static Locations" block and "Label Static Locations" item to record and label static locations of a participant during a study
• Added new "Play Sound Repeatedly" item

The next app release

Warning: The next release will drop the support for Android versions below Android 4.4. We have to do this step to increase the security of the encrypted data transfer as recommended by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Please make sure that you finish your study on Phones with Android lower than 4.4 in the next month and upload all data from these devices before 01.04.2020 otherwise you are not able to upload the data any more. As always, let us know if you have any questions. Please spread the word and tell your colleagues about our great new features.

Added Android 7 and 8 Compatibility (Nougat and Oreo)

We updated our whole code base to be compatible with the new android versions.

Log Apps and Lock other Apps now compatible with Android 5+

We have completely rewritten our internal code to make the "Lock other Apps" functionality and the "logging which app is used (beta)" compatible with newer android versions.

Silent mode warning card

In case a participant accidentally puts their smartphone to silent mode we display a warning card on the home screen to let them know that they might miss alarms.

Notification if location tracking was disabled

In case you use location tracking and a participant accidentally disables location tracking we show a notification until the participant activates the location tracking again.

Added log music condition (Beta)

We added a new beta functionality that logs the music your participant listens to. It logs the artist, the album, and the track currently playing. It has been implemented for several android music apps and has been tested with the largest tree: Google Android Player, Amazon Music and Spotify. Let us know, if you want to try it.

Here's even more movisensXS app improvements

• TimeRangeCondition can now define time ranges that transition days (e.g. 23.00-04.00)
• You can now explicitly allow and disallow apps
• The cards on the home screen are now ordered by priority for the participant
• Fixed the alarm notification to allow the resumption of an incomplete form
• The inactivity timer on forms is deactivated on several item formats (audio recording, timer, display video, presentation, cognition tests, external). Additionally the inactivity time on forms can be disabled by setting the inactivity time on forms to 0
• Alarms and forms will be stopped when study is paused
• Fixed issues that could allow access to the study control screen without a pin code
• Fixed an issue on selected smartphones that could cause movisensXS to crash when opening a form
• Barcode item now detects more formats (UPC-A & E, Code 39 & 93 & 128, EAN-8 & 13, QR Code)
• RTL compatible likert and visual analog scale
• Updating of server status if device is uncoupled/finished
• Various bug fixes

And some improvements of beta features

• Added calendar item and calendar time trigger
• Added option to limit log apps function to a specified set of apps
• Display ON/OFF logging now detects shutdown
• Added presentation item
• Fixed participant time trigger conflicts with time items and some condition blocks in the sampling
• New building blocks for the sampling to trigger based on movisens sensors
• Limiting estimated steps logging to 0-300 steps per minute
• Retry of uploads after unisens upload fails
• We fixed time overflow issues with the stopwatch item
• Notification when location services are disabled but needed

We made some improvements to the study list:

• We list only the studies you can access
• Study list sorted by creation date (newest on top)
• Added an estimate of active participants
• Dates displayed in an easier to read format


We have also made some User Interface and Usability Improvements:

• A new beta feature shows the status of the participant. If this status is incorrect (due to network issues), please pause and start the study again.
• Improved listing of the access rights of your users on the administration tab
• We updated the example Screenshots in our sampling docs
• Fixed sending broken links to participants in the messages window
• Speed improvements

If the words Psychomotor Vigilance Task, Dual N Back, or Sustained Attention to Response Test prick up your ears, then we have some good news. We've integrated these cognition tests into movisensXS, allowing you to gather objective data on your participants through their smartphones.
Now you can perform ambulatory measurements of cognitive performance in addition to the collection of behavioual and subjective data.
If you have a test that you'd like to implement that's not currently available in movisensXS, please get in touch with us and share your ideas. We can help develop them with you, allowing you to carry out your study according to your ideas! For more information on the cognition tests click here!