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User Guide

This user guide provides step-by-step instructions to install, register for, and use the MindLogger mobile app. To learn how to create your own applets in the MindLogger platform, please see the admin guide.

Contents

Getting started

  • How do I install the app on my iPhone, iPad, or Android device?

  • How do I create a MindLogger account?

  • How do I become a user of (get invited to) a MindLogger applet?

  • How do I use the app?

  • What do the different buttons do?

FAQs

  • Are my data secure?

  • Why don’t I see an activity I was invited to on my phone?

  • Can I use the same app for more than one user or respondent?



Getting started


How do I install the app on my iPhone, iPad, or Android device?

iPhone or iPad:

  • Search for “MindLogger Pilot” in the App Store

  • Tap the “GET” button (left screenshot)

Android device:

  • Search for “MindLogger Pilot” in the Google Play Store

  • Tap the “Install” button (right screenshot)

    appstore playstore screens


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How do I create a MindLogger account?

To create a MindLogger account, tap “New User” on the MindLogger app login screen (left screenshot). This will take you to a screen where you enter your login details (right screenshot). Tap the Sign Up button to create your account, or tap the “X” in the upper left to cancel.

invitation email login screen


Alternatively, you can tap the “CREATE ACCOUNT” button on the MindLogger admin website (admin.mindlogger.org) login screen:

admin login page


The movie below demonstrates how the different buttons will allow you to create a new account, log in, change languages, and replace a forgotten password:

admin login page movie


You can now use applets to which you have been invited on your iOS or Android device!

Please see the Admin Guide for information on how to create and share your own applets!

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Using the app


How do I become a user of (get invited to) a MindLogger applet?

To use someone else’s MindLogger applet, you must first receive and accept an email invitation.

  • Open the email invitation from the applet owner (left) and tap the “Go to … invitation page” button. If you are not already logged in or do not already have a MindLogger account, you will be taken to a web page to log in or create an account (right):

    accept invitation screens


  • An internet browser will open the Accept/Decline Invitation page (left). Tap the “Accept Invitation” button, and you will receive confirmation that you have accepted the applet invitation:

    login create user screens


You will then be able to use the MindLogger applet you were invited to!

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How do I use the app?

  • When you open the MindLogger app, you will see one or more applets on your home screen, including the “Welcome to MindLogger!” applet that gives a brief tour of MindLogger features (left screenshot below). Tapping on the applet takes you to a list of activities for that applet (right screenshot). Some scheduled activities may be hidden from view.

    applets activities list screens


  • Notice the “Activities”, “Data”, and “About” tabs at the bottom of the activities list screen in the right screenshot above. The Activities tab (selected) displays activities in the Welcome applet. The Data tab displays the last week of data for the applet. The About tab displays information about the applet itself.

  • To update/refresh your activities, swipe down from the top of the applet or activity list screen from within the MindLogger app.

    swipe down


  • If notifications were set up for any of your activities, you will receive notifications in the same way you do for any app on your phone. When you receive a notification, just tap the notification and follow the prompts.

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What do the different buttons do?

Depending on how an activity is set up, there will be navigation buttons on the bottom of each screen:

activity buttons


  • “Back” button: takes you to the previous screen

  • “Next” or “Skip” button: takes you to the next screen

  • “Undo” button: resets/clears the current screen

Each screen may also have a progress bar just above these buttons (as seen above), a timer to indicate how much time you have to complete the screen, and other features.

When you have completed an activity, you will be redirected back to the list of activities.

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FAQs


Are my data secure?

MindLogger is end-to-end encrypted, which means that only the creator/owner of a given applet can authorize access to any data. MindLogger stores all data in access-controlled, AES 256-bit-encrypted MongoDB document stores, which are hosted on a HIPAA-compliant instance on Amazon Web Services, and served with HTTPS protocols. Response data and personal information are stored and encrypted separately.

Below is a summary provided by a computer security firm we hired to conduct a security audit of the MindLogger platform:

How Does MindLogger Protect Data?

MindLogger makes extensive use of encryption to protect your data to the fullest extent possible while still providing users and applet owners access to required data. As with all secure Internet services, this protection starts with the use of SSL/TLS providing encrypted connections between users and the MindLogger server.

All user personal information is encrypted. To protect user privacy, the use of email addresses is limited in the application. These are encrypted using the one-way SSH224 hash algorithm. Personally identifiable information such as names are encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption. Only after being encrypted is any of this data stored in the MongoDB database. AES encryption keys are stored separate from the database, ensuring any potential database compromise will not reveal unencrypted personal information.

Applet response data is held to an even higher standard. This data is end-to-end encrypted, meaning it is encrypted before it leaves the user’s device, and remains encrypted until it is decrypted on the device of the user or applet owner. Interaction with the applet fields is done fully inside the user’s app or browser without sending any information to MindLogger systems. Only when a user submits the applet responses is their data encrypted within their device using AES 256-bit encryption and then sent to the MindLogger service to be stored in the secure MongoDB database. This architecture helps ensure that even an attacker that could see the data passed through the MindLogger systems or databases would only view encrypted data.

This end-to-end encryption is achieved using public-key encryption. Every user has a unique AES 256-bit encryption key for each applet. This is derived based on the user’s password and the applet password created by the applet owner, so the encrypted data can only be decrypted using one of these passwords. These are never transmitted outside of the user’s device and are not known to MindLogger. This is why MindLogger cannot retrieve data if an applet password is lost, and it is up to you to use a strong password to ensure your data is protected.

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Why don’t I see an activity I was invited to on my phone?

Please check the following:

  • Have you been invited to the activity as an end user (respondent)?

    • You may not have been invited to the activity, or may not have accepted your email invitation. If the former, contact the owner of the applet who invited you. If the latter, check your email (or your email’s spam folder).
  • Have you signed in with a different account?

    • You may have logged in to a MindLogger account that doesn’t have access to the applet. If so, log out and log back in and enter the email address associated with the account that does have access to the applet.
  • Is the activity scheduled for a different time (and currently hidden from view)?

    • The applet owner may have scheduled the activity to be visible only at certain times. If so, the activity will appear when it is scheduled for you to use it, and if notifications are set up, you will receive notifications at the appropriate times. If you think there may be a problem with scheduling, contact the owner of the applet who invited you.
  • Try refreshing by swiping down from the top of the screen within the app.

    • The applet may have updated content or permissions. If so, a swipe downwards from the top of the screen with the list of applets or the screen with the list of activities within an applet will refresh the applet and load these updates. If there is still missing or outdated content, contact the owner of the applet who invited you.

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Can more than one person use the same app?

Currently, you would have to log out and log back in again as a different user on the same device.

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Updated by Arno 2022-04-30
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