Your right to have your data deleted
Participation in any study using Activation Health is voluntary. You can withdraw at any time, and you can ask for the data collected from you to be deleted. Withdrawing or requesting deletion will not affect your medical care.
What data is held
The app never collects your name, email address, phone number or any account details. On the research server you are identified only by a participant code issued by your study team. Held against that code:
- Health metrics read from Apple Health or Health Connect for the metrics your study asked for (for example daily step counts or heart rate), stored encrypted.
- Enrollment details: the study you joined, the date you consented, the date of your intervention or surgery, and which surveys have been completed.
- Technical records such as the app version and the network address your phone uploaded from. These are kept for a short, fixed period for security and are deleted automatically.
Survey answers are collected by the University's survey platform, not by this app, and are covered by your study's consent form.
How to request deletion
Because the app holds no name or email for you, deletion goes through your study coordinator — the person who enrolled you. They already know who you are, so nothing about you has to be sent to us.
Find your participant code
Open the app and go to the Settings tab. Under Enrolled Studies you will see your study and a line reading Participant: … (on Android, Participant ID: …). That is the code to quote.
Contact your study coordinator
Use the contact details in your consent form. Give them your participant code and ask for your data to be deleted. You do not need to give a reason.
Leave the study in the app
In the Settings tab, tap Leave next to the study (on Android, Leave Study) and confirm. This stops the app from collecting or uploading anything further from your phone.
If you no longer have your coordinator's contact details, email activation@ucalgary.ca with your study name and participant code and we will pass the request to the right team.
What happens next
- Your coordinator removes you from the study. That deletes your health data, survey records and enrollment record from the research server in one step.
- Your coordinator confirms to you once it is done.
- Copies in the server's backups are not edited individually; they expire on a fixed schedule and are gone within about ten weeks of the deletion.
- A record that a deletion was carried out is kept. It contains your participant code and the date only — no health data — so the deletion can be honoured if a backup is ever restored.
- Data that has already been combined into de-identified analysis datasets or included in published results cannot be recalled. Your study's consent form describes this.
Data on your phone
The readings the app uploads live in Apple Health or Health Connect, which you control through your phone's settings; the app does not keep a separate long-term copy. It may hold a small queue of uploads waiting for a network connection. Uninstalling the app removes that queue and the app's enrollment details from the device.
Questions
Technical questions about the app: activation@ucalgary.ca.
Questions about your rights as a research participant: the University of Calgary Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board, via Ethics Compliance Resources.