Terms of Service

Last updated: 8 September 2026

1. Agreement

These Terms govern your use of the MobilityPulse mobile apps, the MobilityPulse web dashboard and the related services (together, the "Service"), operated by United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Al Ain, United Arab Emirates ("UAEU", "we", "us").

By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy, which forms part of them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. What the Service is

MobilityPulse is a research instrument, provided free of charge as part of a UAEU mobility-research programme. It is not a commercial navigation, fleet-management, safety or emergency service, and it must not be relied on as one.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to hold an account. If you are below the age of majority, you may take part only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. You must be able to enter into a binding agreement under the laws that apply to you.

4. Research participation and withdrawal

Participation is voluntary. By using the Service you consent to the collection and research use of your travel data as described in the Privacy Policy, and you grant UAEU a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use that data — in de-identified and aggregated form — for research, transport modelling, teaching and publication.

You may withdraw at any time by deactivating your account in the app or by writing to support@mobilitypulse.ae, and you may request deletion of your data. Withdrawal has no consequences for you of any kind. De-identified data already incorporated into completed analyses or published results cannot be withdrawn, because it can no longer be linked to you.

5. Your account

• You may hold one account, and it must be yours. Do not create an account for someone else or let someone else use yours.
• Provide accurate registration details and keep them current.
• Keep your password confidential. You are responsible for activity carried out under your account.
• One active device at a time. Signing in on a new device claims your account and signs the previous device out. This protects your data; it is not a fault.
• Tell us promptly at support@mobilitypulse.ae if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.

6. Permissions the app needs

For automatic trip detection to work, the app needs your permission to access location in the background ("Allow all the time" on Android, "Always" on iOS), to read motion and activity data, and — if you want them — to send notifications. On Android a persistent notification is displayed while tracking runs, as the platform requires, and the app may need to be exempted from battery optimisation to detect trips reliably.

Granting these permissions is your choice, and you can revoke them at any time in your device settings. Without them the app will still run, but trips will not be detected automatically.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Access, or attempt to access, another participant's data or any part of the platform you have not been granted access to.
• Submit deliberately false, fabricated or automated trip data, or otherwise attempt to corrupt the research dataset.
• Interfere with, overload, probe or attempt to circumvent the security of the Service.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile or tamper with the apps, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law.
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose, or in breach of the laws of the United Arab Emirates.
• Scrape, resell or redistribute data obtained through the Service.

8. Your content

You keep whatever rights you have in the notes, photos and other content you add. By adding them you give us permission to store and process them so that we can operate the Service and carry out the research described in the Privacy Policy. Do not upload content that is unlawful, offensive, or that discloses another person's personal data without their consent.

9. Rewards and vouchers

From time to time we may run reward campaigns — for example for sustained participation. Where we do:

• Rewards are discretionary, promotional and provided as a courtesy. They are not payment for your data or your participation.
• Vouchers have no cash value, cannot be exchanged for cash, and may carry an expiry date and the issuing partner's own terms.
• Vouchers are issued by email to your registered address. We are not responsible for email that your provider blocks, filters or delivers late; you can ask us to resend a voucher.
• We may withdraw, change or end a campaign at any time, and we may withhold or reverse a reward obtained through fabricated trips, multiple accounts or any other manipulation.

10. Accuracy of trip detection and estimates

Trip detection, mode recognition, distance, duration, cost and CO₂ figures are produced by automated models working from sensor data. They are provided for research and informational purposes and will sometimes be wrong — a trip may be missed, split, merged, or classified as the wrong mode, and satellite positioning is degraded in tunnels, car parks and dense urban areas.

You can review and correct your trips in the app, and doing so improves the research. Do not rely on MobilityPulse figures for expense claims, tax, insurance, legal proceedings, or regulatory reporting.

11. Safety

Do not interact with the app while driving, cycling or otherwise operating a vehicle. The app is designed to run in the background precisely so that you do not need to touch it while travelling. Always follow the traffic laws of the United Arab Emirates and give your full attention to the road. You are solely responsible for your own safety and for compliance with the law while you travel.

12. Availability, updates and changes

The Service is provided on an "as available" basis. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, including at the conclusion of the research programme, and we may release updates that change or remove features. Some updates are mandatory: where a minimum supported version is enforced, the app will ask you to update before you can continue, so that the data it collects remains consistent.

13. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate an account that breaches these Terms, that compromises the integrity of the research data, or where we are required to do so by law. A suspended or deactivated account cannot sign in and does not record trips.

You may stop using the Service at any time, deactivate your account in the app, and request deletion of your data as described in the Privacy Policy.

14. Intellectual property

The MobilityPulse apps, dashboard, name, logo, design, models and documentation are owned by UAEU or its licensors and are protected by intellectual-property law. These Terms grant you a personal, limited, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the apps for participation in the research. No other rights are granted. Research outputs, models and publications derived from the pooled dataset belong to UAEU.

15. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party platforms and providers — including Apple, Google and our cloud and email providers — whose own terms apply to your use of their software and devices. The app also links to external material, such as the FAQ hosted on our website. We are not responsible for the content or practices of third-party services.

16. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that trip data will be complete or accurate.

17. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, UAEU and its staff, researchers and contractors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for loss of data, profits, revenue or opportunity, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the programme develops. The "last updated" date reflects the current version, and material changes will be surfaced in the app or on our website before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

19. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates as applied in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. We would much rather resolve any concern directly — please write to us first.

20. Contact

App support, research and legal enquiries: support@mobilitypulse.ae

Post: MobilityPulse Research Team, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Questions? Email support@mobilitypulse.ae