NIO Mobile

National Internet Observatory

About this app

The National Internet Observatory (the NIO) invites residents of the United States to participate in a scientific study to understand the role the Internet plays in modern society. The objective of the Observatory is to shed light on people’s experiences online.

The Observatory works in a two step process: (1) Collecting data from participants on their online experiences. This involves loading software on computers that sends information back to the Observatory. (2) Providing privacy-preserving access to researchers to study the Internet.

The NIO welcomes participants from all backgrounds. Researchers will use these data to understand how the Internet affects individuals and society more generally.

After participants consent to participate in this study, the NIO Mobile app will collect the following pieces of data:

- Metadata about network traffic: The NIO app will rely on a VPN to collect network level information about app's internet communications. This does not include the content of network communications.

- Data about app usage: The NIO app will have access to the number of times each app is opened on a given time interval and how much time it was used by the participant.

- Location data: The NIO app collects location data for: 1) regulatory compliance reasons, as we only collect data from participants that are physically in the US; and 2) offering surveys specific to participants on a given region.

Ratings and reviews

NIO went from running perfectly fine to crashing every time I try to resume sharing. Not to mention, payouts are made in the most inefficient way possible. They use Virtual Reward Center on a different "card" every single time, making it impossible to use in most settings, when they SHOULD either load a single card or pay out to something like PayPal each time. Additionally, we were promised $10 for the first month or so of use; I NEVER got that $10. I haven't received anything NEAR $10.