The app has two purposes:

1. Using a citizen science approach, the data collected with the ETAIN 5G Scientist app will enable the ETAIN researchers to produce maps showing the spatial and temporal distribution of mobile phone radiation in the environment.

2. Users of the 5G Scientist app will obtain information about their exposure to mobile and WiFi radiation.

The ETAIN 5G Scientist app is an application to assess mobile and WiFi radiation exposure. It has two functionalities:

1) Based on the signal quality of your mobile phone network, an estimation of the RF-EMF exposure in the environment is made. With the collective measurements of many people, this will be shown on maps.

2) The network signal quality allows us to estimate the output power of the mobile phone. This information can be used to estimate the personal RF-EMF dose of the app users.

The app measures the signal quality of your mobile and WiFi networks and converts it into electric field strengths using calibration functions. This video shows how we derive calibration functions:

Here are all details explained in a scientific paper: https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-206

The app records the signal strength indicators of all antennas from your network provider around you. It is not possible for your own mobile phone to record the exposure from antennas of other network providers. This is captured by other people using the app as well.

For WiFi, the app records the signal strengths of your router.

Unfortunately, the smart phone is not designed as a measurement device and thus many sources of exposure are not captured. This includes the mobile phone antennas from other network providers, WiFi networks that you are not connected to, bluetooth devices and other RF-EMF exposure sources for example radio and broadcast transmitters.

If you want to learn more about your exposure from these sources, use our EMF dose calculator: https://www.etainproject.eu/dose-calculator

Each individual measurement at a given time and location has a high uncertainty. Therefore, any information about your current exposure in the 5G Scientist Monitor is of high uncertainty.

However, the more people install the app on their mobile devices and collect measurements within the same area around a location at different times, the more precisely ETAIN will be able to produce maps showing the environmental levels of mobile phone radiation.

In this paper, you can learn more about the measurement uncertainty: https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-206

The International Commission of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection has derived guideline limits for mobile phone radiation, which are adopted by numerous countries worldwide (https://www.icnirp.org/en/activities/news/news-article/rf-guidelines-2020-published.html). The guideline values range from 36 to 61 V/m in the frequency range used for mobile communication (0.7 to 4 GHz).

We calculated the percentage of your exposure in relation to the guidelines by dividing your exposure with 50 V/m.

Almost everyone carries a mobile phone, and network exposure data can be collected with high temporal and spatial resolution. Thus, the app is ideal for citizen science. The high number of data collected by many users compensates for the uncertainty of single measurement points. This is shown in our paper on the calibration function: https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-206

At the same time, the use of one’s own mobile devices contributes most to the individual exposure. This is what the 5G Scientist app can also measure.

However, the smartphone is not an accurate measurement device. It is not precise and the relation between signal indicator and exposure value comes with uncertainty. In addition, many daily sources of RF-EMF exposure cannot be measured by the smartphone. If you want to learn more about your exposure from these sources, check out our EMF dose calculator: https://www.etainproject.eu/dose-calculator

The ETAIN exposure app collects data on the usage of smartphones:

• location information (GPS, network location)

• signal strength (network cell, WiFi), in other words: through what technology are you connected and how strong is this connection?

• frequency band currently used, if available

• amount of data and duration of mobile phone calls

These data are needed to generate the ETAIN exposure open maps.

The app does not register:

• which numbers you call or message

• the content of your calls or messages

• the content of your app or browser usage

The permissions asked for are the following:

1. The permission to record the call logs, i.e. the number and duration of the calls dialed and received together with the time stamps (READ_CALL_LOG),

2. the permission of accessing the location

The app will only work if you give permissions to 1) and 2).

3. Optional: you may also give permissions for google analytics. This information helps us to improve the app as we better understand how users are using the 5G Scientist app.

Note, in newer versions of Android the permission has to be given to access the location in the background in addition to the permission of accessing the location at all, i.e. when the app is not actively used as a ‘foreground app’.

Yes. Your data is handled with utmost care. Please read our data privacy statement where we explain in detail what we collect and for which purpose, how we handle your data and who has access to them.

The exposure maps developed in ETAIN will allow visitors to access information about personal, environmental and population RF-EMF from device use, but also infrastructural sources such as base stations or WiFi access points.

Yes. Everyone who is interested can get the ETAIN exposure app and visit and use the portal and all other ETAIN resources, for free.