✨Avicenna January Update: Starting 2025

Hello Avicenna Community,

I know. This time, our update looks small. But this only scratches the surface. Behind the scenes, we've initiated some significant changes and are in the process of finalizing them.

One exciting change is that our team has grown to help us deliver features more quickly.

In our product, we're developing integrations with data sources like Hexoskin and Apple's HealthKit. We're also implementing license management and Geofencing triggering logic. You can check out the "What's Next?" section at the end of this page for more details.

Additionally, we are still enhancing our automated testing and optimizing performance in critical areas of our system.

As 2025 progresses, we hope to bring you updates that are more colorful. In the meantime, here’s what we've achieved in the first month:

🚀 New Features

• Apple’s SensorKit
  The integration of Apple’s SensorKit with Avicenna is final, bringing rich sensor data capabilities to our platform. This enhancement allows researchers to access detailed insights on device usage, environmental conditions, and user behavior through a comprehensive suite of SensorKit metrics. You can find more details on our Learn website.

🐞 Bug Fixes

• Export format for Working Memory Updating (WMU) responses
  We’ve adjusted the format of the Responses and Expected Responses columns in the WMU responses export by removing brackets around the numbers list; it’s like 1,2,2,1 now instead of [1,2,2,1]. Additionally, “None” values have been replaced with “-” which refers to a cell without any answer from the participant.
• Notification timing after timezone change
  We fixed an issue where changes in the participant’s timezone did not update the necessary scheduled times of in-app notifications on Android and iOS apps, causing notifications to display at the wrong time or not at all.
• Activity criteria field visibility
  We resolved an issue in the Page activity editor where the Criteria field was hidden in the Settings tab. We also ensured that the Criteria field was visible across all activity types.
• Triggering logic restrictions
  We fixed the availability of Public and Proximity triggering logics, ensuring they are available for Surveys only. Additionally, we’ve ensured that Proximity triggering logics remain unavailable unless a Bluetooth Beacon data source is added to the study.
• Infinite loading in public surveys
  We addressed an issue causing public surveys to enter an infinite loading state when opened a second time or refreshed.
• Public survey submission
  We addressed an issue where users were not informed of successful submissions of public surveys and were instead redirected to the Welcome page. Additionally, we ensured that actions like canceling the survey or letting it expire now display the appropriate messages.
• Public survey expiration
  We fixed an issue where public surveys wouldn’t expire upon reaching their designated expiry time.
• Failing audit logs after server upgrade
  Following our recent server technology upgrade, we encountered an issue causing some audit logs to fail and not be recorded. Although the occurrence was quite low, this issue has been resolved to ensure the audit trail functions correctly.

🔍 Reflecting on the Impact

Your experience with Avicenna is crucial to our growth. Each update aims to streamline your research, focusing on usability and efficiency. We strive to support your research effectively.

📣 We Value Your Feedback – And Your Stories

Have the updates improved your research? We encourage sharing your experiences on our Community Forum or via email. Your feedback helps shape our future updates and motivates the Avicenna community.

⭐ What's Next?

We remain dedicated to improving Avicenna. New features are in the pipeline, aiming to further enhance your research workflow. To name a few upcoming features, we're introducing:

• Reset Participation: As a next step to the Test Participants feature we introduced before, test participants will be able to reset their participation and start as new participants in the study right within the app.
• Hexoskin: Expand your wearable data collection with direct integration to Hexoskin, bringing in valuable physiological data for your studies.
• Apple's HealthKit: Leverage the HealthKit platform to incorporate diverse health data from iOS devices, making your research even more comprehensive.
• Geofencing Triggering Logic: You will be able to define triggering logics for your activities based on the participant's interaction with some geofences.
• Matrix Question Type: You asked. We responded. You will be able to ask Matrix questions in your surveys to better capture nuanced answers and improve the depth of data collected from participants.
• Surveys Form Mode: Ever wanted to show a whole survey section instead of one question per page? You will see the option in your survey editor.
• And more: Stay tuned for additional features and improvements as we continue our mission to optimize your research experience.

Avicenna is getting even better, and we're excited to reveal all the improvements to you.

Let's keep pushing the boundaries of research together.