If you are using an Android phone, you can install the “ETAIN 5G Scientist” app free of charge (playstore link). With this app, you can:

• Make approximate measurements of your RF-EMF exposure (ambient exposure from your network provider’s antennas, and exposure resulting from your own interaction with your device)

Contribute to creating an exposure map of Europe, simply by having the app installed on your phone. Like this, you can be a citizen scientist collecting data to fill in empty spots on the map. The more people install the app on their mobile devices, the more precise the map will become. The map with aggregated information from all users’ measurements can be viewed in the app.

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

1) Estimating RF-EMF exposure in your environment: Based on the signal quality of your mobile phone network, the app estimates the RF-EMF exposure in your environment, and shows you the results. Together with aggregated information from all users’ measurements, your own measurements contribute to produce exposure maps of Europe.

2) Estimating your personal RF-EMF dose from using your device: The network signal quality allows us to estimate the output power of the mobile phone. Based on this, an estimation of your personal RF-EMF dose is made.

The app measures the signal quality of your mobile and WiFi networks and converts it into electric field strengths using 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 smartphone 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 such as 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 ETAIN 5G Scientist app is of high uncertainty.

However, the more people install the app on their mobile devices and collect measurements within the same area 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 calculate 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 ETAIN 5G Scientist app is ideal for citizen science. A high number of data collected by many users compensates for the uncertainty of single measurement points. This is shown in our paper: 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 as such 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 5G Scientist 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 maps.

The app does not register:

• The numbers that 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. 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. Permission of accessing the location

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

 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.

By installing and using the ETAIN 5G Scientist app, every user automatically contributes to creating collectively generated RF-EMF maps across the EU. Data regarding location and local network signal strength of users’ mobile phones are collected and processed to create radiation maps. Like this, you can be a citizen scientist collecting data to fill in empty spots on the map. The more people install the app on their mobile devices, the more precise the map will become. The map with aggregated information from all users’ measurements can be viewed in the app.

Yes. Everyone who is interested can access and use the ETAIN 5G scientist app for free.