Frequently Asked Questions

synq offers a comprehensive set of standard cognitive metrics, including:

• Focus
• Energy
• Cognition
• Mood
• Motivation
• Sleep quality
• Stress levels
• Exercise performance
• Gut function
• Libido

Additionally, with a Pro subscription, you can create custom metrics to track anything specific to your goals, such as creativity, verbal fluency, or meditation quality.

synq integrates with Apple HealthKit to provide a more comprehensive view of your health and cognitive performance. After granting permission, synq can access and analyze various health metrics, including:

• Sleep duration and quality
• Heart rate and heart rate variability
• Physical activity and step count
• Respiratory rate
• Blood oxygen levels (with compatible devices)
• Mindfulness minutes

These health metrics are automatically synced with your trial data, allowing you to see correlations between your physical health and cognitive performance. For example, you might discover that your focus scores are significantly better on days when you get more deep sleep.

Apple Watch integration is built-in to synq, with our scientific testing model releasing soon. The feature is currently in development. synq offers tremendous value even without an Apple Watch - you can still manually track and analyze all cognitive metrics like energy, focus, mood, and any custom metrics you create. Our scientific trial methodology and AI insights work just as effectively with self-assessed data.

The AI insights feature uses advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze your tracking data and identify patterns, correlations, and insights that might not be immediately obvious. The AI looks at relationships between:

• Different nootropics and their effects on your metrics
• Combinations of supplements and practices
• Timing of doses and effects
• Health data and cognitive performance
• Long-term trends and progress

Based on this analysis, the AI generates personalized insights and recommendations to help you optimize your cognitive enhancement regimen. The more data you track, the more accurate and valuable these insights become.

The Stack Builder feature allows you to create and track custom combinations of nootropics, supplements, and practices. With Stack Builder, you can:

• Combine multiple individual components into a single stack
• Track the stack as a single entity for simplified logging
• Run trials on the entire stack to measure its overall effectiveness
• Compare the stack's performance to individual components
• Refine the stack based on your results and AI recommendations

This feature is particularly useful for those who take multiple supplements together or combine supplements with practices like meditation or exercise.

Trials in synq are based on scientific research methodology. Here's how they work:

1. Setup: You select a nootropic, practice, or stack to test, along with the metrics you want to track.
2. Trial Period: During this period, you take the supplement or perform the practice while tracking your selected metrics.
3. Control Period: During this period, you don't take the supplement or perform the practice, but continue tracking the same metrics to establish a baseline.
4. Assessment: You rate your selected metrics on a scale from -2 to +2, where 0 represents your baseline, -2 is significantly worse, and +2 is significantly better.
5. Analysis: synq compares your metrics during the trial period to the control period to determine the actual effect of the intervention.

This methodology helps eliminate the placebo effect and provides more objective results than simple tracking.

The optimal trial length depends on what you're testing:

• Acute effects: For nootropics with immediate effects (like caffeine or L-theanine), trials can be as short as a few days to a week.
• Cumulative effects: For supplements that build up in your system (like Lion's Mane or Bacopa Monnieri), trials should last at least 2-4 weeks.
• Practices: For practices like meditation or exercise, 2-4 weeks is typically sufficient to see effects.

Control periods should generally match the length of the trial period for the most accurate comparison. synq provides recommendations for trial length based on what you're testing, but you can customize the duration to fit your needs.

The optimal frequency for logging metrics depends on what you're tracking:

• Immediate effects: For metrics that change quickly (like focus or energy), logging shortly after taking a supplement and then again a few hours later can capture both immediate and sustained effects.
• Daily metrics: For metrics that are more stable throughout the day (like mood or sleep quality), once-daily logging is usually sufficient.
• Health data: HealthKit data is automatically synced based on your settings, typically ranging from hourly to daily.

synq allows you to set up custom assessment schedules for each metric, with options for immediate, minutes, hours, or days after dosing. The app will send you reminders based on your schedule to ensure consistent tracking.

Yes, synq allows you to export your data in CSV format, which can be opened in spreadsheet applications like Excel or Google Sheets. The export includes all your tracking data, including:

• Nootropics, practices, and stacks
• Doses and timestamps
• Metric assessments
• Health data (if HealthKit integration is enabled)
• Trial and control period information

This feature is available to all users and can be accessed from the Settings menu. The exported data is yours to keep, analyze further, or share with healthcare professionals.

The accuracy of insights and recommendations depends on several factors:

• Data quantity: More data generally leads to more accurate insights. Longer trials and more consistent tracking provide better results.
• Data quality: Honest and consistent assessments improve accuracy. The app's -2 to +2 scale helps standardize your ratings.
• Trial design: Well-designed trials with appropriate control periods yield more reliable results.
• Individual variation: Everyone's biology is unique, so insights are personalized to your data.

Each insight includes a confidence score that indicates the statistical reliability of the finding. The AI is designed to be conservative, prioritizing accuracy over quantity of insights. Remember that while synq provides powerful analysis, it's not a substitute for medical advice from healthcare professionals.

Yes, your privacy is our top priority. All your data is encrypted and stored securely. We implement industry-standard security measures, including:

• End-to-end encryption for all data transmission
• Secure storage with encryption at rest
• Authentication safeguards to prevent unauthorized access
• Regular security audits and updates

We never share your personal data with third parties without your explicit consent. You can export or delete your data at any time from within the app.

Your data is stored in two locations:

1. On your device: Your primary data is stored locally on your iOS device, protected by iOS's built-in security features.
2. In iCloud (optional): If you enable iCloud sync, your data is also stored in your personal iCloud account, allowing you to access it across multiple devices and restore it if you change devices.

For the AI insights feature, anonymized data is temporarily processed on our secure servers but is not permanently stored there. All processing complies with strict privacy standards.

synq treats your HealthKit data with the utmost care:

• HealthKit data is only accessed after you explicitly grant permission for specific data types
• Your health data never leaves your device except for iCloud sync (if enabled)
• Health data is not shared with our servers or any third parties
• All analysis of health data is performed locally on your device
• You can revoke HealthKit permissions at any time through your device settings

Our use of HealthKit complies with Apple's strict guidelines for health data privacy and security.

Yes, you have complete control over your data. You can:

• Delete individual entries (doses, assessments, etc.)
• Delete specific trials or nootropics along with their associated data
• Export your data before deleting it if you want to keep a backup
• Perform a complete data reset from the Settings menu
• Delete your account entirely, which removes all your data from our systems

All deletion operations are permanent and cannot be undone, so we recommend exporting your data first if you think you might want it in the future.

We only use anonymized, aggregated data for research purposes, and only if you explicitly opt in. During the onboarding process, you'll be asked if you want to contribute to research. If you agree:

• Your data is fully anonymized, with all personal identifiers removed
• It is aggregated with data from other users who have opted in
• It is only used to improve the app and advance scientific understanding
• Research findings may be published in scientific journals or presented at conferences

You can opt out of research participation at any time from the Settings menu, and your data will no longer be included in future research.

We take your privacy seriously. When you use our AI insights feature:

• Your data is pre-processed and anonymized - We remove all personal identifiers and apply statistical analysis before sending anything to AI services
• We don't send raw data - Your health metrics undergo intelligent sampling, aggregation, and normalization to protect your privacy while preserving analytical value
• No user identification - The data sent to AI providers contains no information that could identify you as an individual
• Temporary processing only - Your actual health data is processed in memory and immediately discarded after generating insights. We do NOT store your health data on our servers
• Metadata only - We only log anonymous metadata about requests (like timestamps and counts) for service monitoring
• All other app features - For features outside of AI insights, we do not collect any data whatsoever. Everything stays on your device

The AI services we use (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) process the anonymized data according to their privacy policies, but they receive no information that could identify you personally.

synq offers the following subscription options:

• Free Plan: Basic tracking with limited features
• Monthly Pro: $9.99/month, full access to all features
• Annual Pro: $79.99/year ($6.67/month), full access to all features with a 33% discount compared to the monthly plan
• Lifetime Pro: $199.99 one-time payment, permanent access to all current and future features

All paid plans include a 7-day free trial, so you can try all the Pro features before being charged.

The free plan includes:

• Tracking for up to 3 nootropics or practices
• Basic trial functionality
• Standard metrics tracking
• Basic data visualization
• Data export
• iCloud sync

The free plan is designed to give you a taste of what synq can do, while the Pro subscription unlocks the full power of the app.

The Pro subscription unlocks all of synq's premium features:

• Unlimited nootropics, practices, and stacks
• Custom metrics creation
• Advanced analytics and visualizations
• AI-powered insights
• Stack Builder
• Full HealthKit integration
• Custom assessment scheduling
• Priority customer support
• Early access to new features

Pro subscribers also receive regular updates with new features and improvements.

You can cancel your subscription at any time through your Apple ID settings:

1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap "Subscriptions"
4. Find synq in the list and tap it
5. Tap "Cancel Subscription"

When you cancel, you'll continue to have access to Pro features until the end of your current billing period. After that, your account will revert to the free plan, but you'll keep all your data.

If you downgrade from Pro to the free plan:

• All your data is preserved
• You'll still be able to view all your historical data
• You'll be limited to tracking 3 active nootropics or practices
• Custom metrics will be viewable but not editable
• AI insights will no longer be generated
• Advanced analytics features will be disabled

You can export all your data before downgrading if you want to ensure you have a complete backup.