Thanks for joining the study.

You've been selected to continue. Install Field Study on your Android phone, then use TikTok as you normally would for about four weeks. There's nothing to do day to day — we'll ask you to fill in one short survey at the end.

What Field Study records — and what it doesn't

Field Study records your screen and taps only while TikTok is open, and only after you accept the consent screen in the app. It stops when you leave TikTok. It never records your other apps, messages, camera, microphone, or location.

A "Recording for study" notice stays visible whenever it's active. You can pause or leave the study from the app's Settings at any time.

On a computer? Scan this with your phone's camera.

Download Field Study for Android

Android 10+ · free · about 5 minutes to set up

How it works

We're studying what TikTok's algorithm serves to different people. To do that we need to see real feeds.

Field Study watches what TikTok puts in front of you and what you do with it. That's the whole data set. The app has no permission to reach anything else on your phone.

Your recordings are used for this research only, and kept for a limited period.

Part one: install the app

Field Study isn't on the Play Store — it's a research app for this study, so you download it directly. Android adds a few extra taps for that.

1

Download the file

Open this page on your Android phone and tap the download button. If Android warns that the file can harm your device, that's normal for any app from outside the Play Store. Tap Download anyway.

2

Install it

Open the file from your notifications, or from Downloads in your Files app. Android will say your browser can't install apps: tap Settings, turn on Allow from this source, go back, tap Install.

3

Open Field Study

There's no code and no account. Accept the consent screen, then answer a few questions about yourself.

Part two: the three permissions

All three must be on. If any one is off, nothing records — and you won't be warned while you're using TikTok.

Each has a button in the app that opens the right settings screen. If a button doesn't land where these steps describe, the manual route is below.

Permission 1 of 3

Accessibility

Lets the app tell which video is on your screen. Also the fiddliest of the three — if you read one section, read this one.

  1. In Field Study, tap the Accessibility button.
  2. Find Downloaded apps, Installed apps, or Installed services — the name varies by phone. Tap it.
  3. Tap Field Study — session observer.
  4. Turn the toggle on.
  5. Tap Allow.
What the confirmation says
It asks whether Field Study can "have full control of your device". That's Android's standard wording for every accessibility service — a screen reader gets the same message. Here it lets the app see which TikTok video is in front of you, and it stops when you leave TikTok.
Toggle greyed out, or "Restricted setting"?
Normal for a directly-installed app. Go to Settings → Apps → Field Study, tap the three dots in the top right, choose Allow restricted settings, then turn the toggle on.

Samsung: those three dots only appear if you reach Field Study by scrolling Settings → Apps. Searching for it won't work.
Permission 2 of 3

Screen recording

Records your TikTok screen. One pop-up, no settings screen.

  1. In Field Study, tap the Screen recording button.
  2. Tap Start now.
What the pop-up says
It warns that Field Study "will start capturing everything that's displayed on your screen". That's what Android can do, not what the app does — recording runs only while TikTok is open. If you're offered a choice, pick entire screen.
Asked again later?
Some phones forget this after a restart. Tap Start now again — nothing records until you do.
Permission 3 of 3

Notifications

Shows the "Recording for study" notice, so you can see when it's on.

  1. In Field Study, tap the Notifications button.
  2. Tap Allow.
No pop-up?
It may already be granted. Check Settings → Apps → Field Study → Notifications.

Check it worked

Go back to the app's main screen. Any permission still off shows a warning there — tap it to fix.

No warnings means you're set up. Open TikTok for a few seconds, then pull down your notifications: you should see "Recording for study".

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Optional: stop Android sleeping the app

Android may stop background apps it decides aren't being used. Go to Settings → Apps → Field Study → Battery and choose Unrestricted. Skipping this risks a gap in the study.

Samsung? Two differences. To install, turn on your browser under Settings → Apps → Special access → Install unknown apps. And for the Accessibility fix, reach Field Study by scrolling Settings → Apps — the three-dot menu isn't there if you searched.
Download Field Study

Stuck? Email us for help with the subject line Research Study Set-up Help.

Questions

Can you see my banking app, my messages, my photos?

No. Recording starts when TikTok comes to the front and stops when you leave it. Anything you do in another app happens while the recorder is off. The "Recording for study" notice is only there while TikTok is open.

Why does it need the Accessibility permission?

It's how Android lets an app know what's on screen. Field Study uses it to tell which video you're looking at and what you did with it — liked, skipped, watched to the end. Without it we'd have video and no idea what any of it means.

Why isn't it on the Play Store?

It isn't a consumer app. It exists for the people in this study, so it's distributed directly rather than published to everyone.

Will it drain my battery or use my data?

It only does anything while TikTok is open, so it isn't running all day. Recordings upload when you're on wifi.

How do I stop?

Open the app and pause it, or uninstall it — there's no account and nothing to cancel, and you're free to leave at any point. One thing to know first: payment is for completing the full four weeks, so leaving early means the study payment isn't made.

How and when do I get paid?

Payment comes at the end, once you've finished the four weeks and the short closing survey. We'll check in with you along the way. The email that brought you here has the details for how you joined the study.