Immersion
19 questions

Is it emotion recognition? Is heart rate biometric? What does it cost?

Straight answers on measurement, regulation, platforms, and billing. If yours isn’t here, ask us.

Measurement

How do I measure emotion in my app?
You have five options: facial coding, voice prosody, heart-rate variability, surveys, or the Immersion SDK. The first four each carry a regulatory or scientific cost. The Immersion SDK takes a different approach: it measures the body's response to what the brain is doing, on the device, and returns two behavioral predictors, Value and Psychological Safety. It’s a prediction engine, not an emotion-recognition system.
Why would heart rate tell you anything about the brain?
When an experience matters, the brain releases oxytocin into the bloodstream at the same moment it acts in the brain. Oxytocin binds to the vagus nerve and to receptors in the heart and changes its rhythm in real-time. The Immersion SDK decodes that change. It’s the body's response to the brain, read from a wearable.
Is this just HRV?
No. HRV summarizes autonomic tone (stress versus recovery) over minutes and can’t tell an important moment from a boring one. The Immersion SDK decodes neurochemical signatures in cardiac rhythm every second and outputs Value and Psychological Safety, which predict memory and behavior.
Which sensors and devices work with the Immersion SDK?
Anything that gives your app accurate cardiac data at roughly 1 Hz: BLE heart-rate sensors, fitness devices, Apple Watch and Android wrist sensors, chest straps, sport shirts, smart glasses, finger pulse sensors, reflected-RF sensing, or a recorded heart-rate series. The Immersion SDK is sensor-agnostic; your app supplies the samples.
Can I measure emotion from an Apple Watch or Android wearable?
You can measure Value and Psychological Safety from Apple Watch, Android wearables, or any other source of accurate cardiac data. The Immersion SDK doesn’t label emotions; it measures the Value of an experience and how safe the person felt.
What accuracy does it have?
In published research, Value predicts memory and behavior with 85–98% accuracy across studies and customer deployments. Details and citations are on the science page.
Does it work in real time?
Yes. Score a single sample as it arrives or a whole session in batch. Output is one Value and one Safety score per second.

Regulation & privacy

Is this emotion recognition under the EU AI Act?
The Immersion SDK doesn’t identify or infer emotions or intentions. It computes two behavioral predictors from cardiac rhythms. We describe it as a prediction engine, not an emotion-recognition system. Your counsel should confirm the classification for your specific use, and we’ll support that review.
Is heart rate biometric data?
Heart rate isn’t a biometric identifier: it can’t identify a person the way a face or voiceprint can, so BIPA-style consent doesn’t apply. The Immersion SDK never stores or writes heart-rate data at all; it’s used in memory on the device and discarded.
Is this neural data under state privacy laws?
The Immersion SDK doesn’t measure nervous-system activity. It measures cardiac rhythm from whatever sensor your app reads and infers a score from it. Several state laws exclude data inferred from non-neural information; definitions vary by state, so confirm with counsel for the states you operate in.
Do I need a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) or a consent screen?
Not because of the Immersion SDK. It requires no HealthKit or Health Connect permission, no biometric consent, and no emotion-recognition disclosure, and no health data leaves the device. Your app supplies the sensor data; if reading them needs a permission, that’s your app's requirement, not the Immersion SDK's. Whether your overall app needs a DPIA depends on everything else it does.
Can I use this in a workplace or education app?
The EU AI Act bans emotion recognition from biometric data in workplaces and schools. The Immersion SDK isn’t an emotion-recognition system, but this is exactly the setting where you should have counsel confirm before shipping. We’ll help.
What does Immersion receive from my users?
Nothing personal. One activation call with your company ID, key, and app identifier, plus an anonymous count of active devices for billing. No heart rate, no scores, no names, no locations.

Platforms

Which platforms are supported?
iOS (Swift Package; iOS 17+), Android (AAR via Maven; minSdk 26), and Python.
Does the Immersion SDK require HealthKit or Health Connect permissions?
No. The Immersion SDK has no permissions or entitlements of its own. Your app collects samples from whatever source it already uses and passes them to the Immersion SDK; the Immersion SDK returns Value and Psychological Safety. A BLE fitness sensor streaming data to your app needs no health permission at all. If your app reads heart rate through HealthKit or Health Connect, that permission is your app's requirement, not something the Immersion SDK introduces.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The Immersion SDK connects once to activate and then falls back to a cached entitlement when the device is offline. Scoring never needs a network.
Where are the docs?
In the developer console. Create a free account (no credit card required) and the full documentation for iOS, Android, and Python is in the sidebar, alongside your projects and keys.

Billing

How much does it cost?
The account is free with no credit card required. Every app starts with a 14-day free trial. Standard is $299/mo and Professional is $499/mo per app, each with 1,000 monthly active users included and usage pricing above that.
What counts as a Monthly Active User?
A unique device that activates the Immersion SDK and scores at least one sample in a calendar month. We count devices, not people.

Regulatory answers are for orientation, not legal advice. Confirm classification for your own app with counsel; we’ll support that review.

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