Storing data

Choose where CARP stores measurements, either on the phone, in CARP Web Services (CAWS) or on your own server.

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Every study must define where its measurements end up. CARP supports three options. You can start with one and switch later.

flowchart LR
    App["Your CARP app"] --> P["On the phone"]
    App --> C["CAWS<br/>CARP's server"]
    App --> O["Your own server"]

Comparison

	On the phone	CAWS	Your own server
Use for	Trying CARP, pilots, apps that never share data	Research studies with many participants	Organizations that already have a data platform
Server	None	CARP's, hosted for you or your own instance	Yours
Study and participant management	No	Yes, in the CARP web portal; participants join by email invitation or with a study code	You build it
Setup	None; this is the default	Request portal access (Discord or support@carp.dk), then add sign-in and a few lines of code	Depends on your server
How researchers get the data	Copy files off each phone	Download from the portal	Your own tools

Choose an option

On-device storage

For exploring CARP and building demos. This is what the quickstart app already does.

CARP Web Services

For studies with participants. Study management, participant invitations and data download without building a server.

Custom backend

For organizations that already store data elsewhere, such as a hospital system or a company cloud.

Not sure which to pick?

Start with on-device storage. Your measures and your app's screens can be reused when you move on. CAWS adds a sign-in step and moves the protocol to the server.