2026 Newsletter Archive

Table of Contents

Q'1-2026 Newsletter

New Labvanced License Structure - Update We are pleased to announce the successful rollout of our updated licensing system. Below is a summary of the key changes now in effect:

  • New License Structure Now in Effect: The new license structure in Labvanced has been officially rolled out and is now fully in effect.
  • Loyalty Discounts Applied: Loyalty discounts have been successfully applied to all existing customers as part of this transition.
  • Multi-Member License Updates: For multi-member licenses, a primary email address domain has been assigned to ensure proper account organization and fair license usage. Please review your License tab to confirm everything appears correctly, and contact us if you notice any issues or have questions.
  • Teaching and Campus Licences Available: Teaching licenses are ideal for classroom-based learning, where each student can have their own account while Campus licenses are designed for campus-wide usage. Learn more.
  • Additional Services Formalized: Additional Labvanced services have been formalized, including the option to purchase study building services, subject recruitment, and dedicated support hours.

NEW FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITIES

  • Emotion Detection: Labvanced emotion detection uses standard webcams to automatically infer participants' emotional responses in real time (no specialized hardware required) capturing subtle facial expressions and translating them into continuous emotional data streams, effectively turning any online study into a scalable affective lab. All processing occurs client-side, ensuring GDPR compliance and guaranteeing that no facial data is ever transmitted or stored externally. Learn more.
  • HD Video: Full HD video resolution (1920 × 1080 pixels) is now available for video recordings. In addition, users can select the desired bitrate setting—Default, High, or Very High—based on their quality and storage requirements. The file format can also be specified: when supported by the browser used during data collection, recordings will be saved in .mp4 format; otherwise, they will be saved in .webm format. These enhancements are important for researchers as they provide greater control over video quality and file compatibility, enabling more accurate data capture and improved flexibility for analysis and sharing. Learn more.

IMPROVEMENTS

  • Enhanced Controls for Remote Heart Rate Detection (rPPG): Additional settings have been introduced to improve control and reliability of rPPG measurements:
    • i.) Initialize rPPG on Study Start – rPPG calculates weighted averages over time and may require 10 seconds or more to initialize. Enabling this setting ensures that heart rate measurements are ready before the main task begins (except in cases where rPPG is already enabled in the first task).
    • ii.) Wait for Heart Rate Confidence – When enabled, the study will wait until heart rate detection reaches a defined confidence level before proceeding. If confidence drops below the specified threshold during the experiment, the study will automatically pause. This helps ensure that only reliable heart rate data is collected.
    • These improvements are important for researchers as they enhance data reliability and ensure that physiological measurements meet quality thresholds before and during data collection. Learn more.
  • Improved Video Conference Usability and Access: Labvanced API keys are now available by default as part of the video conference object. For projects requiring more than 200 hours of video conferencing, you can add your own API key in the study settings or contact support for assistance. Automated events have been introduced to streamline participant flow. You can now configure participants to automatically join the conference on frame start and leave the conference on frame end with a single click. These enhancements are important for researchers as they simplify session management, reduce setup complexity, and enable more seamless and scalable remote data collection. Learn more.
  • Resolved Conflict Between Sortable Object and Eye Tracking: An issue was identified where the Sortable Object interfered with webcam-based eye tracking functionality. This interaction has been resolved.
  • Faster Configuration with Duplicated Target Object Properties: The Set Object Property action requires specifying target objects, properties, and values, which can be time-consuming when repeated frequently. To streamline this process, you can now duplicate properties at the target level, with all associated values carried over automatically. This allows you to make only the necessary adjustments instead of recreating configurations from scratch. This small but powerful improvement significantly enhances workflow efficiency and reduces repetitive setup effort, making it especially valuable for researchers building complex experimental logic. Learn more.
  • Improved Organization with Action Group Labels: Action Groups can now be labeled, enabling clearer structuring of experiment logic. By grouping related actions under a named Action Group, you can better organize and manage complex workflows. This makes it easier to understand, maintain, and debug experiments, particularly as they grow in size and complexity. For researchers, this improvement supports clearer experiment design and more efficient collaboration. Learn More.

LIBRARY HIGHLIGHTS What's new in the library? Here are a few new studies that you can explore and consider importing and working with for your next experiment:

  • Implicit Association Test (IAT) - Counterbalanced Desktop Only: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures automatic associations by recording response times. Participants sort words from product categories (Eco-Friendly vs. Conventional) and attributes (High vs. Low Quality) using E/I keys. This version is counterbalanced for key mapping and layout, and stimuli can be adapted to fit research goals.
  • Emotion Detection Demo: A series of images are presented, the participant is asked to mimic the expression. The highest emotion detected of the participant's expression is reported, along with valence and arousal values. Note: Since Labvanced operates in a fully privacy-preserving way, all inference happens locally on the participant's device with no image or video data ever leaving the device.

IN PROGRESS

  • Analyzer: Our new Analyzer will enable you to transform your data into clear visualizations, robust statistical analyses, and comprehensive behavioral reports—all in one place. It is designed to help you quickly identify patterns, interpret results, and communicate findings effectively for research, teaching, or applied use.

Q'4-2025 + Q'1-2026 Newsletter

📌Upcoming: Pricing / License Changes As communicated over the past several months, planned updates to our licensing and pricing model will be implemented soon, with a full rollout expected by the beginning of March 2026. These changes represent a complete re-organization of our license structure, introducing significantly more flexibility and a wider range of options than previously available.

Under the revised model, licenses will be differentiated by feature tiers and will include a predefined number of data recordings, rather than offering unlimited recordings by default. This approach reflects the reality that not all researchers require access to all features or unlimited recording capacity, and allows licenses to be better aligned with actual research needs. Advanced functionality will be reserved for higher-tier licenses, while more streamlined and affordable options will remain available for simpler use cases.

The primary objective of this update is to provide greater pricing and feature flexibility, enabling researchers to select the license that best fits their requirements. The new structure ranges from cost-effective licenses with core experimental design features to more powerful licenses that include advanced capabilities. In addition, license structures for commercial and industry users will be clearer and more transparent.

To further support long-term users, we are introducing an official loyalty program. This program provides an additional 5% discount for each year of continuous licensing, up to a maximum of 30% after seven years. Applying the full loyalty discount will effectively offset most of the current price increase. This discount can be achieved either through continued annual renewals over time or by purchasing a long-term license upfront, where applicable.

As part of the new feature-tier system, certain advanced features—such as webcam eye tracking—will no longer be included in the free license. However, free license holders will receive a 7-day premium trial, during which these advanced features will be fully accessible.

For researchers purchasing multi-year licenses, applicable loyalty discounts will be applied automatically during checkout.

Please note that any license quotes recently received or requested from Labvanced will remain valid and honored.

NEW FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITIES

  • Pulse Detection (Remote Heart Rate): A new Pulse Detection feature is now available for researchers interested in measuring remote heart rate using remote photoplethysmography (rPPG). This functionality enables non-contact heart rate estimation via webcam input, making it well suited for experiments that require physiological measurements without additional hardware. Learn more.

  • Study Creation via Block Import: We have introduced a new and improved method for creating studies using Block Import. When creating a new study, you can now add blocks directly from a predefined library. This library includes commonly used components such as consent form templates, cognitive tasks (e.g., Corsi Block Tapping, WCST, etc.), control checks (e.g., headphone checks), and questionnaires. By selecting the components relevant to your study, you can quickly generate a structured study framework populated with ready-to-use templates, which can then be edited and customized to meet the specific requirements of your research.

IMPROVEMENTS

  • Generative AI Improvements: Long-running Generative AI requests are now handled more efficiently and can be executed reliably. This includes requests involving large token lengths, more advanced models, and generally more complex operations, such as image generation.
  • Japanese Documentation Added: Japanese has been added as a new documentation language. In addition to Chinese, Dutch, French, Spanish, and English, the documentation is now automatically available in Japanese. Users can select Japanese from the Languages menu in the top navigation bar and browse the documentation accordingly.
  • Editor Updates – Consolidated Tabs: Several study editor tabs have been consolidated to improve organization and usability. Users who have been building studies in Labvanced may notice the following changes:
    • The Settings tab now contains additional configuration options. As a result, the former Description and Sharing tabs have been removed.
    • The Run tab has been replaced by Launch & Participate, which provides expanded options for data recording, integrations with crowdsourcing platforms, and the ability to create custom participant links using URL parameters.
    • The Translate tab has been renamed to Texts & Translate, reflecting its broader scope. This tab now centralizes all text-related controls, including translations and editing of system-generated messages (e.g., calibration instructions).
    • The Participants tab has been renamed to Subject Management. Overall, these updates result in a more streamlined and clearly organized side menu, with related options grouped under well-defined tabs.
  • New Home Page: We have launched a new home page that more accurately reflects the full capabilities and strengths of the Labvanced platform. We invite you to explore the updated page and share your feedback by replying to this email. If you are new to Labvanced, we encourage you to take a look—there may be features and capabilities highlighted that you were not previously aware the platform supports.

LIBRARY HIGHLIGHTS What's new in the library? Here are a few new studies that you can explore and consider importing and working with for your next experiment:

  • Simon Task: The Simon task is a reaction-time task that examines how irrelevant spatial information influences response speed and accuracy. Participants respond to a non-spatial feature of a stimulus while its location either matches or conflicts with the required response.
  • Flanker Arrows: This study measures selective attention and inhibitory control using the Flanker Task. Participants respond to the direction of a central arrow while ignoring surrounding distractors. Reaction time and accuracy are recorded as performance indicators.
  • Stock Market Game - 2 Player: In this Stock Market Game, two players compete as investors with the goal of having the largest portfolio size by the end. One player also has insider knowledge based on probabilities of certain funds increasing or decreasing in value and can share it with the other player.