Facebook to pay users to monitor their cellphone use

June 11 (UPI) -- Facebook announced Tuesday it's launching a new optional program to pay users if they allow the social media company to monitor how they use their cellphone.

The program, which comes in the form of a separate app called Study, replaces a similar product called Facebook Research. The company shut down that program in January after Apple determined it violated its rules by bypassing the App Store to gain access to users' phones.

Sagee Ben-Zedeff, Facebook product manager, said Study will collect information on what apps users have installed on their phones, how much time they spend using those apps, the users' country, device and network type and app activity names. He said the company will not collect user IDs, passwords or content such as photos, videos or messages.

Facebook said it won't sell users' information from the app to third parties or use it to target ads.

Facebook didn't detail how it would compensate participants or how much they would receive.

Only users in India and the United States who are 18 years old or older may fill out an application to participate.