Facebook revived a research scheme halted earlier in the year following complaints about transparency, with a new app offering to pay consumers to share data on their usage habits.

In a blog post, Facebook product manager Sagee Ben-Zedeff wrote the company built the app to match consumer expectations around market research by offering a transparent service and “keeping people’s information safe and secure”.

Facebook previously gleaned market insights from an app called Research, which offered users up to $20 per month to share their data. But the programme was scrapped in January after TechCrunch alleged it spied on users without fully informing them of what data was collected or how it was used.

The new Study from Facebook app will initially target users over the age of 18 in the US and India, though availability will later be expanded to include other countries. Users will have to explicitly consent to collection of data about what apps are on their phone; how much time they spend in those apps; and their location, device and network type.

Facebook pledged not to collect user IDs, passwords or content: information won’t be used for targeted advertising, sold to third parties or included in behaviour profiling. The company will also periodically seek continued consent.