Scarletred
Austrian medical-device software that turns a standard smartphone into a calibrated skin-imaging instrument, then applies validated AI to quantify lesions, erythema and pigmentation for clinical trials, dermatology practice and remote patient monitoring.
What is Scarletred?
Scarletred is the platform of SCARLETRED Holding GmbH, a Vienna-based company that describes itself as a certified AI-MedTech business and a worldwide leader in standardised skin imaging and objective, AI-powered skin analysis. Its flagship product, Scarletred Vision, is Software as a Medical Device: it carries a CE mark as a Class Im device under Directive 93/42/EEC, with a Class IIa conformity assessment described as in progress. A second product, Scarletred Telemedicine, extends the same platform with audio and video consultation, tele-triage and tele-pharmacy channels.
The system rests on three components. A patented, biocompatible adhesive Skin Patch is placed next to the area of interest; the mobile app recognises it automatically and uses it to normalise every photograph for colour, illumination, size, distance, angle and perspective. The app itself runs on ordinary iOS and Android smartphones, so no dedicated hardware is required. Images then travel to a secured web platform where they are archived, measured and scored.
What the platform sells is reproducibility. Instead of a clinician's subjective visual grading, it produces photometric, planimetric, volumetric, goniometric, morphometric and clinimetric measurements: lesion size and geometry, erythema expressed as the patented Standard Erythema Value, pigmentation, texture, lichenification, excoriation, induration and inflammatory features such as pustules, nodules, abscesses and tunnels. The catalogue of supported clinical scores is broad, from PASI and EASI to SCORAD, IHS4, HiSCR, UAS, SALT, VASI, IGA and BSA, and the vendor states coverage of more than 3,000 skin diseases.
An AI agent named ARORA blinds personally identifiable information on images automatically and classifies Fitzpatrick skin type I to VI. Electronic patient-reported outcomes, diaries and reminders support home-based and hybrid trials alongside on-site assessments.
Commercially, everything is delivered as SaaS in three functional layers, Imaging, Analysis and AI, with Analysis and AI activatable at any point, including retrospectively. Buyers are biopharma, cosmetics, medical and insurance companies, hospitals and government institutions. The platform has been on the market since 2015; telemedicine tools were added in 2020.
What it does
- Capture standardised skin images on a normal smartphone, calibrated for colour, lighting, size and distance by the adhesive Skin Patch
- Quantify lesion size, geometry and depth, erythema, pigmentation and skin texture with photometric, planimetric and morphometric measurements
- Compute widely used clinical scores such as PASI, EASI, SCORAD, IHS4, HiSCR, UAS, SALT, VASI, IGA and BSA
- Detect and blind potentially identifying information automatically through the ARORA AI agent
- Classify Fitzpatrick skin type I to VI automatically to keep assessments valid across skin tones
- Collect electronic patient-reported outcomes, diaries and configurable questionnaires with programmable reminders
- Re-analyse previously collected image sets retrospectively by activating the Analysis or AI module later
When to use Scarletred / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Scarletred is the right fit.
When to use Scarletred
- Clinical trial sponsors in biopharma who need reproducible, regulator-ready dermatological endpoints across phases I to IV and post-marketing studies
- Contract research organisations and clinical project managers running multi-centric or decentralised skin studies, where scoring must stay consistent across sites
- Dermatologists and radiation oncologists tracking lesion progression, erythema or drug-related skin toxicity over time in routine care
- Cosmetics and aesthetics companies that need quantitative skin data to support product claims and consumer research
- Academic researchers and medical experts, who can access the platform at significantly reduced cost through the non-commercial Discovery Program
When not to use Scarletred
- Consumers looking for a self-service skin-checking app: patient accounts are issued by an investigation team along with a personal QR code
- Anyone expecting a diagnosis, since the vendor states the intended use is documentation and measurement and explicitly excludes diagnostic services and treatment recommendations
- Buyers who need transparent list pricing, because every engagement is quoted individually and settled in a negotiated SaaS contract
- Development teams wanting to build on a public API, as no API and no API documentation are published anywhere on the site
- Teams that need a non-English interface or a hardware-free workflow: the app is English only and requires the proprietary Scarletred Skin Patch
How to use Scarletred
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Request a demo through the contact form, or register free of charge on the platform to open the single-user demo mode
- Agree a SaaS contract, starting with the Imaging package that bundles the mobile app, the Skin Patch and the web platform
- Have the study configured: projects, questionnaires, measurement time points and the scoring system to be applied
- Receive the Scarletred box with anonymised QR codes, login credentials and Skin Patches for each participant; optionally have iPhones supplied pre-installed and remotely managed
- Install the app from the App Store or Google Play and sign in, then select the assigned project
- Scan the participant's QR code to open or find their record in the app
- Place the Skin Patch next to the area of interest and take the image; save, retake or add further shots as needed
- Tag the body part imaged and complete the questionnaire or patient-reported outcome if one is configured
- Let the images upload; without a connection they stay on the device and are sent once the network returns
- On the web platform, draw the areas of interest, run the analyses and quantify the results; add the Analysis or AI module later if deeper endpoints are needed
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Certified as a medical device with a CE mark, plus ISO 13485:2016+A11:2021 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certifications, which carries real weight in pharma vendor qualification
- Hardware calibration through the Skin Patch delivers repeatability across devices, users and dates that ordinary mobile photography cannot reach
- Runs on standard iOS and Android smartphones, avoiding the cost of legacy imaging hardware
- Analysis and AI modules can be switched on retrospectively, so data captured earlier in a trial does not have to be recollected
- Personal data is hosted on servers within the European Union, with encryption in transit and at rest
- Wide coverage of validated clinical scores and measurable skin parameters across many indications
- Individual typology angle measurement keeps assessments valid across the full range of skin tones
Cons
- No published pricing whatsoever: every engagement goes through an individual quote and a negotiated SaaS contract
- The system depends on a proprietary consumable, the Skin Patch, without which the calibration does not work
- No public API and no documented third-party integrations
- The app interface is available in English only
- No data processing agreement is published and no subprocessor list exists, although Google Analytics is used
- No documented way to exclude customer data from model development, while the right to use provided data for product development is explicitly granted
- Site content is inconsistent: the FAQ still says the app is iOS only although Android is live, the German terms date from 2020 against 2026 for the English ones, and the pricing link in the FAQ returns a 404
Pricing & Plans
No price is published. The vendor states that its service is calculated on an individual basis and depends on the size of the trial, the number of patient sites, the volume of data to be analysed and the type of analyses required, with the exact cost agreed in the SaaS contract. A pricing link appearing in the FAQ returns a 404. Free elements do exist: registration for the single-user demo mode costs nothing, and the mobile apps are free to download from the App Store and Google Play. Academic and medical experts can apply to the Discovery Program for access at significantly reduced cost for non-commercial use. Austrian public healthcare partners order through the Federal Procurement Portal eShop under the IÖB quality seal.
- Imaging SaaS — the standardisation layer and foundation of the offer
- bundling the mobile app
- the Skin Patch and the web platform
- price not published
- Analysis SaaS — the quantification layer
- purchasable before
- during or after a study and applicable retrospectively
- price not published
- AI SaaS — the endpoint layer powered by the ARORA AI agent
- price not published
- Customised Platform as a Service — end-to-end solution for highly scalable
- long-term
- patient-facing applications
- price not published
- Discovery Program — significantly reduced cost for academia and medical experts on a joint research project
- non-commercial use only
- by application
- Single-user demo mode — free of charge after online registration
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Scarletred handles your data.
GDPR overview
GDPR compliance is claimed explicitly and by name. The privacy policy invokes Regulation (EU) 2016/679, and the regulatory page states the system is designed in compliance with the GDPR, with data protection by design and by default. Personal data is stored on servers hosted within the European Union, with encryption in transit and at rest and access restricted to staff who need it. Users may request access and correction in writing subject to proof of identity, and may request deletion of their account and personal data through the support desk. No Article 27 representative is designated, which is consistent with a controller established in Vienna, and no data protection officer is named. GDPR sits alongside claimed HIPAA, APPI, PIPEDA and DPDP alignment, and an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification obtained in August 2026.
Who owns the data?
Intellectual property in the platform stays with SCARLETRED Holding GmbH, which retains all rights to its products, patents, trademarks and technology; users receive only a limited, non-transferable right of use. Customers remain responsible for the accuracy, quality, integrity and legality of the data they submit, and only they and the individuals authorised for their study may access the uploaded images. SCARLETRED is nevertheless granted the right to use data provided to it in order to further develop its software and related services, subject to its privacy policy. Anything sent to the company as a question, comment or suggestion is treated as non-confidential and may be reused freely.
Reuse rights
The terms grant no general reuse right to third parties: images and study data remain accessible to the customer and to the individuals assigned to that study, and personal information is not sold or rented to third parties. Customers can re-analyse their own archived data as often as they like, including retrospectively once the Analysis or AI modules are activated. On the vendor side, SCARLETRED reserves the right to use data collected about app and platform users for business, scientific and research purposes, including product, service and software development; the German-language terms of 15 April 2020 additionally require anonymisation, de-identification or aggregation before such use, a step the English text of 30 July 2026 does not spell out. Aggregated anonymous information may be shared with, or even sold to, advertisers, business partners and other third parties. Whether customer data is used to train AI models is never addressed as such.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Personal data is stored on servers hosted within the European Union, which the privacy policy ties explicitly to Regulation (EU) 2016/679. The policy reserves the right to add server locations in other regions, stating that EU data protection standards would then be applied there as well. No specific hosting country, data centre or hosting provider is named, and no subprocessor list is published. Security measures described include encryption of personal information both in transit and at rest, and access limited to employees who need it for their duties. The company obtained ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification in August 2026, covering an information security management system built around 93 controls spanning organisational, people, physical and technological security, including access control, encryption, incident response, business continuity, supplier security and data centre security. The vendor also states alignment with HIPAA in the United States, and with APPI, PIPEDA and DPDP requirements where applicable.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Scarletred.
- The terms grant the vendor the right to use data you provide to further develop its software and services, and the policy allows use for business, scientific and research purposes; whether that includes training AI models is never addressed and no opt-out exists
- Sensitive health imagery is involved, yet no data processing agreement and no subprocessor list are published, while Google Analytics is used on the properties
- Objective numbers invite over-trust: the vendor itself insists the system measures and documents but does not diagnose, so a score should never displace clinical judgement
- Site content is inconsistent enough to mislead a hurried reader, with an FAQ still claiming iOS-only availability, German terms six years older than the English ones, and a broken pricing link
- Two legal entities share the brand, SCARLETRED Holding GmbH in Vienna as manufacturer and SCARLETRED Inc. in Cambridge as US distributor; contracts and liability follow the Austrian entity under the law of Vienna
- The regulatory pages are not fully aligned: one presents a Class Im CE mark under Directive 93/42/EEC with Class IIa in progress, while the instructions for use state a Class IIa risk classification under Regulation (EU) 2017/745
- Dependence on a proprietary calibration patch and on a negotiated contract creates real lock-in, and no published price makes budget comparison with alternatives impossible
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low on the device side, moderate on the organisational side. Any standard iOS or Android smartphone works, and the app is installed from the public stores. What takes time is everything around it: a SaaS contract must be agreed, the study configured with its questionnaires, time points and scoring, and Skin Patches and anonymised QR codes supplied for each participant. Additional features such as protocol reminders are coded by the vendor on request. A fully managed option exists, with pre-installed iPhones and remote device management. First-line support is often handled by the CRO.
Deployment
Apps stores
Supported languages
Behind Scarletred
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
Does Scarletred diagnose skin conditions?
What equipment do I need to use it?
Which clinical scoring systems are supported?
What is the regulatory status of the product?
Where is my data hosted?
How much does it cost?
Can I try it before buying?
Is there an API?
What language is the app in?
What happens if there is no internet connection during a session?
Should you pick Scarletred?
Scarletred is a specialist instrument rather than a general-purpose AI tool, and it should be judged on that basis. Its real contribution is not the neural network but the physical calibration: a small adhesive patch that forces every photograph, wherever and whenever it is taken, onto the same colour and geometry baseline. That is what makes a smartphone image defensible as a clinical measurement, and it is what a pharmaceutical sponsor or a notified body actually cares about. The AI layer, including automatic identity blinding and Fitzpatrick classification, sits on top of that foundation. The regulatory credentials are unusually concrete for this market: a CE-marked medical device, an ISO 13485 quality system and an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification announced in August 2026, all issued in the company's own name rather than borrowed from a cloud provider. European hosting and a published scientific record reinforce that position. The trade-offs are equally clear. Nothing about the commercial side is self-service: there is no published price, no API, no documented integration, and the pricing link in the site's own FAQ is broken. The workflow depends on a proprietary consumable and on an enrolment process run by a clinical team, so an individual practitioner cannot simply download the app and start. Some site content has drifted out of date, with the FAQ still describing the app as iOS only and the German terms trailing the English ones by six years. Two data questions are left open: no data processing agreement or subprocessor list is published, and while the terms grant the vendor the right to use submitted data to develop its software, model training is never addressed and no opt-out is offered. Buyers running regulated skin studies will find the value obvious; everyone else should expect a sales conversation first.
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