Period tracking apps are widely used amongst women and people who have periods, but questions remain over how safely they store and share sensitive data. Is our sensitive data being used against us?
In 2019, the Wall Street Journal found that Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker – which touts itself as the world’s #1 period-tracking app with 420 million users – sent data to Facebook when a user logged their period or their intention to get pregnant. All without proper disclosure. While Flo stated that this data was anonymised, the Journal was able to prove that users’ data was sent with a unique ID so online ads could target products to these users.
It’s hard to overstate the damage caused by advertisers knowing a person is pregnant. An unplanned pregnancy can be a very vulnerable time in a person’s life, and being targeted with ‘new baby’ or ‘pro-life’ advertising campaigns is dangerous at best.
This isn’t the first time companies have garnered media attention by using people’s private health data for advertising. In 2012, an angry dad complained about Target sending his daughter a sale booklet for baby clothes, cribs, and nappies even though she was still in high school. What this father didn’t know was that his daughter was, in fact, actually pregnant. Target was using an algorithm which analyses customers’ shopping behaviour to determine the likelihood of pregnancy and even predict their due date.
Against the backdrop of Flo sharing users’ data without consent, Target’s analysis of people’s shopping behaviours might seem harmless. But both companies used people’s deeply private moments for financial gain, often before the individual had a chance to process the information themselves.
Has data sharing really changed in recent years?
In 2021, Flo reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the allegations that the app had improperly shared personal data with Facebook and other third parties. The company must now obtain consent from users before sharing health data. But how much has really changed?
Most users know that free apps often make money by selling ads or user data, but even paid apps don’t guarantee user privacy. Put simply: the only way to know for certain how an app handles your data is to read its privacy policy.
So what can be done? For starters, only use apps that encrypt your health data; this means your data is scrambled so hackers can’t access it. Better still is end-to-end encryption, which means even the apps can’t access your data, and only your device holds the key to unscramble it. Look out for words like ‘share’ or ‘sell’. If your app can share your data with third parties and you’re not comfortable with that, there are plenty more on the market that won’t.
In countries with restrictive reproductive rights, period tracking apps leaking your data isn’t just a privacy concern; it’s a threat to women’s freedom. In places where abortion is illegal or criminalised, cycle data can be weaponised to investigate suspected pregnancies or miscarriages. With how quickly the tide can turn on women’s rights, even if you live somewhere with more liberal laws, the benefits of period tracking may not outweigh the risks.
This isn’t just a US issue. It’s a global one.
From Poland to parts of Latin America, the data coming from your period-tracking app could be used against you in countries where undergoing or aiding an abortion is criminalised. Unless your data is end-to-end encrypted and your app doesn’t have the information to share, it will usually comply with legal requests to obtain your data.
Reverend Sydney Francis (who holds advanced degrees in Theology and the Healing Arts, and is a certified Neuro-Bilateral Processing Trauma Healer and Wholeness Coach) says, “I wouldn’t advise women to track their menstrual cycle with a digital app, because that data is gathered and possibly tracked.”
Own your body, your health, and your medical privacy. However, I am a proponent of women tracking their menstrual cycles. Tracking the menstrual cycle can teach you so much about your body, your hormones, and your mood. It can increase your emotional intelligence as you develop your self-awareness around your cyclical moods, triggers, and emotions.
Reverend sydney franics
Reverend Francis’s advice makes a clear distinction. The problem isn’t wanting to track your cycle; it’s who you trust with that data, and how that decision could leave you vulnerable.
So, what are the benefits of tracking your periods?
With the cards seemingly stacked against app users, you might wonder what the benefit of tracking your period is. ‘Hacking’ our cycle is said to increase wellbeing and productivity, but with the potential privacy risks, is it really that beneficial?
Experts overwhelmingly agree that tracking your periods is one of the best tools in your arsenal for getting to know your body. This tool can help you optimise your daily routines, understand how your body works, and spot when your cycle is signalling other health problems.
“Period tracking isn’t just about knowing when your next bleed is due,” says Deepak Shukla, CEO of Wellness in Italy. “It’s about knowing your own body. Whether you’re trying to conceive, manage symptoms or simply monitor your health overall, it can help you see patterns you might otherwise miss. It’s your body. Learn how it works!”
Does it help to know that it’s just a phase in your cycle?
I can’t count the number of times I’ve uttered those words to friends when they express exhaustion, mental depletion or an overwhelming feeling of self-doubt that has come out of nowhere in the week before their period.
Every month, multiple apps that track my cycle, my exercise, and my sleep flash warnings as I enter this phase of my cycle.
“You’re in your luteal phase,” they say. “You might experience premenstrual symptoms such as reduced sleep quality, lower energy or mood fluctuations.”
In many ways, it’s nice to be able to assign the malady I feel at this time of the month to my cycle. But in other ways, I wonder if it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I expect to feel terrible, and so I do.
“Tracking your menstrual cycle allows you to anticipate physical and emotional symptoms, which can significantly improve overall wellbeing,” says NHS GP, Hana Patel, in conversation with Superdrug Online Doctor. “Emotionally, being able to attribute mood shifts to hormonal changes can prevent misinterpretation and self-judgment. This self-awareness also empowers better conversations with healthcare providers. It’s an often-overlooked part of health literacy that can deeply enhance quality of life.”
So the results are in. The data you share with your period-tracking app may not be as secure as you think. And in some countries, it could be used against you in court. While the instinct may be to delete your apps and take tracking offline altogether, there is another solution.
We need to demand more from the companies holding our intimate health data and seek out the ones we can trust. Period tracking apps, like Clue — that take a privacy-by-design approach to data collection and are committed to advancing women’s health — prove that data can be used for good without compromising our safety.
In a society that is constantly trying to exert control over our bodies, tracking your cycle and using that data to advance women’s health is one way to take the power back.
Photo from Depositphotos
Just want to let you know that there ARE period tracking apps that do not collect or harvest any of your data, and are MORE secure than apps that encrypt your data, like Clue. One of these apps is called Euki, which stores all of your data locally on your phone, and doesn’t use third parties or any kind of personal information, making it the safest way to track you period with an app. It is literally impossible for law enforcement or anyone else to hack your data while using Euki because of their local data storage. And, in case your device is shared or could be confiscated, Euki lets you set a PIN code to enter the app.