Should You Delete Your Period-Tracking App to Protect Your Privacy?
- The Personal Data on Your Phone Has Little to No Protection ...
- Internet Search History and Text Messages Can Put You at Risk, Too ...
- More Legislation Is Needed to Protect Digital Privacy ...
- Safer Period-Tracking Options ...
Can I Delete my information from a period tracker app?
You can delete your information from a period tracker app — but it might not be sufficient. Before you start going through the steps of wiping information, understand that deleting data does not guarantee that what you shared will not be used against you.
Should you use a period tracker?
Millions use period trackers as a helpful tool to know when they are ovulating or miss a cycle, and to be notified of potential pregnancies and miscarriages. In a 2019 survey by the Kasier Family Foundation, almost a third of Americans said they have tracked their menstrual cycle with an app, with about 15% saying they do so at least once a month.
How can I track my period without creating an account?
“People who want to track their periods and birth control always have the option to remain anonymous by using the Spot On app without creating an account,” the organization said in a statement. “This way, period or birth control data is only saved locally to a person’s phone and can be deleted at any time by deleting the app.”
Is the menstrual cycle tracker app private?
At least until you can confirm with 100% certainty that menstrual cycle tracker app isn’t selling, sharing, using or accessing your personal cycle data and any other information you store in the app. From the beginning, all of my Hormonology apps have been 100% private.
The privacy problem with menstrual cycle tracker apps
From the beginning, all of my Hormonology apps have been 100% private. There has never been any way for my app team or I to see any information that a user puts in. I can’t access your cycle length, your diary or notes or even the types of emoticons you use in your Cycle Calendar. All information is stored on your own device.
So why are app developers giving my data to researchers?
You may have read or heard that app developers aren’t making any money off of sharing your data with researchers. They’re doing it out of the goodness of their heart to advance science. Well, that’s not exactly the entire reason.
But, does privacy really matter anyway?
When an app tracks your emotional states, physical changes and health issues, and you can type personal notes into it, it’s more than just an app. This is your diary. This is your healthcare record. This is a record of your life.
Get it in writing–but still be cautious
I’m saddened and disappointed to see that many of my peers in the menstrual cycle research community are vigorously encouraging women to share personal data that includes your emotional states, day-to-day behaviors and health.
Switch to a paper menstrual cycle tracker journal
I was at the forefront of menstrual cycle tracker apps. Now I’m encouraging you to go old-school: Keep a paper menstrual cycle journal. Use a plain notebook. Use a Bullet Journal. Or use my Hormonology Menstrual Cycle Tracker Journal, which includes more than 70 categories to track and can be customized to include even more.
Who deleted the flo app?
Madeline Kiss , a former Flo user who deleted the app once she found out the news, agreed that the company should be held responsible for compensating users affected by the breach.
Why did Jateria Pittman track her periods?
The news also came as a betrayal to Jateria Pittman, a 27-year-old financial coach from Atlanta, who said she specifically turned to Flo — and recommended it to her friends — to track her periods because she thought it would respect the private nature of her data.
What is Flo app?
Kat Grilli started using Flo — a popular period- and pregnancy-tracking app — a year ago, when she began her IVF journey to get pregnant with her husband, who is transgender.
When did Flo stop making data available to the firms?
It was only after the Wall Street Journal reported on the practice in February 2019 , after having intercepted unencrypted identifying health information transmitted by Flo to Facebook — about a user’s intention to get pregnant and when she had her period — that the company stopped making the users’ data available to the firms, the complaint notes.
Is Premom a Chinese app?
And since 2019, The Washington Post has reported that the Android edition of Premom, a fertility app, was sharing users’ data with three Chinese companies focused on advertising, and that pregnancy-tracking app Ovia was sharing users’ health data with their employers.
The Inherent Risks of Reproductive Surveillance
- Back in 2014, researcher Deborah Lupton laid bare the ethos behind these apps — of which there are now hundreds, if not thousands — telling The Atlantic, "When you look at these types of apps, they're completely about the surveillance of pregnant women," she said, "making them ever more responsible and vigilant about their bodies for the sake of th...
The Problem with Privacy Laws
- What's more, any data voluntarily inputted by a user to these apps isn't necessarily covered by HIPAA, the federal health privacy law that protects your personal health information from being disclosed without your knowledge or consent. According to The Washington Post, even though there are HIPAA-based rules about data security, plenty of health-based apps — including those t…
A Judgment Call
- At this point, it's too early to tell exactly how restrictive individual states' abortion laws would be should Roe be overturned. Still, given that at least 22 states already have laws that could ban abortion to varying degrees, it's understandable if you are concerned about your privacy and safety going forward. In a worst-case scenario, "even a search for information about a clinic coul…