By: Kyra Dorsey
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Period tracking apps have become a daily tool for millions of users, helping monitor menstrual cycles, symptoms and reproductive health. With the use of the apps, increasing concerns about the amount of personal data it collects and where the data goes is rising. This becomes more of an issue as shifting abortion laws in the United States heighten fears of digital surveillance.
These apps require users to input highly personal information. This includes past cycle data, lifestyle
habits and physical symptoms. Some apps even blatantly ask if users had an abortion because it can be a cycle disrupter. While the overall goal is to provide personalized health recommendations, the level of personalization raises questions about how secure the information is.
For many users, the concern does not stop with what data is being collected, but what the information could be used for.
“When I would ask people questions about what would happen if a hacker got your health data, people would just laugh,” Dr. Stefanie Felsberger, a technology disinformation research associate at the Univeristy of Cambridge, said. “They would be so confounded as to why anyone would want their menstrual data.”
Felsberger said that the data entered into the apps, depending on the user, is highly detailed. She said that this can reveal patterns beyond just users' menstrual cycles. But, Felsberger emphasized that the data is often combined with other information. This is a process known as data aggregation.
“If you overlay user data with other data sets, it could also give indications about things like your political preference,” Felsberger said. “That’s not to say that the apps sell the data, but I think there is a misunderstanding of how valuable and insightful the data can be.”
Most period tracking apps rely on an algorithm to analyze user input and predict future cycles. The predictions are obviously based on patterns, which means the process of collecting user data never ends.
Felsberger said that because the apps have to continually analyze the data, most app companies claim that their top priority is keeping user data safe. They do this by engaging in the app through the terms of service or conditions agreements, but they are not legally binding contracts.
“Say a small period tracking app startup goes bankrupt and they get bought by a bigger company,” Felsberger said, “It’s not to say that all of the data on that app will not be stored under different privacy promises.”
She also said that some apps store data locally on a user’s phone instead of external servers. This can keep a user’s data directly on their personal phone storage. Felsberger said that these are the apps that are generally safer in terms of data privacy.
“Not every app works this way though and users don’t always know the difference,” Felsberger said. “Even when the data is labeled as ‘anonymous,’ it may still be possible to trace it back to the individual user if combined with other digital activity.”
Concerns are only increasing with the shift in reproductive rights in the United States. Because many of these apps are categorized as general wellness tools, they are not given the same privacy protections as medical data. This leaves many companies to make their own decisions about the data.
Felsberger said that because protections around the data can look different depending on where users are, there can be a lot of uncertainty about safeguarding the data.
Some apps do offer an incognito mode so users do not have to put in data that has too many personal identifiers. But according to research conducted by Dr. Sarika Mohan, a health informatics professor at the Swansea University in Wales, this does not matter.
Mohan's research investigated users' experiences with privacy and data security when using the apps. One of her participants tried incognito mode, but it did not work.
“The participants still ended up with targeted advertisements on their social media,” Mohan said. “She knew it was the tracking app because it was something specific that she entered into the app.”
These kinds of experiences also have kept other potential users from downloading the apps completely.
“I’ve thought about using one because it seems helpful,” AlyGrace Wheeler, a senior exercise science major at the University of North Georgia, said, “After seeing all the stuff in the news I don’t feel comfortable giving my information to those types of apps.”
She said that the changing political climate played a huge part in her decision.
“With everything going on, you just never know what could be used against you later,” Wheeler said.
Though period tracking apps are a source of concern with data privacy, Felsberger said that the apps are a part of a much bigger ecosystem.
“Much of the evidence used in abortion-related prosecutions has come from things like Facebook conversations and search histories," Felsberger said. “It’s good to remind people that deleting the tracker will not keep you safe. Anything online can be used against you, so you have to be careful.”
Despite these concerns, period tracking apps play an important role in users' wellness. Felsberger acknowledges that it’s unreasonable to expect everyone to stop using the apps because they are still valuable.
“In the UK, it’s easier to make policy recommendations than it is in the U.S.,” Felsberger said. “But I think that maybe people should push or promote that apps are encrypted, like Euki, or other alternative apps. People may still want to use an app and that would be one of the safest options to look into.”