(Not all are available for both iOS and Android devices, which means some people will have fewer options to choose from.) We were especially interested in whether these apps would have two features that offer significant privacy protection for users: storing data locally on the user’s device rather than in the cloud, and forgoing third-party tracking services that can access the data that users provide. We chose these apps because they were recommended by the privacy community and health advocates as being particularly privacy-focused. And given the laws in states like Oklahoma and Texas that enable private citizens to sue people who provide abortions or assist others in accessing abortions, this data could expose such people to civil liability as well, he adds.Įarlier this year, CR’s Digital Lab examined four period tracker apps we didn’t evaluate in 2020 to find out how well they align with best practices for user security and privacy: Drip, Euki, Lady Cycle, and Periodical. “There are troves of data sitting around that could subject people to criminal liability,” he says. These heightened privacy concerns are well founded, according to Justin Brookman, CR’s director of consumer privacy and technology policy. These privacy concerns are set against the backdrop of newly restrictive abortion laws in many states. law,” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and even insurers sometimes code them as such. Some people who have miscarriages could also be implicated, because “miscarriages are often conflated with induced abortions in the . . . Wade-ending the constitutional right to an abortion-many app users may be newly worried that data about their fertility, missed periods, and more could be used against them in criminal and civil proceedings as circumstantial evidence that they’ve had an abortion. Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. These lax privacy protections have long been a concern because users’ data can be used to target them with ads or even possibly to determine life insurance coverage or loan interest rates. When Consumer Reports last evaluated period tracker apps in 2020, our Digital Lab, which tests how well products and services protect consumers’ privacy, found that the five apps we evaluated-which all store users’ data in the cloud-provided no guarantee that this information would not be shared with third parties, even when users thought they were anonymous. Period tracker apps collect deeply personal information that can include how often you have sex, whether you are trying to have a baby, if you get pregnant, and if you experience a miscarriage. It gathers a lot of data about you along the way, too-maybe even more than you know. But your period-tracking app doesn’t just offer insight. If you use an app to track your menstrual cycle, you may enjoy the sometimes spot-on predictions about when your next period is coming.
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