BLOOD AND DATA LEAKS: THE DARK SIDE OF PERIOD TRACKING APPS

Period tracking apps can help you keep ahead of mood swings, or even plan for a baby. But how secure is the highly personal health data that you enter into the app?

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If you are a young gadget user with a uterus, chances are that alerts about your upcoming period now come from your smartphone or your smartwatch. Period tracking apps have made it easier not just to stock sanitary pads and painkillers (and perhaps some chocolate), but they also prompt menstruating users to log their physical symptoms, track their mental health, detect potential reproductive conditions, and plan sexual intercourse based on their fertility levels.

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Period tracking tools are incredibly diverse, with the Apple and Google app storefronts offering many such apps that have seen millions of user downloads. Basic apps are free and merely remember the user’s menstrual cycle dates to estimate their future dates. Others offer premium features and advanced data processing so that users can share detailed health and fertility reports with their partner or a healthcare provider.

Period apps can now send reminders and health alerts from a variety of devices

Period apps can now send reminders and health alerts from a variety of devices | Photo Credit: Simple Design Ltd. via Google Play Store

The more information users provide about their periods and health, the better the app gets. For this reason, period tracking app users are often encouraged to key in highly personal health information such as food cravings, bowel motions, vaginal discharge or cervical mucus, weight fluctuations, changes in breast texture, sexual activity, period flow, mental health issues, pregnancy status, and even daily facial pimples.