Although period and pregnancy tracking applications seem to be very popular and simple ‘reminder’ applications among women, it can be said that they offer a lot of convenience in terms of functionality. Most women are happy with the service these apps provide, but what do they offer? safety How much do we know about it?

A new study by Mozilla researchers found that period and pregnancy tracking apps are significantly better than other popular apps. bad secrecy and turned out to be safe. The importance of the confidentiality of all kinds of medical data is undisputed, but the confidentiality of data in period and pregnancy tracking applications may become even more important, especially in countries such as the US where some “anti-abortion” laws are being discussed.

Out of 25 apps reviewed, 18 failed to meet privacy standards

Researchers examined the 25 most popular mobile and wearable device applications that offer menstrual and pregnancy tracking services to obtain the most reliable data on the subject. Most of these apps and devices whether user data should be shared with law enforcement or refrained from saying under what circumstances they shared it.

18 of the 25 apps received warning labels from Mozilla for their “privacy” features. These labels are given to applications that are at ‘risk’ with regard to their privacy, data collection policies, how they share or protect the data they collect. Among the services surveyed were Garmin, Fitbit, Apple WatchOura Ring and Whoop Strap met Mozilla standards and received no tags.

Menstrual and pregnancy follow-up applications provide benefits to women with the services they provide, as well as to official institutions in countries and regions where abortion is prohibited. identify people who have had an abortion can offer. However, the data stored by these applications is not the only tool in the hands of law enforcement to identify the criminals(!) in this regard; Google search results and even Facebook posts can also detect abortion surgeries.

Your personal information could fall into the hands of hackers

However, the only danger in this regard is not the possibility that the data could be shared with law enforcement authorities. As a result, period and pregnancy tracking applications fall into the “health” category and many health and personal data is entered in the application. Weak security means this data can easily get into the hands of hackers and your data can be put up for sale on the dark web.