It was a doctor who first shamed me into using a period tracker. It was 2018, and I had a UTI (again). I was about to leave on a two-week road trip around Western Australia, so instead of my regular GP, I saw the first GP who could fit me in — antibiotics were my first (and only) priority.
“When was your last period?” she asked.
“Um,” I replied, realising I had no idea. “Two weeks ago? Maybe more?”
She looked deeply unimpressed. “If you’re sexually active, you should know about these things. There’s lots of free period trackers available. Pick one.”
It took me a few months to get around to it — a classic case of not-yet-diagnosed ADHD — but I eventually started using Apple’s period tracker, and honestly, it was a game-changer.
If you’ve never used a period tracker, it’s pretty straight forward. You mark the days when you have flow, and again when the flow stops. If you want to get detailed, you can add symptoms, the heaviness of the flow, and even add your “fertile periods”. (I wasn’t trying to get pregnant, but as someone who was actively trying NOT to get pregnant? Highly useful.) My period tracker became even more useful when I went off the pill 18 months ago, reminding me when it was likely to start and that if I was feeling deeply depressed, there might be a hormonal reason for it.
In other words, it’s one of the few tools my ADHD brain really vibes with. It’s low effort, it sends me reminders, and it’s really useful when a doctor asks me the date of my last period or how long my cycles are. I whip my phone out proudly. “Let me check!”
But now, experts are saying I should abandon the apps altogether.
Are period trackers safe to use?
Katharine Kemp, a law researcher at the University of New South Wales, analysed the privacy policies and settings of 12 most popular fertility apps used in Australia, finding a whole bunch of “concerning, unsafe and unfair” data practices.
The main issue? Consumers were being presented with misleading privacy messages, and not giving full control over their data for advertising and research purposes.
“Once you have a fertility app sharing health and personal information with advertisers and other data brokers, it can end up in the hands of insurers and other organisations who are in a position to make decisions which could disadvantage someone on the basis of their intimate data,” Dr Kemp told the ABC.
The apps she studied collected intimate data from consumers, including pregnancy test results, when they had sex (including whether they had an orgasm), whether they used condoms or the withdrawal method, mood fluctuations (including anxiety and depression), and if they have health conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis or uterine fibroids. Some even asked users for what Dr Kemp deemed to be unnecessary details, such as if / when users smoke or drink alcohol, their education levels, whether they struggle to pay their bills, if they feel safe at home, and if they have stable housing.
She said data partnerships between some fertility apps and major digital platforms (like Google or Amazon) could see user information fed to advertisers.
“Once you have a fertility app sharing health and personal information with advertisers and other data brokers, it can end up in the hands of insurers and other organisations who are in a position to make decisions which could disadvantage someone on the basis of their intimate data,” Dr Kemp said.
There’s also the issue of data breaches, which have hit companies like Optus, Medibank, and even Australian Parliament House in recent months. Our private information is not as secure as we might like.
Most of the apps Dr Kemp analysed kept user data for at least three years after a person quit the app (one brand even kept it for seven years), while some of the apps give consumers choice about whether their “de-identified” health data will be sold or transferred to other companies for research or business.
The apps Dr Kemp studied were: Clue, Flo, Glow, My Calendar, Period Calendar, Natural Cycles, Ovia, Pregnancy+, Pregnancy Tracker, WomanLog and What To Expect, and if you want to see how each one retains data, you can suss her research here.
Dr Kemp confirmed to the ABC she herself doesn’t use a period tracker due to data concerns. Truthfully, I’ve found my period tracker so useful that I’m unlikely to delete it anytime soon. But there’s also significant privilege in that statement — I’m not overly concerned my information will be used against me in the near future, a statement I can make safely from a state where abortion is decriminalised and miscarriage isn’t a crime.
Will I change my mind in the future? Perhaps… but depending on where my data has ended up, it might be too late.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
