A report has found that the majority of period tracking apps do not protect the privacy of users

The post-Roe landscape has led to Americans becoming concerned about the privacy protections that are available on their favorite period and pregnancy apps.

As a result of a new report from Mozilla, a majority of the most popular cycle tracking apps provided no privacy protection at all to their users. This is a cause for concern, as the study shows.

The Mozilla Foundation has analyzed 25 reproductive health apps and wearables that could potentially collect sensitive data and share it with third parties. The organization is best known for its Firefox browser and is now working to promote an open internet. 

The law may be used to prosecute abortions that cross state lines. As a result of the study, it was found that the majority of these apps - 18 of them - were not clear about what personal information they would be sharing with law enforcement and with whom.

The apps that raised red flags included Clue, Flo, Glow, and Maya Period, Fertility, Ovulation, & Pregnancy. From Google Play Store, Clue has been downloaded over 10 million times, Flo 50 million times, Glow 1 million times, and Maya 5 million times.

As a researcher, Misha Rykov noted in a statement the best practices for privacy in reproductive health apps have existed for quite some time, but most of the top reproductive health apps chose to ignore them.

The situation is particularly harrowing when we consider that even the basic security of the apps used by millions of women post-Roe vs Wade seems to be very shaky in terms of assuring their security.'

The news of Clue receiving a warning label is shocking. It adheres to the European General Data Protection Regulation law, which means it is not subject to the laws of the United States because it is a German company. 

The company has claimed that it never sells its users' data; however, Mozilla found that Clue's privacy policies do not give them the right to be tracked for advertising and personalization purposes even though it mentions that it never sells its users' data.

As mentioned previously, Yuki and Natural Cycles are two of the period tracking apps that have passed the privacy test.  With Yuki, you can hide your data by typing '0000' and it will display a false screen. 

The Apple Watch, Oura Ring, Whoop Strap, Fitbit, Garmin, and The Whoop Strap are among the wearables Mozilla found safe for use. Law enforcement data requests have been successfully resisted by Apple.