Period‑tracking apps present major privacy threats, new report warns
Period‑tracking apps allow users to log menstrual cycles, PMS symptoms, fertility, mood, diet, exercise, contraception use, and hormone levels. A University of Cambridge Minderoo Centre report warns that turning this intimate information into data points for analysis and sale poses significant privacy risks.
These apps attracted over 250 million global downloads in 2024, placing menstrual data at the heart of a booming
femtech market
valued at $22 billion in 2020, and projected to reach $60 billion by 2027.
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Menstrual data: 'gold mine' for consumer profiling
Experts describe menstrual and reproductive information as a 'gold mine' for advertisers, who use it to predict consumer behavior, especially around pregnancy or family planning. Lead author Dr. Stefanie Felsberger noted, 'There are real and frightening privacy and safety risks to women as a result of the commodification of the data collected by cycle tracking app companies'. Advertisers consider pregnancy data over 200 times more valuable than basic demographic info like age or gender .
Security, accuracy and ethical concerns
The report highlights grave security and accuracy concerns:
Cycle‑tracking data has been misused in legal investigations, domestic abuse scenarios, discrimination in employment or insurance, and even abortion-related prosecutions.
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App accuracy is unreliable, especially for users with irregular cycles or conditions like PCOS or endometriosis. Despite collecting detailed user inputs, apps typically don't use this data to improve performance, retaining it mainly for commercial gain.
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A King's College London study found many female‑health apps collected excessive permissions and used multiple third‑party trackers, creating vulnerabilities to data leaks or exploitation.
Calls for regulation and public‑sector alternatives
To address these concerns, researchers recommend:
Treating menstrual data as sensitive health information under privacy laws in the US, UK, and EU, Implementing strong, meaningful consent options, clear privacy policies, data deletion tools, and built‑in security features.
Encouraging public health bodies to develop transparent, trustworthy period apps (e.g., NHS in the UK, Planned Parenthood in the US) that prioritize user control and medical research uses.
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Integrating menstrual‑health education into schools and public outreach to raise awareness of app limitations and privacy risks .
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