![]() You can use the app without creating an account in which case data is solely stored locally on your phone. It’s the only one we found that has a comprehensive and easily readable privacy statement. For example, does Facebook get information on when you are having your period?Īnother frequently used app in the Netherlands is “Clue”. It’s not clear what information Facebook gathers about you from the app to show you advertisements. The logical question then is: What exactly does a company do with all this data you hand over? Do you have any say in that? Do they treat it carefully? Is the data shared with other parties?Īfter digging through a number of privacy statements, it appears that one of the most used apps in the Netherlands, “Menstruatie Kalender”, gives Facebook the permission to show in-app advertisements. And all this sensitive data often seems to end up in possession of the company behind the app. But a lot of these questions are quite intimate. Have you had sex? And if so, with or without protection? With yourself or with another person? How would you grade the orgasm? Did you have a stomach ache? Were your bowel movements normal? Did you feel like having sex? Sensitive breasts? An acne problem? Did you drink alcohol? Exercise? Did you eat healthy?įor a number of these questions it is understandable why answering them might be useful, if the app wants to learn to predict in what stage of your cycle you are. But for most of these apps it doesn’t end there. In addition, you can keep a daily record of how you feel (happy, unhappy, annoyed) and whether you experience blood loss. In the overview you can input the date of your last period. The app usually opens with a calendar overview. It’s interesting to look at the kind of data these apps collect. Are these apps made to provide women with more insight into the workings of their bodies, or to monetise that need? “Femtech” is seen as a growing market that has raised billion-dollar investments over the last couple of years by different startups. From “Ladytimer Maandstonden Cyclus Kalender” to “Magic Teen Girl Period Tracker”, from “Vrouwenkalender” to “Flo” – all neatly lined up in different shades of pink in the appstore. There seems to be quite a large market for period tracker apps. But sharing data on the workings of your body with an app is more risky. In itself, keeping track of your cycle is nothing new: putting marks in your diary or on your calendar have always been an easy way to take your cycle into account. However, these apps do not always treat the intimate data that you share with them carefully.Īn app that notifies you when to expect your period or when you are fertile can be useful, for example to predict when you can expect to suffer the side effects that for a lot of women come with being on your period. More and more women use a period tracker: an app that keeps track of your menstrual cycle.
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