Should you worry about data from your period-tracking app being used against you?

Privacy policies – specifically, whether the apps sell information to data brokers, use the data for advertising, share it for research, or keep it solely within the app – vary substantially among companies. — Dreamstime/TNS

It’s estimated that millions of people in the US use period-tracking apps to plan ahead, track when they are ovulating, and monitor other health effects. The apps can help signal when a period is late.

After Politico published on May 2 a draft opinion from the Supreme Court indicating that Roe v. Wade, the law that guarantees the constitutional right to an abortion, would be overturned, people turned to social media. They were expressing concerns about the privacy of this information – especially for people who live in states with strict limits on abortion – and how it might be used against them.