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Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

femtechdesigndesk.substack.com

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Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#131

Post by some_furry »

voakbasda wrote: post #116
nwatson wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admissible evidence probably requires parallel construction and then a warrant. The purchased data is the catalyst but not legally actionable.

Parallel construction like that is unambiguously fruit from the poison tree. It should never be allowed, and the fact that it is used routinely is one of the many ongoing travesties in the US.

Right, but since that's the world we have today, our threat models should all account for it until we can meaningfully change things.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#132

Post by eszed »

natbennett wrote: post #92
alistairSH wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not being a women, I've always wondered what insight the app gives regardless of data traveling to a server... does it do anything you can't do with a simple notebook app (like Apple's default Notes)? If you have an irregular period, does this app help "guess" when it's going to start/end? If you have a regular period, why do you need an app at all?

Like most data entry software there’s nothing that unstructured notes (or paper) can’t handle. The main useful feature of the apps (or Apple Health’s tracker which is entirely adequate) is that it sends reminders on the estimated period start date, and then a few days afterwards if you haven’t recorded the end date. Even “regular” periods often aren’t perfectly regular, or can become irregular when they were regular.…

> median period length and typical variation/range.

This was what my partner found useful to share with her doctor while trying to figure out a medical issue. Of course it could have been done typing dates and notes into excel, and manually creating charts, but the chance that she (or most people) would consistently follow that workflow (pun not intended, but I like it) is nil.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#133

Post by russdill »

theptip wrote: post #122

This one seems clear cut as a HIPAA violation. Glad to hear that interpretation was upheld. However, regardless, we really need to just kill the data broker business model. Speaking as someone who implemented GDPR for my startup when the law first came into effect, there were certainly rough edges. But the core premise that you simply cannot sell user data to sub-processors without consent is a powerful one that I be…

Seriously, we have a country where a large fraction of our ad spend is for services that promise to remove your private data from data brokers. We could literally just pass laws so companies could not do this.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#134

Post by bonoboTP »

embedding-shape wrote: post #77
jumpconc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The spying part requires a server. If you use GrapheneOS, you can enable or disable internet access for each app.

> If you use GrapheneOS, you can enable or disable internet access for each app. Not sure what information you're expecting the app in question to surface if you disable internet access for it.

Locally stored info

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#135

Post by culi »

[drip.](https://bloodyhealth.gitlab.io/) [source](https://gitlab.com/bloodyhealth/drip)

  - around since 2019. Last update 2 months ago
  - iOS, Android
  - React Native
Mensinator [source](https://github.com/EmmaTellblom/Mensinator)

  - around since 2024. Last update 2 weeks ago
  - Android
  - Kotlin
[Menstrudel](https://menstrudel.app/) [source](https://github.com/J-shw/Menstrudel)

  - around since 2015. Last updated 3 weeks ago.
  - iOS and Android
  - Dart
[Tyd](https://unobserved.io/tyd/) [source](https://github.com/unobserved-io/tyd)

  - around since 2023. Last updated 2 years ago.
  - iOS
  - Swift
EDIT: Someone else pointed out this closed-source alternative that got a 92% by ORCHA: https://www.my28x.com/

I think the biggest thing I'd like to see is a data format standard defined. You should be able to "take your data with you" and go anywhere you like. If you decide an app is unethical or if your favorite OSS app stops being updated, it should be simple to switch. Many apps let you export your data. Maybe someone can make a converter between popular proprietary apps and a common data structure spec

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#136

Post by Lapra »

juggina wrote: post #39
ronbenton wrote: post #33

Hey surely Meta wouldn’t send that data to a government interested in regulating women’s reproductive rights

[flagged]

The data is already being (ab)used in the UK. https://humanists.uk/2025/06/04/police-access-to-period-apps...

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#137

Post by culi »

mghackerlady wrote: post #90

I don't have a period, so I'm not the best person to do it, but there really needs to be a solid FOSS alternative to flo. If GNU had more women, it'd probably already exist

I did a quick review of what FOSS options are currently out there

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47936103

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#139

Post by joe_mamba »

forgotaccount3 wrote: post #41
juggina wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

People in power want the information to identify a narrower set of people who may have been pregnant and then did not have a child and so may have had an abortion. And facebook doesn't care about people's rights when those people in power are able to block Facebook from acquiring some new startup they want to buy, so facebook is willing to share the information.

>People in power want the information to identify a narrower set of people who may have been pregnant and then did not have a child and so may have had an abortion.

And what will people in power do with this information?

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#140

Post by joe_mamba »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #117
lagniappe wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we assuming the lack of a recorded period is the criteria? If yes, what if you just forgot to add it that month, or have hormonal issues, or abnormal BMI?

You're welcome to suggest to your lawyer this particular defense. The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them.

>The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them.

Who are these people doing this?

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