For people across the world, period tracking apps have become an integral part of personal health routines. Over 50 million people worldwide use period tracking apps to log their menstrual cycles and predict when their periods will begin. However, these apps have also started to emphasize inequalities in reproductive health and digital privacy.
For one, period apps are explicitly designed to cater to cisgender women and users with a regular cycle, excluding transgender individuals and those with medical conditions which don’t allow for menstrual regularity. Moreover, the stigmatization of menstrual health in many countries can result in period apps being inaccessible for those who seek to use them. Finally, the lack of privacy for period tracking apps has become a grave concern, especially in countries with restrictive abortion laws.
Transgender individuals are one of the main groups of people who face barriers when using period tracking apps. Period apps are mainly targeted at cisgender women, as seen in the explicit use of women in design graphics, along with more feminine branding such as pink color schemes and floral designs. For example, the app Flo reinforces this traditionally feminine focus by incorporating images of women and pink designs. In reality, trans men also make up a sizable percentage of users, although no precise data exists on the true number of transgender users due to the inability to indicate gender on many of these apps. In order to minimize the sense of alienation for gender-diverse individuals, changes should be made to these apps to accommodate a wider group of users; being able to customize the app to suit personal needs and implementing more inclusive app design would be an important step forward to foster such inclusivity.
In addition to transgender individuals, people with medical conditions – such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and perimenopause – are often at a disadvantage when using period tracking apps. These apps are programmed to assume that the average person experiences a cycle of 28 days, which is often not the case for those with medical conditions. This results in the incorrect prediction of a person’s cycle. The ability to allow users to select from multiple cycle types and hormonal options would help improve prediction accuracy, and in turn diminish unnecessary stress.
It is also important to address the dangers that data collection poses to an individual’s safety. Data tracking apps gather extensive volumes of data on their users, such as their weight, age, sexual activity, menstrual flow, and symptoms related to their menstrual health. There is often no clear privacy clause outlining how their data is actually being used, stored or potentially sold. In the post-Roe v. Wade United States, and other countries with abortion bans where millions of people use period-tracking apps despite state restrictions on reproductive health, the data collected from these apps and subsequent monetization of this data could potentially leave users vulnerable to prosecution. Inferences can be made from period data to determine if a woman underwent an abortion, and some period apps state that they may disclose users’ personal data to law enforcement if requested. This is especially concerning for people of color (POC) and those from low income communities, who are already more heavily surveilled by law enforcement agencies. As far as period tracking apps, it is becoming increasingly apparent that developers need to specify how user data will be used and provide consent-based mechanisms around the selling of user data to third parties and government agencies. To improve user safety, a storage model should be created where user data remains solely on their device, without being connected to a larger “cloud”.
As technology continues to shape how individuals manage their reproductive health, inclusiveness, maintaining security and ethical data practices is more important than ever. If period tracking apps fail to prioritize these concerns, these applications risk reinforcing inequalities in both healthcare access and digital privacy.