AwarenessHealth, money & the body
Health & period-tracking apps
Period, fertility, mental-health and symptom apps holding your most private data.
Understand it
Apps that track periods, fertility, mood, therapy or symptoms gather some of the most sensitive information about you - and many share or sell it to advertisers and data brokers, or hold it on servers outside strong legal protection. What feels like a private diary can become a traded record.
How to spot it
Check the app’s privacy policy for “share with partners” or advertising - and where the data is stored.
Close the gap
- Prefer health apps that store data on your device and don’t share with advertisers.
- Give the minimum - you rarely need to log everything the app asks for.
- Check and tighten the app’s data-sharing settings; opt out of advertising use.
- Delete your account and data if you stop using it - don’t just remove the app.
What to do about it
Health data is sensitive and hard to claw back once it's shared. In the UK your main lever is the NHS National Data Opt-Out, which limits how your records are used beyond your direct care.