In the era of digital technologies for monitoring the health of women, known as FemTech, are becoming more and more popular. These applications cover a wide range of aspects of health: from fertility and motherhood to menopause, menstrual health, sexual health and contraception.
The concept of Femtech was embedded in 2016 by Ida Tin, the founder of the Clue female calendar, one of the most famous applications in this area. It is assumed that in 2024 the FemTech market will reach about $ 7.5 billion and doubled by 2030.
Researchers of the publication Cybernews studied Femtech ten popular applications to understand what users they collect and How to treat these data. After all, any collected data can be used both for the correct functioning of the application itself and for commercial purposes, including data transfer to third parties.
The confidentiality of user data in Femtech applications is critical, given that they are used in the most personal and intimate moments of life. Such data can easily be a goal for advertisers or even law enforcement agencies, depending on the scenario of their use.
Having examined various categories of applications from the calendars of the menstrual cycle to sexual health applications, the researchers found that some of them, such as Flo and Clue, can collect a significant amount of personal data. So, out of 35 categories of data, the collection of which Apple requires developers to report honestly and openly, Clue can collect 13 categories, and Flo is 15.
At the same time, despite the promises of developers about the protection and security of data, they can still be transmitted to third parties, for example, for the purposes of marketing or analysis of the use of services. Thus, applications for self-examination of the breast, such as Know Your Lemons and Keep a Breast, are distinguished by their approach to confidentiality, claiming that they do not collect user data at all.
Fitness and power sphere also did not go unnoticed. Applications like Betterme and MyFitnessPal require users to provide extensive data, from weight and growth to dietary preferences.
Pregnancy tracking applications, such as Pregnancy+ and Baby Breastfeeding Tracker, also collect information that may include sensitive data.
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