Women rely on these apps for a range of reasons, from logging their menstrual symptoms, e.g. bloating and cramps, to better understanding their fertility.
According to Facebook’s policies, the social networking site can gather information from third-party apps that use its Software Development Kits. Among other things, these SDKs allow users to log in using their FB profiles and also helps the company to target their ads. But in their report, Privacy International found that Maya informs Facebook whenever a user opens the app and starts sharing their data even before the privacy policy is agreed to.
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“When Maya asks you to enter how you feel and offers suggestions of symptoms you might have — suggestions like blood pressure, swelling or acne — one would hope this data would be treated with extra care,” the report said. “But no, that information is shared with Facebook.”
As for other popular period-tracking apps on the market, such as Period Tracker by Leap Fitness Group, Period Tracker Flo by Flo Health, Period Tracker by Simple Design, and Clue Period Tracker by Biowink, Privacy International has confirmed they haven't been sharing data with Facebook.
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