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Period tracker app users trade privacy for tech

Embargoed until: Publicly released:

Peer-reviewedWhat does this mean?

Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Popular apps used to track menstrual cycles and related 'symptoms' can hold years of data on users' health and private lives, which might be usable by third parties for research, commercial, and other purposes. NZ researchers asked 13 app users about their views of the risks, finding about half considered their data to be mostly risk-free, while others considered lack of privacy an inevitable tradeoff for accessing tracking tools. Their concerns included reproductive rights issues like the overturning of Roe vs Wade in the US and the potential for similar changes to happen Aotearoa, with one participant noting worries around not having rangatiratanga over her data.

Journal/conference: Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: University of Waikato

Funder: N/A

Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Anna Friedlander, PhD candidate at the University of Waikato and lead author of this paper, comments:

The range of ways in which participants in this study perceived risk shows how difficult it can be to understand and mitigate risk at an individual level. It shows how important it is to have strong protections for our intimate health data.
"That some participants contextualised risk with respect to overseas changes like the American overturning of Roe v Wade illustrates that we are living in a globally connected world. On the other hand, the fact that some participants referenced local legislation and concepts like mana motuhake and rangatiratanga shows that it is vital that data protection is locally relevant to menstruators in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Last updated: 09 Jun 2025 9:40am

Declared conflicts of interest:

Anna Friedlander is lead author of this paper.

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Lead author Anna Friedlander

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Last modified: 08 Jul 2025 11:54pm

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Lead author Anna Friedlander

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Permission category: © - Only use with this story

Last modified: 08 Jul 2025 11:54pm

NOTE: High resolution files can only be downloaded here by registered journalists who are logged in.

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