Flo’s Small Win in Protecting People's Privacy

Period tracking app Flo launched an Anonymous Mode that lets people use the app without linking it to their name, email address or IP address, as a direct response to privacy concerns stemming from the landmark overturn of Roe V. Wade in June. The new feature also disassociates identifiers like email addresses, payment identifiers, IP addresses, IDs for advertisers, Google or Apple account IDs, and other IDs from user health data, according to Gizmodo. However, "this mode would not necessarily prevent access to user data on the device, passcode protection notwithstanding, so full anonymity is not guaranteed," said Arielle Garcia, chief privacy officer at UM Worldwide. With 48 million active users, Flo has only introduced this feature on iOS devices with plans to launch it on Android devices as well, the company told Adweek. "Flo will continue to deploy industry-leading data privacy and security best practices as well as prioritize the privacy of our users in all new and existing product features," a spokesperson said. While it's a great move by Flo, it still does not solve all privacy risks across devices, several privacy experts told Adweek. In the aftermath of the SCOTUS’ decision to end federal protection for abortion, period tracking apps like Flo that collect potentially sensitive and personal information came under scrutiny. Flo also settled allegations with the Federal Trade Commission in 2021 for sharing health data with third-party companies despite promising data privacy to its users. The data access by law enforcement against people suspected of having abortions has been a major concern. While Flo’s Anonymous Mode does serve a limited purpose on iOS, where the software innately does not have data-leak issues, it's not the same for Android phones, where the history of data collected still poses a risk. Meanwhile, the implications for marketers are minimal, since they can still collect data on pregnant people for targeted ads. “Flo never had an iOS data broker problem, they had an Android data broker problem,” said Zach Edwards, a data supply chain researcher. “If Flo truly cared about this problem, they could have said something publicly about the dangerous Android API that was exposing their scraped user’s data for sale on public data broker markets.” In reference to the Android data leak, a Flo spokesperson said that the company does not receive any data from brokers nor does it sell any user data to third parties including data brokers. Still a Valuable Currency of Advertising, Location Data Is Under the Microscope Looming data risks on Android, despite mends Earlier this summer, a Google-designed programming interface on the Android software, known as the API, was discovered to allow apps to query the inventory of all other apps downloaded on someone's phone, posing a risk of data leaks between apps. Google itself has termed this data as “sensitive” as reported by the Financial Times, with cases of data being sold to third parties. “There was a giant Android data broker pipeline where they literally had period-tracking apps like Flo and Planned Parenthood straight up for sale,” said Edwards. Although Google closed this data loophole in July, the change was made too late to protect people who had previously used specific Android apps exploiting the loophole to track all the other apps installed on your phone, which included period apps like Flo, according to Edwards. Flo's move is a small win but shouldn't take away from the considerable road ahead to protect consumers' privacy.—Stephanie Liu, analyst, Forrester For example, a data broker could buy a person’s Android ID and data showing they installed the Flo App up until July, along with their location data, and gather information like the person’s place of work or home location. Even if the person deleted their Android ID but kept using non-Flo apps that track whether the location details appear the same as before, it’s still possible for data brokers who had access to the original data to reconnect that they are tracking a former Flo app user. “The Flo Android app can make itself safe, and did, but the history of data sharing from that app, ingested by other non-Flo apps and the SDKs installed within them, is an ongoing issue and matter of concern,” said Edwards. When asked for responses, the company referred to its current security and privacy best practices, which include encryption of all data and conducting independent privacy audits. Flo has also received the ISO 27001 certification, the company said, which is an internationally recognized specification for an Information Security Management System. Limitations with Flo’s Anonymous Mode Currently, paying web users cannot use Anonymous Mode. Those who do use it won’t be able to connect the app with a wearable device. Anonymous Mode is available on the paid version of the iOS app. The company would not share how many people pay for the app. “There’s a certain level of convenience trade-off here,” said Tariq Yusuf, a former privacy engineer at Meta and Google and current law student at the University of Washington. People have an option to protect their safety but lose a significant number of features they might have even paid for. Even so, the implication for marketers is minimal, said Forrester analyst Stephanie Liu. A person who is pregnant or trying to get pregnant can still be identified through their browsing history, shopping history, search history or location history if they visit fertility clinics, for the purpose of targeted ads. “Flo's move is a small win but shouldn't take away from the considerable road ahead to protect consumers' privacy,” she said. Data Location Companies Swear Off Tracking Sensitive Location Data

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Flo’s Anonymous Mode Is a Small Win in Protecting People's Privacy

The period-tracker app's iOS anonymous mode "ignores the real problem" of Android data brokers

Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal