Dear African women, your health data is more valuable than you think

Many of us install a period or pregnancy app, tap through permissions, and move on. If it tracks cycles and gives helpful tips, job done.

The catch is that this is not just calendar info. It is intimate health data. How it is collected, shared, and protected can affect your life in ways that are easy to miss in the moment, and that risk is often higher when free apps rely on data to make money.

A quick note on Flo

Flo helps millions understand their cycles and has taken steps like adding an anonymous mode after criticism and an FTC settlement. A recent US jury decision focused on Meta's collection of Flo users' sensitive data from 2016 to 2019. That ruling is about Meta's conduct and SDK collection practices, not only Flo's present policies. The lesson is bigger than any one app.

This is not only about one app

• Premom: the FTC barred Premom from sharing health data for ads after finding it shared reproductive and location data with third parties, including two firms in China.
• Glow: California's Attorney General reached a settlement over security and privacy failures that could have exposed fertility and sexual health details.
• Ovia Health: reporting showed some employers paid for a version that shared aggregated, de-identified pregnancy and fertility metrics with HR.
• Maya and MIA Fem: Privacy International found both apps sent sensitive details to Facebook through tracking tools, including information about sexual activity and contraception.
• Stardust: the app surged in downloads after promising end-to-end encryption, but later walked back some claims and faced scrutiny about what it could hand over.
• Babylon Health: a user briefly saw other patients' video consultations due to a software error in a telehealth app.

These examples span fertility tracking, pregnancy support, period tracking, and telehealth. They show recurring issues around third-party trackers, SDKs, weak security, and unclear consent. If an app is free or ad-supported, your data often pays the bill.

Why African women should care

• Real-world consequences: reproductive health can carry stigma and even legal or safety risks. Leaks or aggressive profiling can affect relationships, jobs, or personal safety.
• Cost pressure drives free app use: free tools remove a paywall but can introduce hidden costs in the form of data sharing.
• Weak recourse: many African countries are strengthening privacy laws, but enforcement and user awareness can lag.

What "good" looks like in a health app

• A clear, plain privacy policy with specific statements about whether data is shared with advertisers or data brokers, not vague words like "partners."
• Minimal third-party tracking.
• Options for local-only storage or an anonymous mode.
• Straightforward data deletion and export.

Practical steps you can take today

1. Review app permissions: disable location, contacts, and ad tracking unless clearly needed.
2. Avoid social logins for health apps: use email and a strong password.
3. Use privacy-friendly modes: switch on anonymous mode or local storage if offered.
4. Read before you tap "agree": if a policy mentions sharing with advertisers or "partners," assume targeting is possible.
5. Ask your community to care: share guides like this in women's groups, campuses, and workplaces.

The bottom line

These apps are not the enemy, and they continue to make important improvements. It's a learning curve for all of us building in femtech. The wider issue is a pattern across many health and wellness apps that collect sensitive information and then share it in ways users don't fully expect. African women deserve tools that respect consent, context, and control. Privacy is not a luxury feature. It is part of safety.