FLO · FERTILITY APP · FTC

Flo promised privacy, then the FTC alleged it shared sensitive fertility and pregnancy data with analytics companies.

Period / fertility data → marketing and analytics providers → FTC privacy enforcement

The FTC alleged that Flo Health, developer of the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker, promised users that their health information would be kept private and used only to provide app services. According to the FTC, Flo nevertheless disclosed sensitive health data from millions of users to marketing and analytics providers including Facebook, Google, AppsFlyer and Flurry.

The complaint said some disclosures included app events revealing a user's pregnancy. The FTC finalized a settlement in 2021 requiring affirmative consent before future sharing, notice to affected users and an independent review of Flo's privacy practices.

Why it matters: Health information can escape a health app without ever entering a hospital record. A pregnancy status inferred or recorded in a consumer app can still become valuable advertising and analytics data.

Primary sources: FTC — complaint announcement · FTC — final order

WHY THIS LIBRARY EXISTS

This page preserves the anecdote and its caveats separately from the shorter Why Privacy Matters explainer. The goal is to keep the argument readable without hiding the receipts.