Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product
Small app developer Wachanga makes this app with quite the straightforward, no-frills name — Pregnancy and Due Date tracker. According to reviews, it's also a straight-forward, no-frills app good for second time moms looking for a simple way to track things like weight gain, blood pressure, baby bump growth, baby's first kicks, contractions, and more. You can then use the download-to-pdf feature to print out all that health information to share with your doctor on your next visit. Free to download, a paid subscription is required to use the app's features. Check lists, diaries, to-lists, and kegel exercise recommendations are all good, but what about their privacy and security? Well, it's kinda meh. Their privacy policy looks OK. Not great, but not the worst we've seen either. Their security practices however, those leave us with too many unanswered questions to feel great about this app that does track a whole lot of personal information.
Oh, one last thing. Wachanga also makes a few other apps like their Clover period tracking app, a Baby Care newborn diary, and our personal favorite, an app called Siberian Breath for meditation and relaxation. All these apps use the same privacy policy so if you're looking to use any of them, the same concerns raised in this review apply to those apps as well.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Well, this pregnancy tracking app isn't the worst app we reviewed from a privacy perspective, so there's that. It's also probably fair to say it's privacy policy isn't great either. We'd say the privacy of this app falls somewhere squarely in between OK and Ick. We'll officially label it's privacy practices as "Meh". How's the for a review?
Here, let us offer a bit more to help you understand and make a smart decision if you're thinking of using this app to track your pregnancy. The Pregnancy & Due Date tracker app does collect a good amount of personal information. Everything from name, email address, phone number, gender, date of birth, location, place of residence, time zone, service preferences, identifiers to health data such as weight, body temperature, menstrual cycle dates, symptoms, health goals, upcoming doctors appointments and more. That's a lot of personal information they can collect. Their privacy policy does state, "You never have to provide personally identifiable information to Wachanga. However, should you choose to withhold certain required information, Wachanga may not be able to provide you with some or all of the Services."
What does Wachanga say they can do with all this information? Well, here's where things aren't so clear for us. Based on their privacy policy we think they might be OK, but we're also not quite sure. Your friendly *Privacy Not Included privacy researchers debated for a good bit about whether to ding them on this front and in the end decided to give them the benefit of the doubt...while acknowledging we did have a good bit of doubt. They say they can use your personal information to personalize your experience in the app, for scientific and academic research purposes, and "to link or combine with information we get from others (except data from Apple HealthKit, Core Motion Framework, and Google Fit) or (and) from you to help understand your needs and provide you with better service (to use in the training of neural networks, artificial intelligence, as well as for any other automated decision-making processing)". After much debate, we decided not to ding this app because their personal information sharing seemed to closely walk the line between sharing we usually ding, like sharing personal information with third parties for targeted, interested based advertising. or combining data from third parties to build a bigger ad profile on you. We don't ding them but we still do have concerns.
Another thing we have concerns about is how they say they can share data with law enforcement. Here at Mozilla, we like to see companies clearly state they won't voluntarily disclose data with law enforcement and that they won't give up user data to law enforcement unless required to under subpoena, and even then, we like to see them commit to only giving up the bare minimum necessary. Here's what we found in Wachanga's privacy policy in regards to sharing data with law enforcement: "Wachanga may disclose your personally identifiable information without your prior affirmative consent if it has a good-faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request or to investigate or protect against harmful activities to Wachanga’s guests, users, associates, or property or to others." AND "Wachanga may also be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide personally identifiable information to appropriate governmental authorities. If requested by law enforcement or judicial authorities, Wachanga will provide this information upon receipt of appropriate documentation. Wachanga may also provide information to law enforcement to protect its property and the health and safety of individuals as permitted by statute." That leaves us concerned.
While the Pregnancy & Due Date Tracker app does leave us a bit worried about their commitment to protecting their user's privacy, we also have outstanding questions about the app's security. After emailing the company four times at the email address listed in their privacy policy for privacy and security related questions, we received no response. So we are unable to confirm if this app meets our Minimum Security Standards. Which earns this app our *Privacy Not Included warning label. What's the worst that could happen with the Pregnancy & Due Date Tracker? Well, we really hope they won't voluntarily disclose a whole bunch of user data to law enforcement in a state where abortion is no longer legal. That could potentially lead to the tracking and harassment of people who did nothing wrong. That would be ugly. Here's hoping it never happens.
Tips to protect yourself
- When you no longer use the app, go to "Delete app data" in the app menu
- Do not connect your wearables to the app
- Do not register to the app using a social media account like Facebook or Twitter
- Chose a strong password! You may use a password control tool like 1Password, KeePass etc.
- Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images and videos)
- Keep your app regularly updated
- Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization)
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: N/A
App: No
Microphone
Device: N/A
App: No
Tracks location
Device: N/A
App: No
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
Yes
Third-party account
Yes
You can sign up using Facebook, Twitter, Google + or Instagram
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Full name or nickname, email address, phone number, gender, date of birth, location, place of residence,
Body related
Weight, body temperature, menstrual cycle dates, symptoms, health goals
Social
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
No known privacy or security incidents discovered in the last 3 years.
Child Privacy Information
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Strong password
We found no way to create an account in the app
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Privacy policy
Dive Deeper
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Best Pregnancy Apps for 2022Forbes Health
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Here are the 18 best pregnancy apps for parents-to-beToday
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