
Attention : *confidentialité non incluse avec ce produit
MindDoc is a mental health app developed by clinical psychologists and researchers to help people suffering with depression, anxiety, insomnia, and eating disorders or who simply want to work daily on their emotional well-being. Based in Germany, MindDoc is governed by the generally stricter GDPR privacy laws, at least for people living in the EU/EEA. The app, available in German and English, is free to download and costs around $70 for a yearly subscription. Users get access to a mood journal, a mental health score to help gives users insight into where things are going well and where there are problems and then offers courses and exercises to help improve mental wellness.
So, how do their privacy practices look? Well, yay for being under GDPR, that's a good thing as that law has stricter privacy protections than most anywhere else in the world. Still, boo on MindDoc for being occasionally vague in their privacy policy about how they share data with third parties. And an even bigger BOO on MindDoc for allowing Facebook to collect data on their users that could tell Facebook things like when a person users the mental health app and how often. Not good, not good at all.
Que pourrait-il se passer en cas de problème ?
Here's a scary line to read in any privacy policy, "Facebook may associate your use of our app and related activities with your Facebook user account." Uhm, YIKES!!! What does that mean? Well, it seems to indicate Facebook could know if you use the MindDoc app, when you use the app, how often you use the app, and perhaps other details about your use of the app. So, Facebook could know you're a woman, 28 years old, who uses an app to help manage anxiety, and likes lots of posts about cats and wine. Based on that. Facebook could then serve you lots of targeted ads about being single, your biological clock ticking, and make you even more anxious about life. You absolutely do not need that.
Here's another vague line in MindDoc's privacy policy that worries us, "We generally do not share your data with third parties unless we are legally entitled or obligated to do so, or you have given us consent to do so." Uhm, what do they mean by "generally"? That word seems to give them wiggle room to share your data with third parties in instances not covered by their privacy policy. Which, again, YIKES!!! Vague statements in privacy policies are not your friend. Especially with apps that collect so much personal information about you like your name, email, phone number, questions about your mental state, living conditions, and more. Seems Consumers Reports also had problems with MIndDoc's vague privacy policies on data sharing with third parties back in 2021. We're worried your data could get shared with third parties you're not aware of or don't consent to and then it could be used for who knows what. You don't want that. We don't want that.
One more thing about MindDoc that leaves us worried. They say you can delete your data directly in the app at any time by going to "Settings → Data & Security." However, when we downloaded and used the app and then wanted to delete our data, we could not find this option. Which means MindDoc still has your friendly privacy researcher's data when we'd really rather they didn't. Because suddenly we're seeing ads about mental health everywhere and it's got us a little freaked out (granted, we've been researching mental health apps, so mental health ads following us everywhere seems inevitable, unfortunately).
Ce produit peut-il m’espionner ?
Caméra
Appareil : Ne s’applique pas
Application : Non
Microphone
Appareil : Ne s’applique pas
Application : Non
Piste la géolocalisation
Appareil : Ne s’applique pas
Application : Non
Que peut-on utiliser pour s’inscrire ?
Adresse e-mail
Oui
Téléphone
Non
Compte tiers
Non
Quelles données l’entreprise collecte-t-elle ?
Personnelles
Name, email. In Germany also, to use online psychotherapy: postal address, phone number.
Corporelles
General mental condition, complaints, symptoms.
Sociales
Comment l’entreprise utilise-t-elle les données ?
Comment pouvez-vous contrôler vos données ?
Quel est l’historique de l’entreprise en matière de protection des données des utilisateurs et utilisatrices ?
No known privacy or security incidents discovered in the last 3 years.
Informations liées à la vie privée des enfants
Ce produit peut-il être utilisé hors connexion ?
Informations relatives à la vie privée accessibles et compréhensibles ?
Liens vers les informations concernant la vie privée
Ce produit respecte-t-il nos critères élémentaires de sécurité ?
Chiffrement
MindDoc's encryption practices are described here https://minddoc.com/de/de/datenschutz#chapter-8
Mot de passe robuste
Mises à jour de sécurité
Gestion des vulnérabilités
Politique de confidentialité
MindDoc acts as a mental health companion that asks questions daily in order to evaluate a person’s well-being and screen them for symptoms of depression.
Cette IA est-elle non digne de confiance ?
Quel genre de décisions l’IA prend-elle à votre sujet ou pour vous ?
L’entreprise est-elle transparente sur le fonctionnement de l’IA ?
Les fonctionnalités de l’IA peuvent-elles être contrôlées par l’utilisateur ou l’utilisatrice ?
Pour aller plus loin
-
Mental Health Apps Aren't All As Private As You May ThinkConsumer Reports
-
The Digital Standard Case Study: Mental Health AppsThe Digital Standard
-
Peace of Mind...Evaluating the Privacy Practices of Mental Health AppsConsumer Reports
-
5 Mental Health Apps You Need On Your PhoneTech Guide
-
Do Therapy Apps Really Protect Your Privacy?Life Hacker
-
MindDoc: Depression & Anxiety ReviewOne Mind Psyber Guide
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