How to choose a period tracker that keeps your data private
A period tracker knows when you menstruate, when you might be fertile, your symptoms and your moods — and, by implication, whether you might be pregnant. That makes it one of the most sensitive apps you can install. Before you trust one with years of entries, it is worth five minutes checking how it handles them.
The checks
1. Does it make you create an account?
An account means a copy of your identity — and usually your data — on someone else's server. Many apps ask for one only to sync or to market to you. If the app works fully without signing up, there is one less place your information can leak from.
2. Where are your entries stored?
Look for a plain statement that data stays on your device, and for what happens when it does not: which server, in which country, encrypted or not. "Stored securely in the cloud" still means stored by someone else.
3. Does it contain trackers or advertising code?
On Android you can look any app up on Exodus Privacy (reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org), which lists the analytics and advertising code inside it. Zero is the number to look for. Advertising code in an app that holds sensitive records is a red flag.
4. What does the privacy policy say about sharing?
Search it for "share", "partners", "advertising", "affiliates" and "sell". A trustworthy policy for a personal-records app is short, specific and has little to say under those words.
5. Can you get your data out — and does it disappear if you stop paying?
You should be able to export everything in a standard format such as CSV or PDF at any time. Some apps lock your history behind a subscription; a fair one never takes away what you already recorded.
6. Which permissions does it ask for?
A tracker for one kind of record has no reason to want your contacts, location or microphone. Every permission it does not need is a door that does not have to be open.
How CycleKept answers these checks
What you record lives in an encrypted database on your own device. There is no account to create, no analytics watching you, and no server of ours holding a copy — so there is nothing for us to leak, sell or lose. Export your data whenever you like; nothing you have already written down disappears if you stop paying.
- Log fast — flow, symptoms, mood and notes in a tap.
- Predictive — cycle day, a next-period estimate and a calendar view, worked out from your own history.
- Nothing to subpoena — there is no account and no copy of your cycle anywhere but your phone.
- Reminders scheduled on your device; nothing is sent through a server.
- A cycle PDF for a check-up, generated on your phone and shared only when you send it.
- An optional biometric app lock.
More about CycleKept · Read its privacy policy · Try the free ovulation & fertile window calculator
CycleKept is built and in testing, and arrives on Google Play first. Join the waitlist to hear the day it lands.
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How to choose a blood pressure app that keeps your readings private · How to choose a budget app that never connects to your bank · How to choose a baby tracker that keeps your family's data private · What “local-first” means, and why it matters for your privacy