Period app firms express shock at police checks of women’s data

Senior executives at leading menstrual-cycle tracking apps said they are “in disbelief” at new UK police guidance that suggests officers could check women’s phones for the apps after an unexpected pregnancy loss.

Rhiannon White, CEO of Clue, which has more than 10 million monthly users, said she was “very shocked” to see the guidance.

In England and Wales, abortion has been legal since 1967 as long as certain strict criteria are met, but under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 it remains a crime for a woman to take abortion pills to end her pregnancy after 24 weeks. In recent years there has been an increase in investigations and prosecutions of women under this Victorian-era law.

Sue Khan, vice-president of privacy at UK-based Flo Health, said  she “didn’t expect” to see the police guidance and “couldn’t express anything other than shock and disbelief that this is the direction in which things are going”.

Period-tracking apps sit at the heart of a women’s health technology market projected to reach more than $60bn by 2027. Clue, Flo and Period Tracker dominate the market, with more than 250m downloads combined, according to a 2024 study.

Since Roe v Wade was overturned in the US in June 2022, menstrual-­cycle tracking apps have been dragged into a political debate over reproductive rights, forcing them to reshape their business models to reassure users’ concerns over data sharing with law enforcement.

Flo’s response was to expedite the release of its “anonymous mode” feature, which it says allows users to access the app without sharing any identifying information with anyone – including the owners of the app itself. In 2023, Clue redesigned its privacy settings to give users more control over how their data is collected and for what purposes.

Now the new police guidance has forced the apps to respond and reassure women in the UK, although that may work in favour of the companies’ continued growth.

In the UK, about a third of women use apps to track their cycles or fertility, according to a Savanta poll. More than half of those are worried about data transparency and security.

White, who joined Clue as chief product officer in 2022, said the app sees an increase in user numbers when stories about police investigating illegal abortions are reported. The weekend after Roe was overturned, installs of Clue spiked 2,200%.

White believes this is because Clue is “so clear and explicit about our stance and about our privacy position”.

Flo is facing an ongoing privacy lawsuit in the Canadian supreme court for allegedly tracking and selling sensitive customer data to third parties without their consent. According to Khan, privacy is also an “absolute priority” for Flo, but it is something they don’t seek to compete with other apps in the market on. “It’s like airlines shouldn’t compete on safety. Period tracking apps should not compete on privacy,” she said.

Although Clue and Flo say they haven’t yet had a data request from police in any jurisdiction, they also say they would not comply with any request if it were to be made and would contest it in court.

However, White and Khan both conceded that if police were to seize a woman’s mobile phone, as suggested by the police guidance, there is little the apps can do to prevent access to the menstrual-cycle tracking data.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has said unexpected pregnancy loss is not “routinely investigated” as a potential illegal abortion and that the senior investigating officer would “determine which reasonable lines of enquiry to follow”, which might include digital data.

Photograph Getty Images

• This article was amended on 13 June 2025. An earlier version stated that abortion has been legal in England and Wales since 1967 – we should have made clear that it is legal only as long as certain specific criteria are met.