Women are deserting the popular period and fertility-tracking app Flo over allegations that it shared highly sensitive user data with Facebook.
Flo has been downloaded over 140 million times, and is used as an ovulation calendar, period tracker and pregnancy app.
This included information on when users were having their periods, as well as whether they intended to get pregnant.
Now, Flo has reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and has confirmed that it will be notifying all users that it shared their personal information without their consent.
However, the company maintains that it didn t do anything wrong, and that is has only agreed to the settlement to avoid the time and expense of litigation .
Flo Health Inc came to an agreement with the FTC on Wednesday which sees the company avoid any fines despite evidence suggesting it shared the health information of millions with Facebook.
The developer of a period and fertility-tracking app used by more than 100 million consumers has settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company shared the health information of users with outside data analytics providers after promising that such information would be kept private.
The proposed settlement requires Flo Health, Inc. to, among other things, obtain an independent review of its privacy practices and get app users’ consent before sharing their health information.
“Apps that collect, use, and share sensitive health information can provide valuable services, but consumers need to be able to trust these apps,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We are looking closely at whether developers of health apps are keeping their promises and handling sensitive health information responsibly.”