It's a reasonable question to type into a search bar at 11pm: you've just downloaded a pregnancy tracker, it's asking for your due date, your symptoms, your weight — and somewhere in the back of your mind, a voice asks where all of that goes.
The honest answer is: it depends on the app, and you don't have to take anyone's word for it — including ours. There is a public paper trail: regulator filings, independent research, and the apps' own privacy policies. Here's what it shows, calmly, with links to the primary sources so you can read them yourself.
The Flo settlement: the case that put this on record
The best-documented case is Flo, one of the world's most popular period and fertility trackers. In 2021, the US Federal Trade Commission finalized a settlement with Flo Health after alleging that the app shared users' sensitive health data with marketing and analytics firms — including Facebook and Google — despite promising to keep it private. The order required Flo to obtain users' affirmative consent before sharing health information, and to undergo an independent review of its privacy practices.
Note what this is and isn't: a settlement, not a criminal conviction, and Flo has since changed practices. But it established something important in the public record — data typed into a cycle-and-pregnancy app did flow to third parties, at scale, while users believed it was private.
The Mozilla review: 18 warning labels out of 25
In 2022, Mozilla's *Privacy Not Included team reviewed 25 popular reproductive-health apps and gadgets — period trackers, pregnancy trackers, fertility wearables. They put their privacy warning label on 18 of the 25. Not one or two bad apples: the majority of the category, as reviewed against Mozilla's criteria for data sharing, data control and security practices.
Two pregnancy-specific examples from that research, both based on the companies' own policies: Mozilla's reviews report that The Bump and Ovia can transmit extensive data to advertisers and partners — targeted advertising, data from resellers, broad "we may share" clauses. The details are in the linked reviews and in the policies they quote.
When the policy says the quiet part out loud
Sometimes you don't need a regulator or a researcher — just the app's own documents. Pregnancy+, the Philips-owned tracker and one of the biggest pregnancy apps in the world, describes in its own privacy notice that data may be shared with external media channels — including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest — for advertising purposes. Its Spanish App Store listing carries Apple's label warning that data may be used to track you across companies — on the same store page whose copy invites you to share the journey with your partner, grandparents and friends.
Again, calmly: this is disclosed, legal, and the price of a free app. Millions of families accept that trade knowingly, and Pregnancy+ is by many accounts a polished product. The point is only that the trade exists — and that it's written down where you can check it.
Why this keeps happening (it's not a conspiracy)
A free app still costs money to run. If you're not paying, the business usually is advertising — and pregnancy is one of the most commercially valuable life events there is, because expecting families are about to change everything they buy. So the incentive to share data with ad platforms isn't a scandal; it's the business model working as designed. The fix isn't outrage. It's choosing products whose business model doesn't need your data — and verifying that in writing.
One more thing worth knowing before the checklist: if you're in the UK or EU, you already have enforceable rights over data an app holds about you. Under the GDPR you can demand a copy of it, have it corrected or deleted, and withdraw any consent you gave — by plain email to the address in the privacy policy. If you've been using an app you no longer trust, export what you can, delete the account (not just the app icon), and move on. Nine months are too precious to spend inside a product you side-eye.
The fix isn't outrage. It's choosing products whose business model doesn't need your data.
The receipts, in one view
Everything above, in one table — each row is a fact already cited in this article, from the linked primary source:
| App | What its own policy / the record says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Flo | 2021 FTC settlement over sharing users' sensitive health data with marketing and analytics firms, including Facebook and Google | FTC order |
| Pregnancy+ | Own privacy notice describes sharing data with external media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) for advertising; Spanish App Store listing carries Apple's cross-company tracking label | Privacy notice · App Store |
| The Bump | Mozilla's review reports it can transmit extensive data to advertisers and partners per its own policy | Mozilla |
| Ovia | Mozilla's review reports the same pattern, per its own policy | Mozilla |
| 18 of 25 | Reproductive-health apps and gadgets given Mozilla's privacy warning label in its 2022 review | Mozilla report |
A fair checklist for judging any pregnancy app
- Follow the money. Is it ad-funded, subscription, or one-off purchase? Ad-funded means advertisers are a customer too.
- Read one section of the policy. Skip to "how we share your information". Count the categories of recipient. "Partners for marketing purposes" is the phrase to notice.
- Check the store privacy label. Apple's "data used to track you" label and Google's data-safety section are self-declared but still revealing.
- Look for deletion. Can you delete your account and its content, and does the policy say what happens to backups?
- Where does the data live? Policies that name a storage region (e.g. the EU) are making a checkable commitment.
- Health data needs consent. Under GDPR, pregnancy data is special-category; a serious policy names its legal bases.
Where we stand (so you can hold us to it)
Since we've quoted everyone else's policies, here's ours in one paragraph — judge it by the same checklist. (Full disclosure: Peanut Junior is our own app.) Peanut Junior is a one-off purchase (€49.99, no subscription): you are the only customer, which is the structural part. Our privacy policy states: no tracking or advertising cookies, no advertising profiles, and we never sell your data. Usage is measured first-party with no third-party trackers, in aggregate only. Your space's data is stored within the EU, shared only with the family members you invite, and you can delete it at any time. Pregnancy health data is processed on the basis of your explicit consent, as GDPR requires.
FAQ
Do pregnancy apps sell your data?
Some share it. The public record includes the FTC's settlement with Flo over sharing health data with third parties, Mozilla's 18-of-25 warning labels in 2022, and policies — like Pregnancy+'s — that describe sharing data with external media channels for advertising. Practices vary by app: the answer is in each app's own privacy policy.
What happened with the Flo app and the FTC?
In 2021 the FTC finalized a settlement with Flo Health after alleging the app shared sensitive health data with marketing and analytics firms, including Facebook and Google, despite promising privacy. The order required affirmative consent before sharing health data and an independent privacy review.
Which pregnancy app is safest for privacy?
There's no evergreen safe list. Check four things instead: how the app makes money, what its policy's sharing section says, what the app-store privacy label declares, and whether full deletion is possible. An app you pay for, with no ads, has structurally fewer reasons to share your data.
Can I track my pregnancy without giving data to advertisers?
Yes. Paid, ad-free options exist whose stated policy is never to sell data — Peanut Junior is one, and not the only one. Whatever you pick, verify it in writing in the privacy policy.
A pregnancy space with one customer: you. No ads, no trackers, no data sold.
Create your private space →Peanut Junior — a private pregnancy space for families.
This article is general information, not medical or legal advice — for anything about your own pregnancy, talk to your midwife or doctor.