By Alexandre Serrano Rajagopalan Privacy Counsel
You may have heard of the GDPR, but do you know what it means for the sensitive information you entrust upon Flo? More importantly, do you know the rights you have under the GDPR?
An important part of my role as Privacy Counsel at Flo is ensuring that everyone who uses our app can exercise their GDPR rights easily and effectively. That involves a wide range of work — from ensuring our users can easily submit requests, to designing and refining our internal processes for satisfying their rights and questions. It also includes regularly reviewing our response times to ensure we reply promptly and consistently well within the timeframes required by law.
Let me walk you through the rights you have, and why they are so important.
What is the GDPR and Why Should You Care?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. Often regarded as the gold standard for the protection of individuals’ personal data, the GDPR is a comprehensive law adopted in the European Union (EU) and, with some variations, in the United Kingdom (UK). It sets high standards for the collection, use, retention and protection of personal data by companies like Flo (based in the UK), while giving individuals enforceable rights over how their data is handled.
While the GDPR has helped shape several data protection laws across the globe, the privacy rights it sets out have by no means become universal. Many other countries afford fewer rights to individuals in regard to their personal data.
Nevertheless, at Flo we firmly believe that privacy rights shouldn’t be bound by geography. As part of our commitment to ensure best-in-class privacy practices worldwide, we’ve made a deliberate decision to extend GDPR rights to all Flo users regardless of where they live.
So wherever you’re located, those rights apply to you.
Your Key Rights Under GDPR
Below, you’ll find an overview of each right and how you can exercise it when using Flo.
1. The Right to Be Informed
As a way of ensuring transparency, you have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. Among other things, this includes knowing:
- What information is collected about you
- How your information is used
- Who it’s shared with
- How long it’s kept for
Our goal is to ensure you are always fully informed, giving you the clarity and confidence to make truly meaningful choices about your personal information.
How Flo ensures transparency:
We have a dedicated area in the Flo app where you can find privacy information at any time and easily understand how your data is handled:
- Go to Menu (your avatar)
- Scroll down
- In the box titled “Your data is protected”, tap “Learn more”.
We also explain how we use your personal data in clear, accessible ways on our website through our Privacy Policy and Privacy Portal.
2. The Right of Access
You have the right to access and receive a copy of your personal data – including in a structured and portable format (we use .json files) – and other supplementary information. This is sometimes called a "data subject access request" (DSAR).
Exercising this right at Flo:
- Within the Flo app:
- Go to Menu (your avatar)
- Choose Help
- Scroll down
- Use the chat widget to leave your export data request
- Via email at support@flo.health
3. The Right to Rectification
If you think your personal data is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have it corrected or completed.
Exercising this right at Flo:
You can update the information you’ve entered at any time through the app or your account settings. If you need additional help, you can also contact our Customer Support team directly at support@flo.health, and they’ll assist you with your request.
4. The Right to Erasure (The "Right to Be Forgotten")
You can request the deletion of your personal data.
Exercising this right at Flo:
- Within the Flo app:
- Select the Menu (your avatar)
- Scroll down
- Select “Privacy settings”
- Tap “delete my account”
- Via email at support@flo.health
Deleting your account is permanent. After you delete your account, we can't recover any data associated with it, including cycle and health-related data.
5. The Right to Object
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.. That right is absolute in relation to direct marketing, but it is subject to certain exemptions when it comes to other purposes
Exercising this right at Flo:
- Within the Flo app:
- Go to Menu (your avatar)
- Choose Help
- Scroll down
- Use the chat widget to leave your objection request
- Via email at support@flo.health
Alternative for marketing communications:
- Open any marketing email from Flo
- Click "Unsubscribe" at the bottom
- Confirm your choice
6. The Right to Withdraw your Consent
You have the right to withdraw any consent you have previously given at any time.
Exercising this right at Flo:
- Go to Menu (your avatar)
- Choose “Privacy settings”
- Tap “Manage your consents”
- Use the toggles to change your consent preferences.
Please note that Flo requires your consent to process your health information – if you choose to withdraw this consent, you will be directed to delete your account.
7. Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making
You have the right not to be subject to decisions that are made solely by automated means if those decisions significantly affect you.
How Flo respects this right:
While Flo provides health insights and cycle predictions based on the data you log, these are strictly informative tools designed to empower you; they are not used to make autonomous decisions for you. We remain committed to keeping you in the driver’s seat of your own health data.
Our insights offer guidance and predictions, but you remain in control at all times.
8. The Right to Lodge a Complaint
You have the right to raise a complaint, as follows;
- If you have any concerns about our privacy practices, please let us know by emailing our support team at support@flo.health or our Data Protection Officer at dpo@flo.health.
- Subject to your local laws, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority about any of our activities.
Why These Rights Matter: The Foundation of Trust
At Flo, trust starts with respect for our users’ privacy. We believe that protecting their personal information isn’t just about meeting legal requirements; it’s about honoring the deep responsibility that comes with supporting their health and wellbeing. We know that for users to feel empowered in their health journey, they need to feel safe, and privacy is fundamental for that. That is why we treat privacy as a non-negotiable pillar of our technology.
Ultimately, getting this right matters because it’s how we turn our privacy values into a real, everyday experience for the people who rely on Flo.
Your body. Your data.
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