Your Privacy Toolkit: 3 Ways to Protect Your Health Data

By Kate Eskins Senior Privacy Counsel

Protecting your reproductive health data matters. But when life is busy, you shouldn’t have to dig through endless settings, decode long policies, or wonder whether essential protections are reserved for paying users. Privacy should be simple, built in, and available to everyone — whether you subscribe or not.

As a Senior Privacy Counsel at Flo, I work closely with our Trust and Product teams to ensure our privacy features are clear, effective, and designed with you in mind — giving you real choice and control over your data.

Here are three quick and effective features designed to help protect your reproductive health data.

1. Enable Anonymous Mode

This is the most powerful privacy protection available in any period tracking app. 

Anonymous Mode is our unique and award-winning feature that allows you to access the app without linking your identity to your health information. This feature is available to all users, no matter your subscription status or your location. 

If you choose to enable Anonymous Mode, we’ll transfer your cycle information to your new anonymous account but will not transfer information that identifies you. 

Be aware that switching to Anonymous Mode is irreversible and there are some service limitations. Once you have switched we will delete your old account and you will not be able to recover it. 

2. Lock Down Your Device and App

Even the strongest privacy features won’t help if someone can access your unlocked phone. Protect your device with a strong passcode (avoid obvious choices like 1234 or your birthday), enable biometric security such as Face ID or fingerprint unlock, and set your screen to lock automatically after 1–2 minutes of inactivity.

Flo also offers an app-level passcode protection feature. Within your app settings you can set a 4-digit code to protect your Flo account, and iOS users can enable Touch or Face ID to unlock the app. This adds another layer of protection, so both your device and your app need to be unlocked to access your data.

3. Make Your Notifications Private

Lock screen notifications can be visible to anyone who glances at your phone. By default, period tracking reminders may include specific details — such as “Your period is expected tomorrow” or “You’re in your fertile window.” That means coworkers, family members, or others nearby could see these updates without you realising.

For added privacy, you can customize your notifications in the app settings to suit your comfort level. For example, instead of a reminder that your period is due, you can amend it to a more discreet message like "Check in on your cycle." You'll still see your full prediction when you open the app — but the notification itself stays private.

This small change can make a big difference — especially if you’re often around others or use a shared device. 

Related Resources:

• Anonymous Mode
• Privacy Portal 
• Privacy FAQ