Anonymous Mode FAQ

Flo believes that now more than ever, everyone deserves to access, track, and gain insight into their personal health information without fearing for their safety.

Flo already encrypts all data, engages in independent privacy audits, and recently received ISO 27001 certification, making Flo the first period and ovulation tracker to achieve this milestone. Together with our robust privacy and security best practices, Flo’s Anonymous Mode introduces an even deeper layer of privacy for reproductive health data. 

Anonymous Mode gives any Flo user the option to access the app without name, email address, and technical identifiers from being associated with the health data, marking Flo the first female health app to take this level of precaution in terms of privacy and security.

Switching to Anonymous Mode is a personal choice for each Flo user to make. Regardless of whether you choose to select Anonymous Mode, we value your data and securing it is a top priority for Flo. We do not sell data and we do not share health data with any company but Flo. Once this mode is activated, you will no longer be able to recover data if your device is lost, changed, or stolen, and there may be limitations to using the app’s full features. This is why Flo is offering Anonymous Mode as an option rather than the default.

Anonymous Mode is available to our 257 million Flo community globally. The feature is localized into 20 languages and can be accessed via the iOS app’s settings. Android is coming soon.

Anonymous Mode ensures that no single party processing user data for Anonymous Mode Account has complete information on both who the user is and what they are trying to access. 

The new feature is based on decoupling health data from personal information and creating a new Anonymous Mode account that does not contain any unique user identifiers, such as email address and Google/Apple account ID; payment identifiers; or technical identifiers, such as IP address, ID for advertisers (IDFA), or other IDs. The data that is transferred from original accounts includes health data (such as logged cycle dates and symptoms), reminders, and the user’s aim for using Flo. 

This way, you’ll be able to continue enjoying accurate cycle and symptom predictions, personalized insights, and chatbots, yet ensuring that the data stays private throughout its lifecycle. When you apply Anonymous Mode, your original account will be deleted. 

As Anonymous Mode effectively creates a new account for you, in the event we received an official request to identify a user by name or email, we wouldn't be able to satisfy this request.

Flo is a sophisticated health app, offering advanced features such as health insights and predictions, personalized content, daily stories, symptom patterns, etc. If we remove all the information from your account, you would not be able to enjoy these features, as many of them are based on your symptoms and cycle events. 

Switching to Anonymous Mode leads to some limitations of the feature set available to you, which is why it is not offered as a default option.

For instance: 

• Should your device be lost or stolen, we will not be able to transfer your Anonymous Mode account’s historical data to a new phone or recover your data. 
• In the current version, we can not offer the additional level of privacy with Anonymous Mode in the case of connecting wearable devices.
• The history of interaction with stories, chatbots, and activity in Secret Chats is not transferred to the Anonymous Mode account.
• Requests to the Flo Support team will not be available from the app. This means that although you can send their request via email, the Support team will not be able to solve the problem with a specific account. They will only be able to provide generic advice.
• Email communication is not available. 

Also, in the future Flo may develop features that unfortunately will not work in Anonymous Mode due to technical limitations.

To access Anonymous Mode, please go to “Settings”  and tap your profile picture. You will see the Anonymous Mode button right below it. The mode allows you to continue using the app and benefit from accurate predictions and personalized insights, but without any connection to your personal information.

Once you’ve downloaded Flo and have an account, you can go to “Settings,” tap your profile picture and switch to Anonymous Mode.

The feature is not available for paying web users. You can use Anonymous Mode after installing the app on your mobile device. As of now, if you are a Premium Flo website user and you want to use Flo Anonymous Mode, you can do the following: 

1. Write to support@flo.health or contact Support team from Help Center (both from web or app) to cancel your web subscription.
2. Download the Flo app and use Flo’s Anonymous Mode.

No, your Premium subscription will remain active, and you will still be able to enjoy all the Premium features.

In Anonymous Mode, we do not store on our servers subscription / transaction identifiers or other subscription data that could identify users directly. Therefore, it will not be possible to identify a user while receiving the request with such data.

No. Whether you use Anonymous Mode or not, Flo does not sell data and does not share health data with any company but Flo. The only source of revenue for Flo is paid subscriptions. We have not and will not make your data the source of our revenue because that would go against our core promise to our users.

Yes, we store data on the server so users can still benefit from advanced features, such as chatbots, Health Insights, Secret Chats, and accurate predictions. But we do not store personal identifiers, such as name or email address, to avoid any connection with a specific user.

Flo is more than just a calendar app; it is an essential female health partner. Health insights and predictions, personalized content, daily stories, symptom patterns — Flo helps users stay well and live better. Flo’s ability to deliver these features requires server-side processing. The good news is that with Anonymous Mode engaged, we can deliver the core functionality in a way that does not associate any personally identifiable information.

Yes. Flo is a UK-based company, so we are subject to the UK Data Protection Act, which incorporates the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK law. GDPR covers any use of personal data by Flo no matter where in the world the user is located.

Personal data is any information that can identify you directly, such as your name, surname, or your email address. Information that can identify you indirectly is also personal data. This is information that can identify you when it is combined with other data. For example, on their own, date of birth and place of birth may not be considered personal data. This is because there are many people with the same date and place of birth. It is hard to identify a person using just one of these pieces of information. But if the date of birth is combined with the place of birth, this may be used to identify a single person and therefore would be considered personal data.

Data concerning health is any personal data that relates to physical health, mental health, health care services, or information that may reveal a person’s health status. As you use our app, you may share your health data with us.

For example, you may choose to log your weight, body temperature, menstrual cycle dates, various symptoms related to your menstrual cycle and health, and additional data including sexual and other well-being activities. We use your health data to provide you with our services and to personalize the app and its features to your specific needs and interests.

We may share aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified health data with research institutions to contribute to the advancement of scientific research on women’s health or for statistical purposes. This data cannot be used to identify you and therefore is not considered personal data.

When you switch to Anonymous Mode, a new, separate account is created for you. and certain inputted
data from your original account (such as your cycle data and marked symptoms) will be transferred to this
new account. However, information that identifies you (such as your email or IP address) will not be
transferred.

Upon switching to Anonymous Mode, a request to delete your original account is automatically triggered
and will be deleted in accordance with our privacy policy. You will be alerted of this deletion trigger ahead
of switching.

Once you have switched to Anonymous Mode, you will not have the ability to reconnect your Anonymous
account (or its associated data) to your original account.