Flo Statement on Data Privacy
We take users’ privacy and data security extremely seriously which is why Flo has never sold any data point to Facebook as well as we never used sensitive data from Facebook Analytics for advertisement. We utilized Facebook Analytics tool, as many other apps do, for us to ensure our app offers the best experience for our users. To clarify, any use of these tools was for internal development only to improve our functionality and service to our users. We also adhere to all legislation around data privacy and security. As a precaution, we have deleted the Facebook SDK from the app and have requested to delete all user data from Facebook Analytics. We will also be conducting a comprehensive data privacy external audit and would encourage any user with concerns to contact us via our dedicated email privacy@flo.health.
- Flo never sold any data point to Facebook as well as never used data from Facebook Analytics for advertisement.
- Facebook Analytics tool was used for Flo internal purposes only: to improve app functionality and to provide best customer experience.
- We have proactively deleted Facebook SDK from app, filed the request to delete all user data from Facebook Analytics and released app update.
- We have initiated a comprehensive external audit on the data privacy matter and will inform users if any further changes are going to be enacted.
Background
We at Flo would like to apologize if any of our users have been distressed by some recent media reports. We would like to clarify that your privacy and data security are of the highest priority for us. We value our users and their trust and can assure you that Flo has never sold any data point to Facebook and we have never leveraged users’ personal data for running Facebook Advertisements.
We did, however, use external analytics tools to maximize the benefits of Flo for our users to improve app functionality and make our product clear and useful for millions of women worldwide. Our users rely on us for accuracy and it is using these tools that helps us to do that. To be clear, Facebook Analytics tool is not the same as the Facebook social media site. Usage of these tools is very common practice and a process used by many apps worldwide. Here is a recent example to portray how we used insights from Facebook Analytics. A couple of months ago we noticed that it’s challenging for our users to log childbirth and enter postpartum mode. Users simply couldn’t find a way to do it, and that revealed an opportunity for our UI improvement: we made the postpartum mode accessible from the main screen with one tap. This finding was driven by the insights from analytical systems, and with its help we managed to improve user experience and stressless.
Facebook states it doesn’t use data from Facebook Analytics for any other purposes besides providing app developers with aggregated insights, and we do not have ground to assume otherwise.
On our end, our policy is to take every step to ensure that individual user's data and privacy rights are protected. That’s why we have already initiated a comprehensive external audit on the data privacy matter. The framework for all analytics systems will be closely scrutinized and we will respectively inform users if any changes are going to be enacted. We have proactively deleted Facebook SDK and filed a request to delete all user data from Facebook Analytics. Furthermore, we have released app update that doesn’t send custom app events to any external analytics system, including Facebook Analytics.
We stand for the transparent & open dialogue, so strongly encourage our users to contact us via the dedicated email privacy@flo.health if they have any questions or suggestions on the opportunities for us to improve.