Public health bodies urged to launch period tracking apps to protect data

Women's personal information at risk of being harvested by private firms running their own versions, report warns

Public health bodies should launch alternatives to commercial period tracker apps, experts have said, as a report warns women's personal data is at risk of being harvested by private companies.

Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a goldmine" for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use, according to the research by the University of Cambridge.