Which data could possibly be more personal than your health and fitness stats?
In the age of the app, we’ve grown used to trading our privacy for free gadgets and magical phone software. You might feel queasy at the prospect of data-sharing when a fitness app demands everything from your shoe size to your appetite to your nocturnal behavior. But the flourishing of Fitbit, Eve, and Calm proves that if an app can make you healthier, fitter, or – let’s face it – sexier, many of us are willing to share our vital statistics.
Supplement Timing analyzed the official privacy policies of the top health and fitness apps to see which data each one asks of its users. We identified 27 different data types and gave the apps 2 points for each type they track by default and 1 point for types that require user permission. The ones with the most points are the ones that are most data-tracking-intensive.
KEY FINDINGS
- The app that tracks the most data is a medical app called Maven, which collects 23 types of data and has a score of 31 points.
- Fitbit is the fourth hungriest data-tracker in our study, with 27 points.
- Nutrition & Weight Loss apps track 15 of the 27 data types, and this is the top category because they are most likely to track that data by default.
- The least data-intrusive app is a mental health tool, WorryWatch, which only uses the device data it gets from the app store.
