Your Period Tracker Is a Witness
After the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, searches for "private period tracker" surged 3,000%. Millions of people suddenly realized that the intimate health data they'd been logging for years — cycle dates, symptoms, sexual activity — could be used against them in court. They were right to worry.
Most period tracking apps earn revenue by selling user data to third parties — even when they advertise privacy. Data brokers buy aggregated health information. Advertising networks use cycle data for targeted marketing. And in a post-Dobbs legal landscape, that data has become potential evidence.
The Subpoena Problem
Here's what most people don't understand: if your health data exists on a company's server, it can be subpoenaed. It doesn't matter what the privacy policy says. It doesn't matter if the company "anonymized" it. Courts have consistently found that companies must produce records when legally compelled to do so.
After Dobbs, some apps scrambled to respond. Flo launched an "Anonymous Mode." Clue, based in Europe, saw a 2,200% spike in downloads by pointing out that EU data protection laws shield their servers from US subpoenas. These are bandaids. They treat the symptom — server-side data exposure — without addressing the cause.
The cause is simple: the data shouldn't be on someone else's server in the first place.
What "Zero Data Collection" Actually Means
When we built Cara, our menstrual cycle tracking app, we made one non-negotiable design decision: zero data collection. Not "minimal data collection." Not "anonymized data collection." Zero.
Your cycle data is stored locally on your device in an encrypted container. It never touches our servers because we don't have servers for it. There's no account to create. No cloud sync. No analytics. No way for us — or anyone else — to access your data, because we never had it.
You can't subpoena what doesn't exist. You can't breach what was never stored. You can't sell what you never collected.
Free. Because Health Privacy Isn't a Premium Feature.
Cara is free. Not freemium. Not "free with ads." Free — because we believe basic health tracking shouldn't come with a surveillance price tag. There's no business model that requires your data. The app runs on your phone, stores data on your phone, and that's it.
In 22 states with abortion restrictions, this isn't a theoretical concern. It's a practical one. And the solution isn't better privacy policies or European server locations. The solution is architecture that makes data collection impossible by design.
Your health data should be yours. Period.
Cara: cycle tracking with zero data collection. Free, forever.
Learn About Cara →