3. After deleting your application, ask the application provider to delete your data. Just because you’ve deleted the app from your phone doesn’t mean the company got rid of your records. In fact, California is the only state where you are legally required to delete your data. However, many companies are willing to remove it upon request. Here’s a helpful Washington Post guide that tells you how you can do it.
Here’s how to securely track your period without an app.
1. Use a spreadsheet. It’s relatively easy to recreate the functions of a period tracker in a spreadsheet by listing the dates of your past periods and calculating the average time from the first day of one to the first day of the next. You can use one of the many templates that are already available online, such as Tracking the Period Created by Aufrichtig and the Menstrual Cycle Calendar and Tracking the Period Created by Laura Cutler. If you like the scientific aspect of period applications, the templates offer the ability to send you reminders about upcoming periods, record symptoms, and keep track of blood flow.
2. Use a digital calendar. If spreadsheets make you dizzy and your whole life is already on a digital calendar, try to make your period a recurring event, suggests Emory University student Alexa Mohsenzadeh, who made a TikTok video that demonstrates the process.
Mohsenzadeh says no applications are lost. “I can tailor it to my needs and add notes on how I feel and see if it’s related to my period,” she says. “You only need to enter it once.”
3. Go to analog and use a notebook or paper planner. We are a technology publication, but the fact is that the safest way to prevent your menstrual data from being accessible to others is to take it offline. You can invest in a paper planner or just use a notebook to keep track of your period and how you are feeling.
If you feel like too much work and are looking for a simple, pointless template, try the free, printable Menstrual Cycle Journal available at the University of British Columbia Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research Center.
4. If your state is unlikely to prohibit abortion, you may still be able to safely use a period tracking app. The most important thing will be to choose one that has a clear privacy setting and has publicly committed not to share user data with the authorities. Quintin says Clue is a good choice because he is subject to EU privacy laws and has left a record with his promise not to share information with authorities.