I actually own 2 penises, I keep the spare in a jar in case of an emergency.

/s

Drip, the app mentioned several times in this thread, let's you encrypt the locally stored database with a password you have to enter every time you open the app. How is that not safer than a random piece of paper?

It's so exhausting that this thread is full of men telling women what they should and shouldn't do while having very little knowledge about the topic.

And of people who assume the genders of others.

Thank you! Had no idea this existed

I'm sorry if I misgendered you. I was already exhausted from the other comments that clearly state that they are men and probably was biased in that regard. But my point still stands that there is no reason to completely forego tracking apps.

erm, I do use Drip actually. i have used it for over a year now as I didn't want trackers knowing my cycle.

women do use drip. we just don't advertise it, usually.

i have also recommended it to friends who were looking for a more simple app than these google play store ones.

Just make sure not to lose it.

it can be tracked safely with an app that only stores local data.

I'm not sure what you're scared of.

absolutely. you can also go back to sending hand written mail instead of using email or messaging apps too, but this is 2025 and software exists to help keep track of this.

also apps exist that store local data only.

Not everyone uses Android devices.

Edit: do you people not understand context? The person I replied to specifically mentioned F-Droid, which is ANDROID ONLY.

I don't even need to follow that link to know what this is

Convenience wins out 99% of the time. Why carry a pen/paper when one can use the same device they already carry around? Hell, I don't even use pen/paper anymore because my phone handles all that for me.

That said, I did set up some infrastructure at home that I use to store as much of my private data as possible.

I legitimately have an idea for an app that solves this problem. Its key feature, besides being open source, would be that people without uteruses could use it too, making any data conceivably collected useless.

I don’t have the skills to make it myself (yet), but if any developer wants to talk I’ll give the idea away. I just want it to be made.

App would be open source, all data local. Perhaps the option to sync to encrypted iCloud or Android equivalent, but certainly not a cloud-based option you need a new login for. All the features currently in these kinds of apps and that make them useful for menstruating people. Now replace “period” with “hair cut”. Non-menstruating people can now use it, earnestly, for tracking when their last hair cut was, making it useful and the data (if it were to be collected somehow) just noise.

I even have a name in mind: “hair**.**cuts” (heavy emphasis on the period in the name.) Idea is that anyone with it on their device has plausible deniability that they are using it for period tracking, but the “period” in the name is an implicit wink so we all know what it’s really being used for.

Thank you for the public service announcement, I had no idea this was such a common issue. I should probably keep some emergency testicles around as well..

To be honest, the backing up is not trivial for most.

Even for me, while the technical aspect is no problem, the mental burden of thinking to do the backup and then the few minutes it takes to do the backup. Not a problem for a local only FOSS app but its quite a task to keep track of 10+ apps with different backup/export options, backup-passwords and so on.
I use a ToDo-App with recurring tasks but still

oh shit. i have a fitbit versa 2 which has menstrual tracking on it and I'm using an android phone.

Yeah, and of course I haven't looked into all of the tech and security of ways to set up these apps. I'm just exhausted myself from it seeming like nothing is ever 100% secure or free from risk, and I'm so cynical about the country I live in and what it will become in the future that I would just rather not trust anything at this point. I'm sure that doesn't 100% hold water/is completely rational, but it's where my head is.

I tried to talk to my wife about data ownership, opensource, etc. but it's difficult to convey how important it is. She uses Flow. I'm trying to get her to at least try alternatives such as Drip

Thank you !

Well on iOS there’s the Apple health app. To my knowledge it stores health data locally. I’ll double check now.

Edit: it does store health data in iCloud by default, but according to Apple its end to end encrypted

By default, iCloud automatically keeps your Health app data, including health records, up to date across your devices. To disable this feature, open iCloud settings and turn off Health. iCloud protects your health records data by encrypting it both in storage and during transmission. If you're using iOS 12 or later and have turned on two-factor authentication for your Apple Account, health records are encrypted using end-to-end encryption through iCloud. This means only you can access this information, and only on devices where you’re signed in to iCloud. No one else, not even Apple, can access end-to-end encrypted information.