Practical digital safety tips to help you protect your privacy, reduce tracking risks, and safely access private sexual and reproductive health information
As digital tracking becomes standard and legal action against reproductive freedom increases, we can start to build better digital safety habits into our routines. Often, the information we enter into phone apps does not just stay there; it gets recorded and sold by companies looking to profit off our data, or even shared with police so they can use it to track and imprison people. There are simple steps we can take to keep our data in our own hands while seeking reproductive health information.
- Device and App Privacy
- Turn off notifications and preview messages so abortion or contraception content does not appear on lock screens. Learn how to do this on an iphone here, or android phone here.
- On shared phones, close private apps after each session and clear the recent apps list when possible.
- Location and Tracking
- Review phone settings and disable location access for apps with private information. Learn how on an iphone, or android phone.
- Turn off general location services while reading sensitive health content to reduce the chance of activity being logged by other apps. Learn how to do this on an iphone here, or android phone here.
- When navigating social media, turn off location services so in-app searches and other activity are not captured.
- To avoid advertiser tracking and ad targeting, disable your mobile ID. This article breaks it down.
- Sharing Information Safely
- Avoid sending screenshots that include reproductive health information or images.
- Consider using more subtle wording, for example, avoiding using the word abortion in less secure communication channels.
- When links must be shared, use trusted and more secure messaging channels like Signal whenever possible instead of texts or messaging within social media.
- Personal Safety Considerations
- Choose private moments and spaces when exploring sections like abortion methods or emergency contraception guidance.
- If storing this information on a shared device feels unsafe, read key sections once, note important steps, then close the apps and clear recent usage lists.
- Keep in mind that the most common risks come from our own social networks and in-person exposures. We will share more in this series about managing risks with your circle!
Hesperian’s apps are designed with privacy built-in so you can focus on your health without worrying about covering your tracks. Download our Family Planning, Safe Pregnancy and Birth, and Safe Abortion Apps here! Our apps do not track or save your presonal data. Here are tips for staying safe while using them:
- Safe Use of Core Features
- If you can’t safely download something to your device, our apps are also available within our website. Because our apps do not track or save your personal data, we recommend entering info into the pregnancy calculator in the app instead of on a web browser.
- When investigating different types of abortions or comparing contraception methods, use the app instead of searching the web.
- While opening links in-app prevents info from being stored in search history, it will still appear in browser history. Delete your history regularly.
- Use the home button after you are done browsing information in the app.
- Offline Use and Reduced Digital Footprint
- After downloading, all of our apps can be used offline. You can read step-by-step medication abortion instructions, dosage schedules, contraception comparisons, and safety guidance without leaving a digital footprint linked to private topics.
