Is my period tracking app stealing my data?! w/ Stardust founder Rachel Moranis

07/11/22 • 20 min

Period Chats - A hormone wellness podcast.

**Warning as info changes we will do our best to record new episodes and update info**

On today’s episode, we chat with Rachel Moranis, the CEO of Stardust Period Tracker.

Rachel explains app data sharing, encryption, and everything we need to know about being able to track our cycles without our information being shared.

We won’t mention any names but... (throat-clearing cough that sounds suspiciously like the word “flo”) some apps sell your personal data for advertising reasons.

On the contrary, The Stardust app never sells your data, and it keeps you anonymous through encryption. It’s also female-owned, compared to some period tracking apps that are owned by men and large companies.

Besides the fact that advertisers creepily want to know when we’re ovulating because marketing research has shown that people tend to buy more during those days, it also may be important to keep your health data inaccessible for legal reasons.

It’s crazy to think about, but there may be a day in the near future where someone’s cycle information could get subpoenaed in a court of law - potentially to try and incriminate someone in a state where abortion may soon become illegal. Hopefully not, but doesn’t it make sense to track your data in an encrypted and private way, just in case?

Check out Stardust here --> https://www.thestardustapp.com/

Here is a list of period tracking apps that are not selling your data:

1. Stardust

2. The Agenda Period

3. Clue

**Warning as info changes we will do our best to record new episodes and update info**

On today’s episode, we chat with Rachel Moranis, the CEO of Stardust Period Tracker.

Rachel explains app data sharing, encryption, and everything we need to know about being able to track our cycles without our information being shared.

We won’t mention any names but... (throat-clearing cough that sounds suspiciously like the word “flo”) some apps sell your personal data for advertising reasons.

Check out Stardust here --> https://www.thestardustapp.com/

Here is a list of period tracking apps that are not selling your data:

1. Stardust

2. The Agenda Period

3. Clue

Previous Episode

Body Hair, PCOS, TikTok & life with special guest Avocado Allie

On today’s episode of the Period Chats podcast, we talk with Avocado Allie! Allie is a content creator, model and certified yoga instructor, who works with size-inclusive brands and artists around the world to promote self-love and celebrate authenticity.

Kate met Allie through TikTok and was immediately inspired by how she uses her platform for healing. Allie shares about her experience with OCD and PCOS, and brings her followers alongside her on the journey. Her presence online fosters a much-needed community of body acceptance and natural health wisdom.

We all know social media can be a bit of a two-edged sword - connecting us with like-minded communities, but also exposing content creators to the more closed-minded troll types. Allie’s positive outlook is evident as she shares how even negative comments can help her go viral and spread love.

Ally went to school for art and spent time in figure-drawing classes, and she now poses online for similar classes at universities all over the UK. She shares with Kate how this has become a practice in confidence, patience and authenticity.

She also explains why she moved away from the term “body positivity” to “body neutrality” and “body acceptance,” and why she feels that these can be more helpful terms.

Allie and Kate talk about the high prevalence of PCOS and why better education about it is needed in the medical community, and in pop culture. They brainstorm how doctors might stop equivocating weight and health, and how western, functional, and alternative practitioners all have a place.

Today’s chat ends with a shout-out to Allie’s very meaningful and beautiful social media community, where you can find some PCOS “cyst”ers, check out Ally’s partnerships with conscious brands, and join her on the continuing journey of flourishing!

Make sure you follow Avocado Ally and join in on the conversation:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@avocado_allie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avocado_allie/

Next Episode

Sex Education and Abortion Data Deep Dive

This episode is 18+

Welcome back to the Period Chats Podcast! Today Danielle Bezalel joins us to chat about abortion.

Danielle is a host of the Sex Education with DB podcast, a feminist podcast that centers LGBTQ and BIPOC experts in sex ed. She has her Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University and currently lives in Brooklyn.

With the national conversation turning to Roe v. Wade’s potential overturn, we want to bring you medically accurate information about abortion. There is so much misinformation and confusion out there right now, so let’s take a deep breath and focus on the facts.

Danielle starts us out by reviewing the types of abortion: at-home (medication-based abortion), and in-clinic (early term which is done by suction, and later-term which is done with dilation and evacuation).

Politico recently leaked a draft from the Supreme Court that stated intent to overturn Roe v. Wade and “return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” While we can’t predict exactly what the final draft will say, we should assume the overturn will be happening in June.

Of course, during the past almost-50 years, abortion has not been equally accessible to everyone in the US, and this upcoming disruption will not put everyone at equal risk. Danielle walks us through how abortion access has always been unjust and biased, and how that will likely become increasingly disproportionate again after June.

Danielle reminds us of the research that shows abortion access is a necessary and effective part of public health and explains the data linking abortion access to well-being.

We walk through the average medical costs of giving birth, having an abortion, and more.

Finally, we touch on what comes next, and Danielle encourages us to join the fight to bring medically accurate sex education into each and every state, and to stand for reproductive justice in our communities.

LISTEN: Roe V Wade and Abortion Acess with Cathren Cohen

READ: Turn Away One Pager

READ: Reproductive Justice - Sister Song

Recommended follows if you want to learn more:

@heyjanehealth

@carafem

@ifwhenhow

@aidaccess

@reprolegaldefensefund

@plancpills

Their official TikTok: @sexedwithdb

Hear Danielle’s recent podcasts: