Wearing a smartwatch and recording all physical activities, along with the nutrition we take is highly convenient for the dieting apps which plan diets and exercise routines tailored for us.
All the online health data that is recorded and analysed, apart from the long online questionnaires asking users about their gender, weight, exercise habits, geolocation etc. are used by the dieting apps for pushing targeted ads and selling the information to interested third parties.

The Data We Give To Health Tracking Apps

The terabytes of user data recorded through tracking apps and smartwatches can end up with third parties, Facebook, Google Analytics, Yandex and data analysis firms who mine it for commercial purposes.User data is the currency of the decade and has made companies offer free products to consumers and yet enter the Fortune 500 club.Users need to demand more transparency into how their data is used and protected, to avoid being a product to these companies.

Data Is The New Goldmine

<figure><picture><source media="(max-width: 40em)"><img width="705" height="396" alt="What exactly are dieting apps doing with all your data?" srcset="https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_562, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/08/p-1-diet-apps-data.jpg 562w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_937, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/08/p-1-diet-apps-data.jpg 937w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_1153, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90662116/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/08/p-1-diet-apps-data.jpg 1153w"></picture></figure>If you’ve ever tried out a dieting app, you might have filled out a questionnaire asking you about your body type, weight, exercise, and eating habits, and possibly even medical information, like whether you have diabetes. Ostensibly that data is used to inform what kind of diet the app suggests, but <a href="https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/4603/unhealthy-diet-targeted-ads-investigation-how-diet-industry-exploits-our-data" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">new research</a> reveals diet companies may be using it in other ways. According to London-based non-profit Privacy International, diet apps are sometimes sharing this data with third-party marketers and not protecting it securely. The report also raises questions around whether U.S. laws adequately protect online health data that isn’t hosted by a medical entity.<div>advertisement</div>Researchers at the organization filled out questionnaires for the diet apps Noom, BetterMe, and VShred several times, each time entering slightly different data to see if it rendered a different recommendation. The researchers found that regardless of the data entered, the results tended to be the same. For example, the researchers entered a variety of starting weights and goal weights into BetterMe. Each time, the suggested plan was identical, promising that the person could lose nine pounds after the first week of the program and that 83% of “similar people” lost more than 17 pounds on their platform. (In a response, BetterMe says that the data is used to determined a daily calorie intake and whether individuals have dietary preferences, like vegetarian).The same was true for VShred, which asked for gender, age, height, weight, exercise habits, and workout goals. While the company did provide people with a custom set of “daily macros” or allowed calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein per day, its fitness and nutrition recommendations were the same books and mobile videos regardless of the information entered. Noom, by contrast, gives clients a timeline within which they will lose weight and then asks for additional personal information as a way of predicting the shortest amount of time to meet a weight goal. In total, Privacy International estimates that Noom asks at least 50 questions about a person’s mental health, physical health habits, and medical profile.<figure><img alt="" width="347" height="457" src="https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_596,c_limit,q_auto:best,f_auto/wp-cms/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-03-at-3_06_24-PM.png"></figure><div>advertisement</div>So what happens to this information? Among its other findings, Privacy International found that information inputted into VShred’s website appeared in its URL, making it accessible by third party ad platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook, and Yandex. On BetterMe, only information about gender seemed to show up in its URL data. Researchers also found that Noom actively shared all of its consumer data with a company called Fullstory, a data analytics firm.In a response to Privacy International, BetterMe cited its privacy policy. VShred did not respond to a request for comment by press time, but in its privacy policy it <a href="https://vshred.com/privacy-policy?ref=contact" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">discloses</a> that it collects and shares information with third parties, including geolocation. In a request for comment, a Noom spokesperson said: “Noom takes its data protection obligations seriously and has developed a robust data protection compliance program to comply with evolving legal requirements.” It adds that data is only shared with service providers and is collected to enhance the user experience.<figure><picture><img alt="Fast Company announces details of seventh annual innovation festival" src="https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2021/07/poster-fast-company-innovation-festival-annoucement-2021.jpg"></picture></figure>

Nonprofit Privacy International’s new report shows how three dieting apps are collecting a lot of personal and medical data and may be sharing it with third parties. 


computerscience

Computer Science

If you’ve ever tried out a dieting app, you might have filled out a questionnaire asking you about your body type, weight, exercise, and eating habits, and possibly even medical information, like whether you have diabetes. Ostensibly that data is used to inform what kind of diet the app suggests, but <a href="https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/4603/unhealthy-diet-targeted-ads-investigation-how-diet-industry-exploits-our-data">new research </a>reveals diet companies may be using it in other ways. According to London-based non-profit Privacy International, diet apps are sometimes sharing this data with third-party marketers and not protecting it securely. The report also raises questions around whether U.S. laws adequately protect online health data that isn’t hosted by a medical entity.

Researchers at the organization filled out questionnaires for the diet apps Noom, BetterMe, and VShred several times, each time entering slightly different data to see if it rendered a different recommendation. The researchers found that regardless of the data entered, the results tended to be the same. For example, the researchers entered a variety of starting weights and goal weights into BetterMe. Each time, the suggested plan was identical, promising that the person could lose nine pounds after the first week of the program and that 83% of “similar people” lost more than 17 pounds on their platform. (In a response, BetterMe says that the data is used to determined a daily calorie intake and whether individuals have dietary preferences, like vegetarian).

The same was true for VShred, which asked for gender, age, height, weight, exercise habits, and workout goals. While the company did provide people with a custom set of “daily macros” or allowed calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein per day, its fitness and nutrition recommendations were the same books and mobile videos regardless of the information entered. Noom, by contrast, gives clients a timeline within which they will lose weight and then asks for additional personal information as a way of predicting the shortest amount of time to meet a weight goal. In total, Privacy International estimates that Noom asks at least 50 questions about a person’s mental health, physical health habits, and medical profile.

So what happens to this information? Among its other findings, Privacy International found that information inputted into VShred’s website appeared in its URL, making it accessible by third party ad platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook, and Yandex. On BetterMe, only information about gender seemed to show up in its URL data. Researchers also found that Noom actively shared all of its consumer data with a company called Fullstory, a data analytics firm.

In a response to Privacy International, BetterMe cited its privacy policy. VShred did not respond to a request for comment by press time, but in its privacy policy it <a href="https://vshred.com/privacy-policy?ref=contact">discloses </a>that it collects and shares information with third parties, including geolocation. In a request for comment, a Noom spokesperson said: “Noom takes its data protection obligations seriously and has developed a robust data protection compliance program to comply with evolving legal requirements.” It adds that data is only shared with service providers and is collected to enhance the user experience.

What exactly are dieting apps doing with all your data?

The Data We Give To Health Tracking Apps

Data Is The New Goldmine

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