In today’s digital world, we understand that there are a lot of questions about how your data is used and protected. At Natural Cycles, we take data protection seriously – we realize the trust you put in us to keep your sensitive data safe, and since many of us who work here use the app ourselves, we truly do treat your data as if it’s our own.
You can read our full Privacy Policy here or in the app but we have also answered some commonly asked questions about data privacy below.
What is NC° Secure?
Do you sell my data to third parties?
Who owns the sensitive data that I put into the app?
Should I be concerned about my data being shared with government agencies?
What types of data do you collect through the app and why?
What types of data do you need explicit consent to collect?
If I do not give consent to Natural Cycles to store my sensitive data, will I still be able to use the app?Where is the sensitive data stored?
For how long do you store my sensitive data?
Do you share my sensitive data with third parties?
What if I do not want Natural Cycles to use my data for research purposes?
How do you anonymize my data?
Do you store my notes?
What is Apple Health and how does it relate to your data collection or processing?
Do you use cookies on your website? If so, what type and why? Can they be disabled?
What is NC° Secure?
NC° Secure is Natural Cycles’ comprehensive privacy protection program that is included with every Natural Cycles subscription. The program includes advanced data protection, a commitment to you and your data, and identity protection. You can learn more about it here.
Do you sell my data to third parties?
No. We never have – and never will – sell our users’ data. That's one of the reasons why you pay your subscription fee; so we don't need to make money elsewhere.
Who owns the sensitive data that I put into the app?
All data you provide to us is owned by you, even when you provide your consent for us to store or use the data. In accordance with GDPR, you may ask us to delete your data at any time or export it for you in a readable, usable format.
Should I be concerned about my data being shared with government agencies?
At Natural Cycles, we will always do everything in our power to make sure that our users’ data is safe with us, no matter the circumstances. We remain focused on being a company committed to doing the right thing for our users. Natural Cycles will provide personally identifying data in response to a third-party inquiry only if required by a valid legal process, but will take all possible steps to keep your data private.
You can learn more about the steps we will take to keep your data private in our privacy policy (section 6.5).
Acting in your best interest may mean offering you an additional layer on top of our existing protection in order to protect your identity. If your data may be at an increased risk, we’re currently testing identity protection functionality.
What types of data do you collect through the app and why?
Natural Cycles may process the following personal data about you – this is collectively referred to as “Personal Data”:
We also collect information such as the temperature measurements you input each day and information you provide about the days you have had unprotected sex. This is a special category of Personal Data, which needs special protection. We call this Sensitive Data, and for us to store and process this information, we must have explicit consent. We need the Sensitive Data to provide you with the service you signed up for – i.e. to help you prevent or plan a pregnancy.
Another way that we use this data is to help us monitor the effectiveness of Natural Cycles as a method of contraception. To do this, we anonymize the Sensitive Data from all our users, combine it into one large data pool, and review it monthly to check that our effectiveness rate remains constant; this is a requirement of the notified body that granted our certification for contraception.
What types of data do you need explicit consent to collect?
For us to store and process any data relating to health and sexual life (i.e. Sensitive Data), it is mandatory that we have explicit consent from you.
Your consent is our legal basis for processing Sensitive Data (special categories of Personal Data), as stated in Article 9 of the GDPR. ‘Processing’ includes actions such as collect, store, structure, align, run the algorithm, or a combination of the mentioned.
For all other personal data, like name, age, and contact information, you agree to us storing and processing them by signing up and creating a user account, so we do not need your explicit consent for processing these.
If I do not give consent to Natural Cycles to store my sensitive data, will I still be able to use the app?
For us to store and process any data relating to health and sexual life, we need to have explicit consent from you.
If you don’t give consent for us to store and process your sensitive data, the app will not work. We require this information to provide you with the service you signed up for – i.e. to help you prevent or plan a pregnancy.
Should you still wish to remove that consent, click the top menu > Settings > Consent and Permissions > untick I consent to Natural Cycles’ use of sensitive personal data that I add to the app, such as health and intercourse data, to enable and provide the services.
Where is the sensitive data stored?
Sensitive data provided by you is stored on our servers.
We choose to store sensitive data within the EEA (European Economic Area) as much as possible. However, data can be transferred outside of EEA; in those cases, we have agreements in place with the processors to ensure the highest security standards.
For how long do you store my sensitive data?
To ensure compliance with GDPR standards, we anonymize all sensitive data and delete all personal data that can identify a user 3 years after an individual stops using our service.
However, you may request that we delete your account and anonymize your data at any time, and you can also do this yourself in the app by going to the menu > My account > Delete account. We write a bit more about this here.
Do you share my sensitive data with third parties?
Natural Cycles does not share sensitive data with third parties, with the exception of anonymized data that we share with researchers — and only if users consent to their data being used in such a way.
If you’ve consented for us to use your health data for research into women’s reproductive health, this data will be shared with organizations such as universities, who help us to conduct scientific research. For our research, we use pseudonymized copies of production data wherever possible. This means that this data cannot be linked back to you as an individual. We anonymize information by either deleting all information that can be connected to you or encrypting it in such a way that it cannot be reversed.
What if I don’t want Natural Cycles to use my data for research purposes?
You don’t need to give your consent if you don’t want to. If you don’t give consent, you will still be able to use the app, and your data will not be used for research purposes.
When you first start using the app, you will be asked if you consent to your data being used for research about women’s reproductive health. If you change your mind and wish to withdraw or give consent, you can do so at any time by going to the top menu > Settings > Consent and Permissions > tick or untick ‘Natural Cycles can use my health data for research in women’s reproductive health’.
For our research, we use pseudonymized copies of production data wherever possible. This means that this data cannot be linked back to you as an individual. We anonymize information by either deleting all information that can be connected to you or encrypting it in such a way that it cannot be reversed.
By giving us your consent to use your data for research purposes, you are contributing to driving women’s health forward by making sure that the studies and research conducted are representative of people like you. For examples of how we conduct research about women’s reproductive health, you can visit our research library here.
How do you anonymize my data?
For any activities that need real user data, such as clinical research and app development, we use pseudonymized copies of production data wherever possible. This means that this data cannot be linked back to you as an individual. We anonymize information by either deleting all information that can be connected to you or encrypting it in such a way that it cannot be reversed.
We remove sufficient data to ensure that any data we keep could apply to at least 10 real people, thus eliminating even very sophisticated identity reversal techniques and cross-references with other data sources. That includes removing all direct identifiers like name, street address, email, IP address, etc., but it also includes masking part of postal codes, birthdays, etc.
Do you store my notes?
We store your notes and save them, otherwise, you would not be able to access them if you should get logged out or if you log on to the app from a new device. We only process anonymized data and we do not view individual notes, but only overall statistics (e.g. overall number of women that log #PMS).
What is Apple Health and how does it relate to your data collection or processing?
Apple Health allows you to sync your data from different apps into one Health app. Our integration with Apple Health enables you, for instance, to import fertility data into Natural Cycles from the Apple Health app, in case you were tracking your fertility before and don’t want to start from scratch with Natural Cycles.
You can also back up your data collected with Natural Cycles in the Apple Health app if you wish to. In the Apple Health app, you can enable which data you would like to sync. This functionality is only supported on iOS devices and not on Android.
Do you use cookies on your website? If so, what type and why? Can they be disabled?
Yes, like most companies, we use cookies on our websites. The types of cookies we use can be grouped into:
- Strictly Necessary Cookies, which are essential for the website page to function. You can disable these cookies, but some parts of the website (such as forms) will not work without them.
- Performance Cookies, which allow us to count visits and see which pages are most and least popular. Data from these cookies is aggregated and therefore anonymous. You can disable these cookies with no impact on your browsing experience.
- Functionality Cookies, which enable enhanced functionality and personalization. You can disable these cookies, but some elements of the website may not function properly without them.
- Marketing Cookies, which are used to track visitors across websites in order to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual users. You can disable these by disabling all cookies in your browser, but the website may not function properly without them.