A blog post from a senior Google executive revealed that Fitbit will soon roll out an update to allow users to delete their menstrual tracking logs more efficiently.
The blog post, published on July 1 by Jen Fitzpatrick (opens in a new tab), Google's senior vice president of core systems, is titled "Protecting people's privacy in health issues" and details the changes made. by Google to protect and remove personal health. information from the Google ecosystem.
This includes the ability for users to automatically delete their location history and notify users of requests for information from authorities, as well as deleting menstruation records.
Fitzpatrick writes: “For Google Fit and Fitbit, we provide users with settings and tools to easily access and control their personal data, including the ability to edit and delete personal information, at any time.
"For example, Fitbit users who have chosen to track their menstrual cycles in the app can currently delete one period log at a time, and we will be releasing updates that will allow users to delete multiple logs at once."
There is no mention of a timeframe for the update in the blog post. However, we can't imagine the update being too far away, given concerns expressed by many US users that health data will be used to identify people seeking abortions following the Court's cancellation. Supreme of the United States of Roe v. Wade.
The blog post also discusses the history of the locations, with Fitzpatrick writing that "some of the places people visit, including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, treatment centers addiction clinics, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others can be particularly personal.
"Today we are announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these locations, we will remove these location history entries shortly after their visit. This change will take effect in the coming weeks."
Based on that statement, we imagine the Fitbit update will roll out to all devices that support period tracking, along with Google Fit, within a similar time frame, possibly before the end of July. It's unclear if other companies like Apple will adopt a similar policy with the Apple Watch's cycle tracking features.