If you want a period tracker without registration, cloud sync or advertising, start with specific questions rather than a single privacy badge. You may also want to keep symptoms and flow without predictions, or return to paper later. Check whether an app supports the way you want to keep your record.
This guide is written by Kandola LLC, maker of Arveli. It is a practical selection checklist, not an independent app review, security audit or guarantee. General checks come first; Arveli’s own published disclosures are identified separately below.
What to carry into the decision.
- 01
No account, offline use and on-device storage describe different things. Ask what each claim covers.
- 02
A privacy label or network report is useful evidence, not an independent security audit.
- 03
Readable exports, restorable backups and shared reports serve different purposes. Check them before deleting an old record.
Separate three different privacy claims
No account required means you can use the stated features without creating an account. Works offline means those features can work without a connection. On-device storage describes where a record is kept. None of these phrases, alone, explains every optional connection, backup or data practice.
- Ask which features need an account or internet connection, and what happens if you decline.
- Check whether local records are also copied through device backups, sync, exports or integrations.
- Try a small fictional entry first. Do not upload a real health history just to explore an app.
Read the App Store label and the policy together
Open the App Privacy section of the app’s App Store page, then read its linked privacy policy. Look for the health information, identifiers, tracking and analytics the developer describes, the purposes of any sharing, and the outside organizations involved. Apple describes these labels as self-reported.
Apple’s definition of collection excludes information processed only on the device. Some information used only to service a request in real time can also fall outside that definition. A Data Not Collected label therefore does not, by itself, mean the app never contacts a server or creates a copy you choose to share.
Sources: Apple: privacy label definitions; Apple: privacy features and self-reported labels
Check the choices beyond the main app screen
The FTC recommends comparing plain-language privacy notices, reviewing protective settings and keeping apps and the phone’s operating system updated. Look at choices that affect your own situation: notifications, widgets, a paired watch, app lock and who can unlock the device.
- Check what a notification or widget shows before adding sensitive entries.
- Read each optional integration’s disclosure instead of assuming a local journal makes every connection local.
- Preview a report or message before sharing it. Review recipients and remove details you do not want included.
Sources: FTC: health app privacy checks
Use App Privacy Report as a clue, not a verdict
On supported iPhone and iPad versions, Apple’s App Privacy Report shows access to certain data and sensors and domains contacted by apps and their in-app content. You can find it in Settings, then Privacy & Security, then App Privacy Report. It starts gathering information after you enable it; it is not a history of earlier activity.
Review the report alongside the feature you used and the app’s disclosures. A domain appearing in a report does not tell you which journal fields, if any, were sent. A quiet report is not proof that an app is secure or that a privacy promise has been independently verified.
Sources: Apple: About App Privacy Report
Before switching phones or trackers, check the exit path
A readable report is something you can view. A backup is a file the app can restore. An export may be readable without being importable into a different tracker. Confirm what the destination actually accepts before assuming your history will transfer.
- Check the file format, date range, included notes and photos, and whether anything is omitted.
- Open a test export and confirm it is readable. Verify the documented restore process before relying on a backup. Restore can replace existing data, so read warnings carefully.
- Check where the file is saved and whether that folder syncs to another service. Protect any separate recovery key.
- Keep the source record until you have checked the copy you need. Avoid sending health exports to support or uploading them to an unverified conversion website.
Ask what deletion leaves behind
Check separately how to remove the local journal, close any account, remove synced copies and cancel a subscription. Deleting an app is not a substitute for understanding those separate actions.
A report, export or backup you created may remain outside the app. A recipient may keep a shared copy. Review those locations and their privacy practices before sharing, and verify what you want to keep before erasing anything. Local storage alone does not protect a record from someone who can access an unlocked device.
How Arveli’s published choices fit this checklist
Arveli’s privacy policy describes an encrypted on-device journal whose core tracking does not require an Arveli account or a developer-operated health-data cloud. Apple Health, paired Watch features, exports, encrypted backups, reports and limited DailyMed label requests have their own disclosed boundaries. These are product disclosures, not an independent audit.
Arveli distinguishes readable exports and reports from encrypted backups. A backup requires its recovery key; restoring can replace current local history. Shared copies and files saved elsewhere need their own protection and deletion. Do not assume an export from another tracker can be imported into Arveli without checking the supported route.
If you prefer paper, the free blank symptom diary on this site can be printed without an account or app. Keep a completed paper or PDF record private too. A health record can organize information for a conversation; it does not diagnose, recommend treatment or determine a safe time for unprotected sex.
Sources: Arveli privacy policy; Arveli support and data controls; Free printable symptom diary
Choose the recordkeeping approach whose boundaries you understand. Check accounts, optional connections, copies and the exit path before trusting it with a health history.
The useful follow-ups.
Does no account required mean no information can leave the device?
No. Check the scope of offline use, optional connections, device backups and sharing separately. An account requirement and data collection are different questions.
Is Data Not Collected an independent privacy certification?
No. App Store labels are developer-reported and use Apple’s definitions. Read the policy and optional-feature disclosures alongside the label.
Will an export move my history into another period tracker?
Not necessarily. A readable export or appointment PDF is not automatically an import format for another app. Check the destination’s supported formats before deleting the original history.