Key takeaways
- A medication log is health data, even when no doctor is involved.
- Ask four things of any app: what it collects, where it keeps it, who else gets it, and how you leave with your data.
- Prefer an app that works without an account and keeps data on your phone by default.
- Legal protection differs by country and by who holds the data. Check, do not assume.
A dose log records what you take, when, and how you feel afterwards. Add weight, lab results and notes, and it becomes a detailed picture of your health. It is worth a few minutes of care before you hand it to any app.
Rule 1: Know what the app collects
Read the privacy policy, and the App Store privacy label, before you enter anything. Look for the specifics: which data, for what purpose, shared with whom. Vague wording is itself an answer.
Notice the difference between data the app needs to work and data collected on the side, such as analytics, advertising identifiers or contact lists.
Rule 2: Ask whether you need an account
An account means a password, an email address and a server that holds both. Sometimes that is worth it. Often it is not. If an app can work without one, that is one less thing to lose in a breach.
Rule 3: Find out where the data lives
Data on your phone is under your control, but you can lose the phone. Data on a server survives that, but someone else holds it. Neither is wrong. What matters is that you know which one you have, and can choose.
If there is a server, ask which country it is in and who can read it.
Rule 4: Check who the app is made by
Look for a named company, a postal address and a contact for privacy questions. Ask how the app earns money. If you are not paying, your data may be the product.
Rule 5: Be careful with sharing features
Telehealth services, coaching programmes and clinics each have their own rules. Data you share with a clinician is usually handled differently from data you keep in a personal app. Read each policy separately, and do not assume one covers the other.
Whether a given law applies to a given app depends on the country and on the kind of organisation.
Rule 6: Make sure you can leave
You should be able to export your records and delete them. Ask before you start, not when you want to go.
How Reko answers these
- No account needed. You can use Reko without signing up.
- On your phone by default. Your record stays on your iPhone unless you turn backup on. If you do, it is stored on servers in Frankfurt, in the EU.
- Apple Health data stays put. Anything imported from Apple Health stays on the phone.
- Cycle entries are never uploaded. Not by backup, and not anywhere else.
- Analytics only after you agree. Reko asks first. Until you say yes, the analytics service is not even started.
- Reminders do not name your medication, so a lock screen does not announce it.
- Export. You can export everything as a file, and your doses as a spreadsheet.
- Who we are. Reko is made by Digital Utopia SRL in Bucharest, Romania. It is funded by subscriptions, with no ads and nothing sold.
Read the full policy for the exact wording: Reko privacy policy.
A short checklist
- What data does it collect, and why?
- Does it work without an account?
- Where is the data stored, and in which country?
- Who is the company, and how does it earn money?
- Can I export and delete everything?
Reko records what you decide and never suggests a dose. It is not medical advice. Download Reko
- Reko privacy policy, current version.
- Apple: App privacy details on the App Store.