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Mental Health Apps Are Sharing Your Personal Data

Mozilla looked at 32 mental health and prayer apps to determine what kind of privacy protections each app has in place.

Mental Health Apps Are Sharing Your Personal Data
Jenny Kane / AP
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People who track their mental health status through apps, may want to reconsider.

Mozilla researchers said among all the applications that exist, those in the mental health category rank lowest in privacy protections.

Mozilla reports that services like BetterHelp, Talkspace and even prayer apps like King James Bible are using people's data for financial gain. 

The researchers looked at 32 mental health and prayer apps to determine what kind of privacy protections each app has in place, then marked 28 of the apps with a “Privacy Not Included” warning label for weak policies. Some share personal data with third parties for "things like marketing and research."

Mozilla researchers also ranked the apps by "creepy" levels, and noted apps like Calm and Pray as "super creepy."

Now, privacy policies can be boring and difficult to understand, and a lot to get through, but reading through them is your best chance of protecting your information.

Additionally, Mozilla suggest to not use your Facebook account to login to these apps, and chose a strong password.