Controlling the Uncontrollable: The Impact of Reproductive Health Apps on Experiences of Pregnancy, Healthcare Professionals’ Work, and Data Privacy.

Digital smartphone applications for reproductive health (RHAs) are big business. Millions use them to track intimate data such as menstruation, fertile days or fetal developments.

This has been called the “device-ification of mothering”; and indeed there are more apps available for pregnancy than for any other medical topic, conferring users a feeling of being able to ‘control the uncontrollable’.In comparison to traditional reproductive technologies, RHAs differ in three key ways: They are operated by patients themselves, are usually not approved by medical authorities, and harvest intimate data in opaque ways.

Thereby, RHAs significantly transform patients’ experiences, impact healthcare professionals’ work routines and become part of challenging societal questions about data privacy.

Yet, little is known about their effect on personal experiences of reproductive health.We ask: What role do RHAs play for users’ experiences of reproductive health? How do they affect healthcare professionals’ routines in interaction with patients? What norms do privately developed RHAs support regarding the treatment of intimate data?

We answer these questions by following first-time pregnant couples throughout their pregnancies (regular interviews), by drawing on interviews with prenatal care nurses, and by investigating the governance of selected RHAs, both through systematic “app walkthroughs” (app design, usability, and governance analysis) and interviewing company spokespersons.