An inquiry into mental health and prayer apps disclosed a problematic lack of concern around user security and privacy. Last Monday, Mozilla published the findings of new research about these kinds of apps, which mostly deal with sensitive issues like depression, anxiety, mental health awareness, PTSD, domestic violence, etc., and religion-based services. Mozilla's recent "Privacy Not Included," guide says that even though these apps manage personal information, they regularly share data, allow easy passwords, pick vulnerable users via targeted ads, and show poorly written and vague privacy policies.
In a study consisting of 32 applications focused on mental health and religion, Mozilla identified 25 apps that failed to meet its Minimum Security Standards. The privacy standards work as the main highlight for the Privacy Not Included reports. The unauthorized sharing and selling of user data, poor data management services, poor encryption, weak password guidelines, inaccurate vulnerability management system, and different lax privacy policies can lead to the downgrading of a vendor product in accordance with Mozilla's standards.
Once an app fails to touch these minimum standards, they are labeled with a "the privacy not included" warning tag. Mental health and healing-related applications have received an accolade, but they can't be covered. To protect users' privacy and security, these applications are the worst in any product category that Mozilla experts have investigated or reviewed in the past six years. The examined apps include Better Help, Talkspace, Calm, 7 Cups, Glorify, Wysa, Headspace, and Better Stop Suicide.
As a result, every one of these apps now has a dedicated slot that users can access to know more about the app's privacy and security rating. According to ZDNet, "while the app gathers some personal information and says that users can reach out to them if they have further queries, they did not respond to Mozilla's attempts at contact and did not mention who "trusted partners'" were when data sharing. Only two applications on the list, PTSD Coach and the AI chatbot Wysa seemed to take data management and user privacy seriously."
