Embody was born as a direct result of the overturning of Roe v Wade. Many of the women in our company live in Atlanta, Georgia, and the visceral need for a truly private app is the anchor of our work. What we're doing right now is trying to protect women and people with cycles from their local governments.

Unlike traditional period trackers, Embody is private by default, meaning you don’t have to select an ‘anonymous mode’ or turn on a special setting to opt into your safety. Our app is offline first. You download the app, and it is stored locally on your phone. The data within the app is locally encrypted. The information you enter doesn’t touch a server without your explicit consent. Most apps collect data from users from the get-go, which as we’ve seen, leads to women’s data being sold to third parties or used against us in a court of law.

We are also planning to be entirely open source in the near future so that anyone can verify the level of security that we are promising.

At Embody, the privacy of your most private health information is paramount. While many other period trackers mean well, their user data is vulnerable to being shared, sold, misused, and even subpoenaed by law enforcement in the case of a suspected abortion. Embody cannot share your data with anyone, because we simply don’t have it.

Yes! You can manually export your data in the app settings. For more instructions, hit the gear icon and select “Privacy and Backup.”.

Maybe. Many people who use birth control experience cyclical symptoms. What may be incongruous is the expected symptoms for each phase of the cycle depending on which birth control method you are using, whether or not you have a cyclical bleed, and whether or not your birth control successfully suppresses ovulation. Many people find that keeping track of their bleeding and other symptoms is helpful when going on or off birth control, or experimenting with different types of birth control.

No. Many people choose to input 3-6 months work of past data into the Embody app when they make the switch so our predictions are effective from the get-go.

Encryption is the process of scrambling data — turning it into a code called ciphertext — so that it can only be accessed by those with a secret key. It's a tool for data security and privacy.

What happens first: When you become an Embody Member you can create a password to encrypt your data for cloud storage. First, you'll have to enter your phone passkey (this helps us ensure its you who is triggering the back up) You'll then create a password that becomes your encryption key! ONLY you have the password, so DO NOT lose it! Write it down or store it in your password manager, there is no password recovery.

Next: Your phone will add the encryption key to your keychain (on iOS) or Keystore (on Android)
Both Keychain and Keystore provide a secure way to manage sensitive information on mobile devices, ensuring that data is protected even if the device is compromised. This encryption key allows your phone to auto backup securely.

Need more details on how Apple Keychain and Android Keystore work? See the Encrypted backup FAQs below.

Last: Now, every time you enter any info into the Embody app, it will automatically be encrypted and sent to your device's cloud storage, creating an auto backup of all of your data.

Your data is always encrypted with Embody, but membership ensures any info entered is encrypted and backed up on the cloud automatically. The free version includes an option to download an encrypted backup of your data manually — not automatic. This means there's the possibility of data loss if you don't downloaded your data before moving to a new device or having an issue with your device/phone.

With encrypted storage in the cloud, all of your data is turned into a ciphertext that’s unreadable without your super secret passcode. Embody automatically saves every time you enter any info into our app, so when you’re ready to restore your data on a new device, it’s there and waiting for you.

Please note: Currently, cloud restore is not cross-platform. This means if you were to start your backup using an iPhone, and then switch to using an Android device, your data would not be able to be restored on your new Android (and vice versa). Embody uses the cloud platform specific to your device for backup, so so you’d need to do a manual download and restore if you were to switch platforms. You can however manually download your data from one platform and upload to restore on your new platform.

No one other than you! It's encrypted! You and you alone know your Embody data encryption password.

When you make an entry into Embody to track your experiences or make a note, Embody auto encrypts it and sends it to the phones cloud storage. Remember, after its been encrypted, it's turned into the super secret ciphertext, making it unreadable unless unlocked with your specific passkey (which only YOU HAVE).

Keychain (iOS)
Purpose: Securely store sensitive data like passwords, tokens, and certificates.
How it works: Data is encrypted and stored in a secure area of the device. Only the app that stored the data can access it.
Usage: Accessed via the Keychain Services API in iOS.

Keystore (Android)
Purpose: Securely store cryptographic keys.
How it works: Keys are stored in a secure hardware-backed area of the device. The Keystore API provides access to these keys for cryptographic operations without exposing the keys themselves.
Usage: Accessed via the Android Keystore system.

When you're ready to restore your data, you'll be prompted to enter your passkey. This lets the encryption know that it's you, and it turns the ciphertext back into a readable version of your data. The Embody app is then repopulated and restored with all your data, entries, and experiences logged.

If you’re an Embody Member and lose your phone or switch to an upgraded model, you can restore your data on your new device using the super secret password you created.

If you’re not an Embody Member, you can restore your data if you have a manual backup file stored somewhere other than their device.

Please note: Your data can only be restored if you’re using the same phone platform as your last encrypted back up. In example iPhone to new iPhone, Embody data can be restored. Android to new Android, Embody data can be restored. iPhone to Android cannot be restored, and Android to iPhone cannot be restored.