Fitness apps have been growing in popularity in recent years, with 2020 prompting many new users to get their fitness fix with the help of their phones. We have the COVID-19 pandemic to “thank” for this, as lockdowns brought gym closures along with other social-distancing measures.
Big Tech has also joined this trend, with Apple launching its Fitness+ service and Amazon releasing the Halo fitness band. Also, Google has finally completed its acquisition of Fitbit, while Samsung released the very first wearOS 3 smartwatch.
While all that is nice, we have to wonder what happens with our health data. We do know it gets stored “in the cloud” where savvy engineers employed by these tech giants make sure no one can access it.
But what about apps from smaller firms that don’t have the money to pay the top security staff? Can you really entrust them with your health data?
We’re not sure, but we know there is something that could be done to protect your data:
1. Don’t use your real name if you don’t have to
When opening a new account in a fitness app, you don’t have to use your real name. Instead, use an alias that won’t easily lead to you. Also, make sure to set a strong password — which is something you should be doing for all services, no matter what kind of data they use/need. Similarly, go easy on location sharing except when you really need to see your last run on a map (or something of that sort).
2. Check what your fitness app can do with your data
Specifically, you’ll want to see what kind of data it has/requires access to and what it will do with that data afterward. Some apps, not just those fitness-related, want to access as many smartphone functions as possible. But do you really need to give them access to your contacts or your location at all times? If there is an option to share your location only when that’s actually required – opt for that option. There is no need to give away more data than you have to.
3. Keep your apps up to date
Keeping your apps up to date will not only bring you the latest features but will also fix any security issues the previous version of the app might have had. And this, mind you, is the advice we give for all apps, whether they are fitness-related or not. It’s a good practice that should also extend to your operating system and even your router. The latest software versions tend to include patches that improve the overall security of your system.
4. Make sure your apps use HTTPS
Researchers at ExpressVPN have found that Garmin Vivosmart shares (or at least – it used to share) data over a non-secure connection. That would be HTTP instead of HTTPS. This is rather annoying and if Garmin failed to address this issue right from the get-go, who knows what other apps developed by smaller companies are doing.
5. Periodically check to see if your data is accurate
There is a malware that can affect the way your fitness data is transferred to the cloud server where it gets stored. This kind of malware can be hard to detect and if you’re suspecting something, you’re best off checking your fitness data from time to time and look for suspicious entries. Or, better yet, just use proven fitness apps that have been on the market for a few years.
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In conclusion we will say that while we like the way modern fitness apps help us be more active, we also like to know that our data is well protected. In that sense, we try to pair using a VPN with a fitness app whenever that’s an option. This way, we make sure our data is always transferred through a secure VPN tunnel.
How about you? Are you using a VPN with a fitness app? Do let us know your thoughts and any questions you may have through a comments form below.