As digital privacy concerns intensify, Consumer Reports released an evaluation of four major pregnancy tracking applications in August 2026, examining how platforms handle sensitive health data, pregnancy loss, and user inclusivity. The review highlights significant variations in security practices and data sharing among apps like What to Expect, Ovia, BabyCenter, and Pregnancy+.
Consumer Reports Evaluates Popular Pregnancy Tracking Apps in 2026
Data Privacy and Security Risks Across Android Devices
What to Expect Pregnancy & Baby Tracker achieved the highest overall score among the evaluated platforms due to its compassionate handling of pregnancy loss and inclusive educational content. However, researchers rated its privacy and security performance as average, noting that the app stores certain sensitive user data unencrypted on Android devices—a security flaw it shares with Ovia Pregnancy & Baby Tracker.
Ovia emerged as the only application in the evaluation featuring robust authentication protections that defend against repeated login failures and enforce password complexity. Despite this, all tested applications, including Ovia, lack multi-factor authentication. Furthermore, policies for both What to Expect and its parent company-affiliated platform, BabyCenter, indicate that information is collected from shared community forums.
Handling Pregnancy Loss and Inclusivity Features
Consumer Reports rated the loss-reporting frameworks on What to Expect and Pregnancy+ as excellent. Pregnancy+ utilizes a toggle switch system for loss tracking, whereas What to Expect incorporates prompts allowing users to signal a loss with supportive educational follow-ups.
Conversely, testers identified flaws in other platforms. BabyCenter exhibited a technical bug where primary screens continued to display active pregnancies after users removed them from their profiles. Ovia handled loss reporting with less sensitivity compared to competing services, according to the findings.
Inclusivity metrics showed strong performance from both What to Expect and BabyCenter, which earned high marks for educational materials addressing diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, alongside resources tailored for LGBTQ+ parents and individuals over the age of 35.
Monetization and Community Features
Application structures vary widely regarding monetization and peer support networks. Pregnancy+ locks specific educational modules behind a point-reward system tied to ad viewing unless users upgrade to a paid subscription, and the app features no community forums. In contrast, platforms like Ovia and What to Expect maintain active user communities, though Ovia requires users to participate in poll responses before reading or contributing to peer threads.
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