The poll was conducted by Savanta. Savanta surveyed 1,152 UK women aged 18+ between 1-3 September 2023. Data was weighted to be representative by age, gender, region, and social grade. Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
Respondents were asked the follow questions:
Q1. Have you ever used an app to track any of the following [select all that apply]?
a. To track your period
b. To prevent a pregnancy
c. To plan a pregnancy
d. None of these
Results of note: 34% of women (395) had used an app for at least one purpose. 69% of 18-24 year olds had used an app to track their periods and 65% of 25-34 year olds.
19% of 25-34 year olds and 20% of 35-44 year olds had used an app to plan a pregnancy.
Q2. When choosing an app to track periods or to plan or prevent a pregnancy how concerned would you be about each of the following? [5 point scale from very concerned to not at all concerned]
a. Ease of use
b. Cost
c. Volume of adverts within the app
d. Volume of personal data I needed to share
e. Type of personal data I needed to share
f. Security of the data I was sharing
g. Transparency over how my data is being used and shared
Results of note: Data transparency (59%) and security (57%) were bigger concerns than cost (55%) and ease of use (55%) when it came to choosing an app. Volume of adverts within the app were of least concern (21%).
Q3. If you have ever used an app to plan or prevent a pregnancy, did you notice an increase in online advertising about baby or fertility-related products and services?
a. Yes and this was positive for me
b. Yes and this was distressing to me
c. Yes and this was neither positive nor distressing
d. No
e. Not sure
Results of note: Over half of people (54%) who use the apps believed they had noticed an increase in baby or fertility-related adverts since signing up, with 17% describing this as distressing. About the same number of people (18%) said it was positive. 19% said it was neither positive nor distressing; 32% said they had not noticed an increase and 14% were unsure.
