Google wants women’s health tracking to go beyond counting steps and monitoring sleep
The company has invested in Flo Health, the developer of a menstrual cycle-tracking app with more than 80 million monthly users, as part of a multi-year partnership to connect reproductive health insights with wearable data and personalized health tools. The investment amount was not disclosed
Flo will connect its cycle-tracking insights with Google’s health platform starting in early 2027. The companies did not disclose the investment amount
The integration will allow users to combine menstrual cycle data with wearable measurements, including sleep stages, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature and respiratory rate. The goal is to give women a more complete view of how their cycles relate to sleep, recovery and daily well-being
“We’re making a significant investment in our commitment to women’s health,” said Rishi Chandra, general manager of Google Health
New wearables and AI research are planned
The partnership extends beyond app integration. Google and Flo plan to develop products designed specifically for women, combining Flo’s health insights and algorithms with Google’s wearable hardware and sensors
The companies have not announced specific devices, prices or release dates. The partnership could eventually bring Flo’s reproductive health insights into Google’s wearable ecosystem, although the exact products and features remain unclear
Their existing health ecosystem includes the Fitbit Air, Fitbit Edge and Pixel Watch 5
The companies also plan to collaborate on research involving perimenopause, pregnancy and postpartum recovery, areas that have historically received less attention in health technology
They intend to develop AI models that better account for hormonal changes and establish standards for evaluating AI-generated women’s health guidance
The research could eventually improve understanding of reproductive health conditions, but the companies have not announced diagnostic tools or specific clinical applications
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A privacy pledge with history
Both companies say sharing will require explicit user consent, granted separately for each data type and purpose. Users can withdraw permission at any time
Google says Flo data shared with its health platform will not be used for advertising, sold or made available to other apps or developers through Google’s health platforms. The companies also say their joint research will use privacy-preserving methods, including aggregated, pseudonymized and synthetic data
Privacy deserves particular attention given Flo’s history. In 2021, the company settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it shared sensitive health information with Facebook and Google despite promising users privacy. The new safeguards are commitments from the companies, making their implementation important to watch
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What this means for women using health trackers
The integration could make health tracking more useful by connecting information that currently sits in separate apps. For example, users may be able to see how sleep patterns or resting heart rate change across menstrual phases, while Google’s paid Health Coach could use cycle information to offer more personalized guidance
However, wearable measurements and AI-generated insights are not medical diagnoses. Identifying patterns associated with a condition does not establish that someone has it, and the usefulness of these features will depend on data quality and clinical validation
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The key questions will be which features become available, whether they require paid subscriptions, and how much sensitive health information must be shared to use them
With the integration expected to begin in early 2027, those details will help determine whether the partnership delivers meaningful benefits beyond existing tracking apps
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