I was pleased to see that Hallow earned their seal of approval, or should I say it evaded their badge of shame? Hallow's a good app, professionally developed, and it's marketed tirelessly. I had my friend asking me if it was a good app to install. I don't know; I use other ones but not Hallow.<p>I was also pleased to see that "BetterHelp" earned the badge of shame. BetterHelp is just on this side of an outright scam. They contract with legitimate counselors and therapists and then cram their appointment books full of Zoom sessions. They claim that you can just send a quick text message to your "therapist" and get helped. But people aren't getting helped, they're just getting taken for a ride. This aggregation of gig-working counselors in an app is a really bad way to conduct this kind of business. It may work for a ride-hailing service, but not for mental health care. If you're thinking of using "BetterHelp" or one of its analogs, please instead consider doing your homework, finding a legitimate clinic or therapist who's licensed in your state, and do an intake directly with their practice. Many of them are now amenable to televideo appointments, and they will work with or without your insurance or on a sliding scale. There are really good therapists out there who don't need to be found on a janky app.
>Mozilla’s Minimum Security Standards, like requiring strong passwords<p>What if I don't want a strong password? What if I have 0 care for my account because I never wanted an account to being with but was strong armed into giving away my email, phone number, and now need a unique password because I'm worried someone is going to see that I 'prayed' 100 times.<p>I loved that reddit didn't need an email, and I could use a generic password. If I lost my reddit account, no big deal at all. For my personal/PR reddit account, email and strong password, great.
I hate to be the one who has to say the quiet part out loud but- what in the world are we doing to ourselves? Were these apps FOSS I might not be so alarmed but how do you think these companies are paying the bills? With good karma? No, YOUR DATA. And not just your GPS location or your favorite brand of ice cream, but your most vulnerable and intimate of thoughts. Now, shudder at the thought that not only can these apps leech your data, they can now poke back, manipulating the user to god know's what. And of course, your health insurance provider is now peering into your soul. They'll surely be happy to mandate that you can no longer attend "human" therapy.
Missing is the “Waking Up” meditation app which is a treasure trove of content and the first app that helped me “get” meditation.<p>I submitted it on their form for review, but was a little surprised to see it missing from a “top” list.<p>Seeing this report makes me really want to build privacy-respecting apps in this space. Of all categories, using traditional monetization and data selling practices seems particularly bad here.<p>(Not affiliated in any way; just a happy customer hoping they aren’t abusing my data too badly…)
It is disheartening (although not that surprising) to see how many companies are "double dipping" here. For example Pray.com seems particularly bad. It has a $7.99 a month subscription, but still track and sell your information just like a "free" app would.<p>Ordinarily I feel much better about an app which has a clearly defined, above-board, method of funding itself. (The old "if you aren't paying for the product, you are the product" thing). But this is a good reminder that it is "if" not "if and only if".
Canada recently funded a mental health website which suffers from many of the same problems mentioned in the article. It's under review with OPC currently, but additional reports always help.<p>This website is advertised by our PM to children.<p><a href="https://www.wellnesstogether.ca" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.wellnesstogether.ca</a>
Nice to see that the app I use, Finch, is rated fairly well.<p>I'm going to assume sharing an invite code would go badly, but if you want mine so you get a mini pet in the app, please email me at the address in my profile. The benefit I get is not monetary: if I get a few signups I get a mini pet myself.<p>Finch is one of the few self help apps that really seems to help me. I was slipping further into deep depression but Finch has helped me to have a few good days, and I've showered and changed my clothes every day for 2 weeks. I recommend it!
This is concerning. I'm using one of these services and if my mental health details were to be known, I would not only feel devastated, but this would negatively impact my career and social life (for a long time?). I need to know I can trust these folks, but what are other options? I can't find any psychologists or psychotherapists in my area who are available (many don't even answer my calls or emails). Do you know of any good and trustworthy online services for this?
I wonder if this sort of thing has any relation to the revelations that the US Government is one of the largest buyers of private data from apps and such. Would certainly seem to make sense.
About <a href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/fr/privacynotincluded/categories/mental-health-apps/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://foundation.mozilla.org/fr/privacynotincluded/categor...</a><p>Privacy not included there also: that Mozilla web site use Google Fonts and Google Tag Manager which are not GDPR compliant.
iOS or Android, both get your data. What is the difference in privacy? Please use actual examples and not boogeymen 'Google is an ad company'.<p>I personally have seen iphones(or at least iphone users) have far more intrusive and customized ads to the point where saying a word in a home puts you at risk of getting physical mail related to that word. (It was dog food, and a dog food ad.)<p>I've come to the conclusion that privacy and security are mostly theater, and if I am being realistic, I need to assume everything I say/do is being recorded. I also treat my devices as compromised. Any thoughts that your device is private or secure is delusion.