Are Bite-Size Data Safety Details a Healthy Diet for Android Telehealth App Users? Impacts of Privacy Nutrition Labels on Users’ Privacy Perceptions
Authors: Alisa Frik (International Computer Science Institute), Subham Mitra (University of California, Berkeley), Priyasha Chatterjee (Max Plank Institute for Security and Privacy), Julia Bernd (International Computer Science Institute)
Volume: 2026
Issue: 1
Pages: 366–392
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2026-0019
Abstract: Mobile telehealth apps can provide valuable services, but they raise significant privacy and security concerns, as they collect health-related and other sensitive personal information. We conducted two surveys (𝑁 = 1, 256 total) to examine US users’ privacy expectations about Android telehealth and teletherapy apps’ data practices and legal privacy protections for the data they collect, gaps between those expectations and actual practices and protections, and how privacy perceptions and behavioral intentions are affected by privacy disclosures. In Survey 1, we explored participants’ privacy perceptions and intentions about 10 telehealth apps, first after reading just the general description from the Google Play Store, then after reading the Data Safety section (DSS). Survey 2 explored broader privacy expectations regarding telehealth apps, regulatory awareness, and preferred legal protections. Findings indicate that participants perceived apps provided by independent developers as less likely to protect privacy than apps offered by healthcare providers. However, participants often had inaccurate privacy expectations and overestimated legal safeguards, potentially leading to uninformed privacy decisions. DSSs significantly affected participants’ expectations about data practices and legal protections and their likelihood of using the app—but while DSSs often increased participants’ confidence in their privacy expectations, they did not necessarily improve their accuracy.
Keywords: Privacy, Transparency, Health Apps, mHealth, HIPAA
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