FTC Imposes $185M Penalty on Mobile Fitness App for Selling Biometric Telemetry

The US Federal Trade Commission has announced a record $185 million settlement against a major consumer wellness app provider for deceptive practices and unauthorized commercial sale of sensitive biometric information.

According to the FTC complaint, the application transmitted user-entered body weight, caloric logs, resting pulse rates, and menstrual timelines to commercial advertising exchanges, contradicting its advertised 'strictly private' marketing claims.

The enforcement action serves as a wake-up call for internet users to prioritize privacy-first platforms where biometric computations execute purely on the client side, such as Luminus's zero-retention Calorie Calculator and BMI Calculator.