Calm Privacy Policy

Item: Calm
Rating: 45
Author: Privacy.Law Editorial Team

Last updated: January 2025 | Reviewed: February 2026

Leading meditation app with better-than-average privacy practices, though still collects sleep patterns, mood data, and usage analytics.

Grade C

Privacy Summary: Calm collects less sensitive data than therapy-focused apps since it focuses on meditation and sleep rather than clinical mental health treatment. However, the platform still gathers detailed information about your sleep patterns, mood check-ins, meditation habits, and app usage. This data could reveal mental health patterns to advertisers and partners.

Category Scores

Data Collection 42/100

Data Sharing 48/100

Data Retention 45/100

Security Measures 52/100

User Controls 40/100

Key Findings

🔎 Sleep Pattern Data Collection

Calm's sleep stories and sleep tracking features collect detailed data about your sleep patterns, including when you fall asleep, duration, and content listened to. This creates a comprehensive picture of your sleep health.

"We collect information about your sleep patterns including time to sleep, duration, wake times, and the content you listen to while falling asleep."

🔎 Mood and Journal Data

If you use Calm's check-in or journaling features, your mood data and written entries are collected and stored. While not as detailed as therapy notes, this still reveals mental health patterns.

"Daily check-in responses and journal entries you create are stored to provide personalized recommendations and track your wellness journey."

🔎 Analytics and Advertising Partners

Calm shares data with analytics and advertising partners to measure app effectiveness and serve targeted ads. While they claim not to share "health data," the definition of what constitutes health data is narrow.

"We work with third-party analytics and advertising partners who may collect information about your app usage to help us improve our services and deliver relevant advertising."

✓ No Clinical Therapy Data

Unlike platforms like Cerebral or Ginger, Calm does not collect clinical therapy session data, prescriptions, or detailed mental health assessments. This significantly reduces the sensitivity of data collected.

Data Collection Summary

Data Type	Collected	Risk Level
Sleep Patterns	Yes	Medium
Mood Check-ins	Yes	Medium
Meditation History	Yes	Low
Journal Entries	Yes (if used)	Medium
Therapy Sessions	No	N/A
Prescription Data	No	N/A

Recommendation

Moderate Privacy Risk: Calm is one of the better options in the mental health app space for privacy. The focus on meditation rather than clinical treatment means less sensitive data is collected.

For Users: Avoid using the journaling and mood check-in features if you're concerned about privacy. The core meditation content can be used with minimal personal data exposure.