After the Supreme Court struck down Roe V. Wade, the Stardust period-tracker became the most downloaded app on iOS. But, is it available on Android?
The Stardust app is creating waves on iOS, but is it available on Android? Stardust is an astrology-based menstrual cycle-tracking app that recently became the most downloaded period tracking app on iOS. It has been on the App Store since last year, but its sudden popularity is the result of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade in late June. The court’s decision ended the Constitutional right to abortions and made abortion care illegal in more than a dozen states. It also resulted in women scrambling to find an encrypted period-tracking app that would not hand over their data to law enforcement for seeking an abortion.
It is under these circumstances that the Stardust app gained prominence with its promise of end-to-end encryption. In a message on Instagram, Stardust founder and CEO Rachel Moranis talked about the company’s privacy policies and the end-to-end encryption that came into effect on June 29. She also claimed that thanks to the encryption, the company will not have access to any user data and will not be able to comply with any data requests from the government.
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The Stardust period-tracking app has been available on iOS since last year, but was not originally offered on Android. However, the app went live on the Play Store on June 29, meaning it is now available on both Android and iOS. On the same day, the iOS app received an update to implement end-to-end encryption. It is a significant step for Stardust, as it claims to be the first app in its category to implement end-to-end encryption.
Most Apps Prioritize IOS Over Android
While Stardust has just made the leap to Android, many iOS-specific apps are still unavailable on the world’s largest smartphone platform. Even among the ones that are available on both platforms, many, like Stardust, launched on iOS long before they came to Android. A prime example of that is Instagram, which launched on Android nearly 18 months after it was first available on iOS. Other examples of apps and games that prioritized iOS over Android include Clubhouse, Plants vs. Zombies, and Clash of Clans.
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Women’s menstrual cycle-tracking apps have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks following the publication of the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. While the draft was leaked almost a month ago, the actual verdict came last week, abandoning almost 50 years of precedent following the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. The Supreme Court’s decision has resulted in a surge of interest in privacy-focused period-tracking apps, and Stardust believes its new encryption feature will help it win millions of new users.
