BetterHelp

Is BetterHelp safe?

BetterHelp is a reasonable choice for online therapy as long as you know what it did before and how long it keeps your records. Between 2017 and 2020 it handed email addresses, IP addresses and answers from its intake health questionnaire to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest for advertising, the US Federal Trade Commission said, despite telling people it would keep health data private. The FTC's 2023 order banned that and made BetterHelp pay $7.8 million for refunds. Today the company says nothing you tell a therapist reaches advertisers, but Apple's privacy label still shows location and usage data used to track you. We score it 64/100, close to Flo at 66 and well behind MyChart at 74.

What the FTC found

The FTC announced the case on 2 March 2023 and finalised the order on 14 July 2023 by a 3-0 vote. Its complaint said BetterHelp told people at several points during sign-up that it would not use or disclose their health data except for limited purposes such as providing counselling. In practice, answers from the intake health questionnaire were sent with email and IP addresses to ad platforms so BetterHelp could find new customers. The FTC also said the company falsely denied 2020 news reports about the sharing.

The order bans BetterHelp from sharing health data for advertising and from using personal data for retargeting. It must get express consent before passing personal data to certain third parties, run a privacy programme, ask the ad platforms to delete what they received and keep data only as long as a set schedule allows. BetterHelp settled without admitting the allegations.

The refund programme covered people who paid on BetterHelp or its sister sites (Pride Counseling, Faithful Counseling, Teen Counseling, Regain and others) from August 2017 to December 2020. The first round paid nearly $5.2 million in June 2024 and a second round sent over $2.6 million to more than 534,000 people.

The story is not over in court. Teladoc, which owns BetterHelp, said in its July 2026 quarterly filing that several proposed class actions over the same data use are pending in California federal and state courts and in Canada. These are allegations; Teladoc says it has substantial defences.

What BetterHelp shares now

The current privacy policy, effective 14 October 2026, draws a clear line. Visitor data, such as how you browse the website before you start therapy, can go to advertising partners if you accept advertising cookies. In the app, if you allow tracking on iPhone or accept advertising cookies on Android, your device ad ID and usage data collected by Google Analytics are used to tune BetterHelp's Google ads. The policy says the company does not do retargeting and never shares names, phone numbers, diagnoses, questionnaire answers, session content, journal entries or messages with advertisers.

Under California law, that ad-cookie sharing still counts as a "sale" of identifiers and internet activity, and the policy says so. Apple's label lists health and sensitive information as linked to you for analytics, personalisation and running the app, and location and usage data as used for tracking.

BetterHelp also uses AI to help therapists write notes and to sum up issues for support staff. It says it does not train models on therapy content unless you agree.

How long BetterHelp keeps your data

This is the part most users miss. If you start therapy and never ask for deletion, BetterHelp keeps your data for 10 years after your last login. If you signed up but never started, it is 3 years. Asking for erasure, from the account menu under My Personal Information, removes most data within 24 hours, but your clinical health record, records of complaints and records of any disclosures to third parties stay for 10 years, because health and data-protection laws require it.

On security, BetterHelp says it is HITRUST certified, encrypts messages with therapists with 256-bit encryption, encrypts its databases and runs on AWS data centres. We found no reported breach. Messages are not end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary, so BetterHelp's systems can read them, and its security contact page offers an email address rather than a paid bug bounty.

Who should be careful

People whose therapy could be used against them, in a custody case or an employment dispute for example, should remember that records sit with BetterHelp for a decade and can be subpoenaed. BetterHelp's own FAQ says it is not for minors, even though the App Store rates the app 13+; teenagers are served through a sister site, Teen Counseling. It is also not a crisis service: in the US, call or text 988 in an emergency.

How to use BetterHelp more safely

1. Tap "Ask App Not to Track" on iPhone, or turn off advertising in the app's Cookie Settings on Android.
2. Decline advertising cookies on the website before you fill in the intake questionnaire.
3. Use a separate email address if you do not want the account linked to your main identity.
4. When you stop, request erasure from the account menu rather than just deleting the app, or your data stays for up to 10 years.
5. Ask your therapist early what they would have to disclose and when.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (75) is the strongest factor, because you only deal with a licensed therapist. Privacy (55) and the regulatory record (58) are the weakest: years of sharing health questionnaire data with ad platforms, a $7.8 million FTC order and an app that still tracks location and usage for ads. Security (66) reflects solid encryption and certification with no known breach, but no end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary or bug bounty.