Your privacy is central to our mission.
Here’s what information Color collects, what we
do with it, and how you can control it.
At Color, we help guide our clients’ healthcare decisions through tools like clinical-grade genetic testing and personalized health insights. Safeguarding the privacy and security of your personal health information is among our most important responsibilities.
This page offers a summary of Color’s privacy practices. You can find more detail in our Privacy Policy, Notice of Privacy Practices, COVID-19 Privacy Overview, and Informed Consent. If you have any questions or concerns, please write to us at privacy@color.com
What does Color collect from clients?
Account and payment information
Depending on how you use Color, we may collect your name, email, phone number, shipping address and credit card information.
Health history and lifestyle information
We collect personal and family health history, as well as information about your lifestyle, health behaviors and other preferences.
A sample of your saliva
From your saliva (or blood) sample, we’ll sequence genes for the product you’re using, as well as for future products you may want to use. We’ll also do low coverage sequencing of your whole genome, which can support Color Discovery, research, and other products and services. Learn more
Information required to process your sample
We need your sex, date of birth, and the state or country from which you provided your sample in order to provide Color’s genetic testing services.
Your healthcare provider
All Color tests are ordered by a physician. If you aren’t currently working with one, Color can connect you with a provider from an independent physician network who will review your information and can order testing on your behalf, if appropriate.
Browser data
When you use color.com, we collect standard information like your browser type, operating system, referral page, and IP address, in order to improve the service.
What does Color do with my information?
We produce clinically actionable results.
If you use one of our genetic tests, we’ll use your information to interpret and report on genetic variants to help you and your healthcare provider understand how your genes may impact your health.
We also produce other useful insights.
Based on the information you provide or we generate (for example, genetic results if you’ve taken one of our genetic tests), we can provide insights about your health or tell you about other products and services that may be of interest to you.
We keep the system running accurately.
Color maintains detailed quality control procedures to help ensure the reliability of our tests. Your sequenced data, de-identified to protect your privacy, can help with these procedures, along with validation studies.
We improve current products.
Your de-identified data may be used for quality improvements to current products, like improving variant classification for underrepresented populations, or improving our accuracy over technically challenging regions of the genome.
We support public health databases.
Color believes strongly in contributing to the world’s genetic knowledge. We contribute de-identified genetic variants to public databases like ClinVar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
We help you discover new genetic insights.
If you opt in, programs like Color Discovery and the Color Genetic Score Study can help you learn more about your genes. These programs are not intended for use in making medical decisions, and are not yet available outside the US.
How can I control my information?
Participate in optional research and publications
If you’d like, you can share your de-identified data with Color Data and third party research studies. “De-identified data” is data from which all personally identifiable information has been removed. Participation is a choice you control – not a requirement.
Share your results with additional providers
If you request it, Color can send your results securely to additional doctor’s offices that you specify.
Have Color store your sample
If you don’t want us to store your sample, or if you change your mind, we’ll destroy it.
Please note: laws governing clinical labs require us to store all samples for a short time.
Deactivate your account
If you’d like to deactivate your account, just contact Client Support. Please note: as a CLIA licensed and CAP accredited laboratory, we’re required to retain certain information to comply with laws and regulations. Learn more
Request a copy of your genetic data
For your clinically actionable results, you can request the annotated list of all reported variants found in your sample. For Discovery, you can request a list of genotypes used to report your results. And if low coverage sequencing of your genome was performed on your sample, you can request the underlying data. Learn more
Who does Color share my identifiable information with?
The following people or companies will have access to some piece of your information in the situations described. We rigorously follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) regulations.
Those involved in the preparation of your results
As part of preparing your results, authorized individuals will view your results and health history. For example, a genetic counselor will review your health history, and a certified medical professional reviews every results report before it is released.
The physician who ordered your test
If you requested a genetic test, the provider who orders Color for you will receive a copy of your results automatically. These providers’ clinics or health systems may also receive a copy of your results automatically. Additionally, you can request that we send a copy of your results to additional providers of your choosing.
Third-party vendors
External contractors and companies that we work with to provide the services only get access to the information they need to provide their services. For example, when a sample is sent for confirmatory testing, the confirmatory lab has access to your genetic sample and our results, but they do not receive your name or other identifying information. Further, such third parties are required by contract and/or regulation to protect the information we share with them.
Optional: Those involved in providing support
If you schedule an appointment, a genetic counselor will be able to view your results so that they can address any questions. When answering questions at your behest, Color Client Support can view some of your information and any information you provide them as part of your inquiry.
If applicable: Your health system
If you use Color through your health system, additional health information, such as sequencing data and risk scores, may be shared back with them.
Form: Authorization for Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information
DownloadHow does Color protect my information?
Security is a primary consideration in everything we do. Here’s how Color works to keep your personal information safe and secure.
Data security
Our infrastructure has been built from the beginning with data security in mind. We encrypt our clients’ data both when it’s at rest (using AES-256) and when it’s in transit (using TLS), including between our internal servers. Strict guidelines and access controls, including multi-factor authentication, work to ensure that the data you entrust to Color is protected, even within our walls.
Personal anonymity
Our automated wet lab processes samples in a de-identified manner, meaning that all details that could be used to identify you are separated from your genetic information. If you choose to contribute to third party research, you can trust that any data Color shares with our research partners is submitted only in de-identified form, unless you’ve consented otherwise.
Website security
All web pages on color.com are served over HTTPS with a modern cipher suite. For optimal security, we encourage using the most up-to-date versions of modern browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. We work with an external firm to test our website’s security on a regular basis.
Communicating with Color
If you have any security concerns or questions, please contact us at security@color.com.
For improved email security, download our PGP key.