Women who menstruate and who want to be on top of their cycle and fertility should try these Birth control apps which are also known as cycle tracking apps, for menstrual cycle tracking apps, family planning apps and fertility apps.
As you might guess, birth control apps are apps you can download onto your smartphone or smart device (fancy!). But exactly what they do varies from app to app.
Here are the different types of birth control apps, as well as the best birth control apps you can download, below.
Clue:
- For all the woman who want to learn more about their body try this free app (Clue)
- Clue is a platform that allows you to track your period, period symptoms, and fertility symptoms.
- By allowing you to log information about your skin, cramps, hair, energy, and sleep.
With frequent tracking, you’ll be able to notice patterns around things like how many days before your period that your back starts to ache, or when your skin starts to show signs of your impending flow.
Transparently, this app is not the absolute best on the market for people looking to avoid pregnancy.
Ovia Fertility & Cycle Tracking:
- Woman who are trying to track their period or monitor fertility.
- Don’t want to be surprised by your period again? Looking for help getting pregnant? Trying to avoid getting pregnant? Check out Ovia Fertility.
Ovia Fertility offers the same features many other birth control apps do.
It allows you to track your basal body temperature, cervical fluid, cervical position, and medication. It also:
- gives you daily menstrual and fertility tips
- helps predict your fertility every day
- helps predict the start and duration of your next period
What sets Ovia apart from other options, however, are two things.
First, it uses a combination of color coordination and easy-to-understand graphics to help you figure out what’s what.
It also gives you access to more than 2,000 expert articles on contraception and fertility, as well as an anonymous Q&A section.
Nurx:
- This app itself is free, but there is a one-time $15 (R266) medical consultation fee for all new customers (and while the birth control itself will likely be free if you have insurance, the birth control brands themselves start at $15 per month if you don’t have insurance)
- This is for anyone who uses Nurx for birth control
- This app is only available on Apple Store
It’s one of the most popular birth control delivery services out there, which gives people who can get pregnant access to birth control pills and other contraceptives like the ring, shot, and patch.
To get a prescription you have to go through Nurx’s rigmarole, which includes:
- answering a few questions about your health
- having a consultation with a healthcare professional who will give you medical advice
- paying for the consultation ($15)
- agreeing to a treatment option
- setting up insurance
Natural Cycles:
For woman who want to avoid pregnancy or individuals who are trying to get pregnant
According to “De Novo” classification, Natural Cycles became the first birth control-based app in the United States to receive clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Receiving clearance is different than approval, in that clearance is generally granted to medical devices that:
- are deemed a low or moderate risk to consumers
- can demonstrate “substantial equivalence” to other existing, similar devices (in this case, other birth control apps)
This app works by having users track their basal body temperature every single morning using the thermometer that comes with a yearly subscription. (People on a monthly subscription can buy the thermometer separately.)
Natural Cycles also has users enter information about their cycle and symptoms. Then, the app uses the information to deduce the days an individual is their most and least fertile. Thus, it gives them the information they need to avoid sex, or have at it.
