Predicting when your period is coming can be a nuisance, but thankfully today's technology can help you stay on top of your cycle! Staying on top of your cycle can help your fertility odds, but even if you aren't planning on having a baby, it can simply help to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
According to the Founder and President of Cycle Technologies, Leslie Heyer: "Period tracking can be powerful and is empowering... Period trackers give women a better sense of what's going on with their bodies, and help them know when their periods are likely to come next. And with new technologies and approaches, I think we're finding that it also gives us a lot of actionable information." Heuer is a founder of Dot, one of our examples.
We've listed the top seven best apps, and highlighted a few of best below:
Dot stands for Dynamic Optimal Timing, and its main goal is to help plan or prevent pregnancy. By logging your period start dates, the app tells you if your conception rate is low, medium or high, as well as detailing any conception risks for that day in your tracked cycle. Dot helps you plan or prevent pregnancy based on the lengths of your menstrual cycles. Like many other apps, it can also log any period symptoms, mood changes, sexual activity, and other cycle-related health patterns.
"The app uses an advanced algorithm to identify a woman's pregnancy risks and gives her that information in such a way that she can use it to meet her reproductive goals," says Heyer, "It can also see patterns in a user's cycles and identify potential health issues that could affect fertility."
Spot On is another period tracking app, but holds the unique title of being created and operated by Planned Parenthood. Along with giving you even more access to Planned Parenthood's resources, the app specializes is logging your period details in conjunction with your birth control method that regulates it. Regardless of if you choose the pill or an IUD, Spot On takes your preferred method into consideration for its calculations.
There are certainly no added frills with our next pick's title, as the staple Period Tracker app specializes in logging just about every symptom you can think of, including cramps, spotting, bloating and headaches. For each symptom, it prompts you to "label them as mild, moderate, or severe", along with adding any medications you may be taking and writing notes for each of your details. Period Tracker is widely recognized as easy to use: just tap the large "Period just started!" button and it will take care of the rest!
Last but not least, the period tracking app Glow includes all of the features mentioned for other apps, including tracking symptoms, logging sexual activity, evaluating medications, and more. An added bonus, however, is that it includes added features for women undergoing fertility treatments such as IVF or IUI. It also has the special feature of uploading your data to allow you to email yourself a PDF copy of your ovulation results so you can share it with your partner or doctor if needed. Glow also has a sister app, called Glow Nurture, that specializes in pregnancy.
Our other mentions include Pink Pad (which includes an online chat community with other women), Clue (which is gender-neutral in its theme), and Eve (which uses emojis to track both period and sex details). Whichever app you decide to choose, these are all a step in the right direction for healthy fertility check-ins! All are free in the app store, so it won't hurt to try them all out to find the right fit for you.