Menstrual Cycle Tracking Apps: Are They Reliable for Birth Control?

Menstrual cycle tracking apps have gained immense popularity in this era, due to a boom in the Femtech industry where digital convenience meets personal health. These apps contain a rhythm method, basal body temperature tracking, or cervical mucus monitoring, a type of birth control involving tracking your menstrual cycle and symptoms. It helps to track your menstrual cycle on a calendar to predict ovulation.

These methods are sometimes called “the calendar method” because they involve tracking your cycle on a calendar. But the question is, can these apps be trusted to prevent pregnancy, as a growing number of users use them as birth control?

Menstrual tracking apps’ mechanism

Many of these apps use a significant amount of personal information, including the start and end dates of periods, the duration of cycles, moods, bloating or cramping, sexual activity, and ovulation indications like body temperature or cervical mucus. Based on this data, algorithms forecast “fertile windows” when a woman is most likely to become pregnant. The menstrual cycle lasts 28 to 32 days on average. Your cycle is said to begin on the day that your menstruation begins. Usually, ovulation takes place on day 14.

An egg is released from your ovary during ovulation. After leaving your ovary, this egg passes through your fallopian tube, where sperm can fertilise it and result in pregnancy. Your period, also known as your menstruation, will arrive approximately 14 days following ovulation if there is no pregnancy.

The Science Behind Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABMs)

When administered properly, they have a 95–98% effectiveness rate. But with “typical use,” the effectiveness declines to about 76–88%, which means that up to 1 in 4 users can unknowingly become pregnant. What science do FABMs employ, though? Our current understanding is that a woman’s body is prepared for a possible pregnancy by a sequence of hormonal and physical changes known as the menstrual cycle. Additionally, the ovary releases an egg during ovulation, which takes place approximately halfway through the menstrual cycle.

The following factors aid in determining the viable window: the basal body temperature (BBT), which slightly increases following ovulation as a result of progesterone production. Throughout the cycle, cervical mucus undergoes changes in texture and consistency, becoming more elastic and transparent around ovulation. Although irregular cycles can make this less accurate, tracking the length of the menstrual cycle can assist determine when ovulation will occur.

Other symptoms, like as spotting, breast soreness, or libido changes, may be included in some FABMs.

So, Are Fertility Apps Reliable?

Apps for tracking menstruation can be effective resources for educating people about reproductive health and self-awareness. They might give women the confidence to pay attention to their bodies, identify trends, and make more deliberate pregnancy plans. They shouldn’t be viewed as infallible birth control, though, unless used in conjunction with other preventative measures.

Many people find it difficult to sustain this degree of devotion, particularly teenagers or those with irregular cycles.

Furthermore, the idea of “safe” days could give people a fictitious sense of security. Ovulation can be erratic, and sperm can remain in the female reproductive system for up to five days. Calendar-based forecasts may become dangerous due to this overlap if they are not accompanied by tangible indicators of fertility.

Before depending entirely on an app, couples who are actively attempting to avoid getting pregnant should speak with a gynaecologist or fertility specialist.

Although some medically approved apps can be used in conjunction with a contraceptive strategy, user consistency and biological factors play a major role in how well they work. Because calendar prediction apps don’t take into consideration the inherent fluctuation in cycles brought on by stress, illness, sleep patterns, or other lifestyle issues, they are less dependable. Their dependability may be diminished by any lack of discipline.

(Dr. Shikha Sardana, Consultant – Reproductive Medicine, Milann Fertility Hospital, Chandigarh)