Fertility apps are a convenient way to keep track of your cycle and monitor your fertility (for those trying to conceive). But as technology becomes more advanced, more and more women are using fertility apps to gain new insights into their health.
Finding out that you’re entering menopause can be a bit of a shock, but it’s much less surprising when you’ve been tracking your cycles for several years and notice a change.
Logging daily observations about your body can help you spot the signs of perimenopause that often go unnoticed or ignored—like sudden skin or hair quality changes or sleeping patterns. If you already have a regular doctor, you might want to bring your information from the app to their attention.
>> Best Apps for Positive Parenting
Talking about it may give them additional insight into what’s happening with you. Another benefit of tracking your cycle is knowing better when ovulation is approaching. This can help you get pregnant if you’re trying to conceive, or it can help inform your birth control choices if pregnancy isn’t on your mind. Knowing when ovulation is approaching could help you avoid an unwanted pregnancy if the latter is true.
Numerous fertility apps are free, simple to use, and usefully incorporate in-depth scientific studies on women’s cycles.
You enter your age, the first day of your most recent period, and the frequency of your periods when you first use a fertility app. From there, if you aren’t already pregnant, the app will determine when you are ovulating or are likely to be ovulating.
The device will then provide you with a daily reading that shows if you are fertile at any particular time. If it would be best for your partnership to forgo sexual activity altogether, this knowledge might help you arrange encounters with the best probability of leading to pregnancy.
>> The Best Co Parenting App for shared Parenting
The main thing to remember is that various applications are available, each with unique features and varying degrees of scientific accuracy. When selecting an app for yourself or someone else, recognize the type of data the person values the most.
Whether you’re trying to conceive, are currently pregnant, or want to keep track of your menstrual cycle, many apps can help. There’s no shortage of apps that help you chart your cycles, predict ovulation, and remember when to take your birth control pill. Here’s a list of some of the best fertility apps available:
The 6 Best Fertility Apps right now
| Fertility App | Cost | Features | Why We Chose It | Pros | Cons | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue | Basic version is free. Clue Plus is $5/month. | Period and fertility tracking, ovulation and fertility predictions, symptom and mood tracking, menstrual cycle analysis. | Best Overall | Easy-to-use interface, accurate predictions, personalized insights. | Some advanced features are only available with Clue Plus. | Clue is the most comprehensive and user-friendly fertility app with advanced features at an affordable cost. |
| Ovia | Free | Period and fertility tracking, ovulation and fertility predictions, symptom and mood tracking, personalized health insights. | Best Budget | Free and easy to use, detailed health insights, personalized daily tips. | Limited features compared to other apps, some bugs reported. | Ovia is the best free fertility app with a user-friendly interface and personalized health insights. |
| Glow | Basic version is free. Glow Premium is $60/year. | Period and fertility tracking, ovulation and fertility predictions, symptom and mood tracking, personalized health insights. | Best Flexibility | Highly customizable, personalized insights, easy-to-use interface. | Expensive compared to other apps, some bugs reported. | Glow is the best fertility app for users who want a highly customizable experience with personalized insights. |
| Period Tracker by GP Apps | Free or $10/month | Period and fertility tracking, ovulation and fertility predictions, symptom and mood tracking, menstrual cycle analysis. | Best Symptom Management | Easy-to-use interface, accurate predictions, customizable. | Some features are only available with a paid subscription. | Period Tracker by GP Apps is the best fertility app for users who want accurate symptom management and menstrual cycle analysis. |
| Natural Cycles | $90/year or $10/month | Ovulation and fertility predictions, menstrual cycle analysis, birth control assistance. | Best for Birth Control | Accurate fertility predictions, FDA-approved as a contraceptive. | Requires daily temperature readings, some bugs reported. | Natural Cycles is the best fertility app for users who want birth control assistance with highly accurate fertility predictions. |
| Flo | Basic version is free. Flo Premium is $50/year. | Period and fertility tracking, ovulation and fertility predictions, symptom and mood tracking, personalized health insights. | Best for Irregular Periods | Accurate cycle predictions, personalized insights. | Some bugs reported, the app can be slow at times. | Flo is the best fertility app for users with irregular periods, with accurate cycle predictions and personalized insights to improve fertility. |
1. Most comprehensive fertility app – Clue
Clue is an excellent app for those trying to conceive or already pregnant. It’s easy to use, has a straightforward interface, and makes it easy to track your cycle.
Why We Recommend It: Clue works with your fertility chart to help you understand what’s happening in your body and why. No two cycles are alike, making Clue’s tracking approach so effective. Instead of imposing rules, Clue gives you a safe place to explore your symptoms and learn the signs of ovulation. By learning to read your body, Clue helps you find the best time to get pregnant or prevent an unwanted pregnancy.
The science-driven algorithms can predict when you’ll ovulate and when your next period will arrive, and the comprehensive tracker lets you record all the details of your cycle, including symptoms like moods, feelings, pains, and weight. Clue comes with a free 14-day trial before requiring that you create an account with Facebook or Google; however, if you want to keep using the app after the trial ends, you’ll need to subscribe.
>> 5 Best Family Tracker Apps in 2023
Although reminders don’t always work for everyone (only about 60% of people who receive them get their tasks done), they can be helpful for some users in staying on top of their task lists. The only major issue We have with this app is that it can crash from time to time.
But its significant advantages over its competitors are that it’s intuitive and easy to use.
Also read: How private is your period-tracking app
When setting up Clue, you’re prompted to enter your daily information so the app can track your cycle. There are five stages in a regular cycle—follicular, ovulation, luteal, pre-period, and menstruation—and each consists of at least one day. Along with these five stages, Clue also tracks and predicts fertility windows, fertile days (when you’re most likely to get pregnant), and productive window days (when you’re most likely to conceive). The interface is clean and easy to read—the main screen gives you a daily breakdown of your body’s stage and how long until your next period starts. You can customize each stage’s colors and choose which notifications you want to receive.
The best thing about this app is that it helps you see your body’s natural rhythms intelligently— for conception to happen naturally, there must be a healthy balance between estrogen and progesterone hormones.
2. Ovia – Best free fertility app
[smartslider3 alias=”ovia”]
Why We Recommend It: We’ve heard some good things about Ovia, an app that promises to automate much of what the old system required with almost no learning curve. We’re intrigued by its fertility window prediction feature: using data from other users’ experiences, it can estimate where you’ll be in your cycle when you have a greater chance of getting pregnant. It also boasts tons of charts and data visualizations for symptoms indicative of fertility throughout every phase of your cycle (although, as someone who already knows how her body works, I may get rid of most of those).
A general fertility window prediction is based on the 24 hours a woman’s body is most likely to release an egg. Ovia’s days are divided into three periods: high-risk, medium risk, and low risk. The cycle in which these three days occur shifts every month—for example, the high-risk days in one month would be the medium-risk days the next month, followed by low-risk days. This way, there is no confusion about which day of your cycle is which (and thus how long your actual fertility window is).
The way Ovia is designed makes it easy for people who aren’t trying to get pregnant to use it, too—it’s just as good at charting periods as tracking fertility information. It’s information-rich without being overwhelming; all the info is there if you want it, but if you’d prefer less detail, you can hide any unwanted tabs from view in the app menu.
>> 8 Best GPS tracker for Kids
In addition to its apparent reproductive health benefits, Ovia is also great for anyone trying to keep track of their overall health and wellness. Check off boxes for your recent eating habits, measurements, and any other notes about your feelings, and then let the app take care of the rest.
The main screen shows how many days it takes until ovulation begins. You can also see how many days since your last period started and how many days until your next period begins. If any data is missing (like if you haven’t had sex yet after giving birth), those entries will also be blank.
3. Glow
Why We Recommend It: For those looking to get pregnant or trying to conceive, Glow offers one of the most comprehensive fertility trackers we’ve used. The app recommends an average of two to three cycles before it starts predicting when you’ll become pregnant, but once it does, it’s remarkably accurate—it predicted my wife would get pregnant (and she did) about four months ahead of time. The predictions are calculated based on daily entries about your menstrual cycle and symptoms like cramping and mood swings, which helps determine the best time for conception.
At first glance, Glow may seem a bit overwhelming, with its multiple apps and the other things it offers. It tracks everything from the apparent (your cycle) to the slightly less intuitive (ovulation and pregnancy tests) to things that don’t apply to everyone (menstrual symptoms). There are also different apps for different stages: glow Nurture tracks your baby’s development in utero, Glow First Tracks your first months with an infant, and glow Wellness helps you stay healthy between pregnancies.
Glow offers a suite of apps that helps women track their cycles at every stage of life—from pre-puberty through menopause. The app is free to download, and after answering some quick questions, it estimates when you’ll ovulate, when your next period will start, and what symptoms you might experience during that time. It also tracks other information about your body, like weight, mood, and sleep patterns.
The app was straightforward to learn, and its tips—like the idea that drinking water can help regulate your cycle—were constructive. It was also amusing comparing our stats with other Glow users’ stats and seeing how my body had changed over time. I loved that it was personalized enough for me to see clear trends in my cycle, like knowing exactly when I ovulated after only a few months of tracking my cycle on Glow.
4. Period Tracker by GP Apps
Why We Recommend It: It’s an attractive app with a simple, easy-to-navigate interface that lets us keep track of PMS symptoms and helps us predict our next fertile window to plan accordingly if we’re trying to get pregnant.
There are many period-tracking apps out there, but we were drawn to one with the most options and the easiest to use. Period Tracker by GP Apps is an easy-to-navigate app that takes the guesswork out of your monthly flow. Where other apps seem to be geared towards teenagers, this app has more of a female adult aesthetic and feel—a refreshing change when so much of the “fertility awareness” world seems to be aimed at chicks in their teens and twenties. It’s free and offers a range of features that make your cycle easier to track and predict.
For example, It tracks PMS symptoms, including moods, acne levels, energy levels, headaches, appetite changes, backaches, bloating, cramps, breast tenderness, and cravings. All you have to do is tap on one of these symptoms when you experience it—the app does the rest! The daily tracking feature allows you to log how you’ve felt each day throughout the month. This comes in handy when trying to figure out why you’re feeling a certain way or how different foods or activities may affect your overall mood or body.
5. Natural Cycles
Why We Recommend It: We’re always looking for more effective, convenient ways to prevent pregnancy, and Natural Cycles is an app that’s getting great reviews from women who’ve used it. It uses fertility awareness and takes your temperature every morning to provide a natural, hormone-free option. Some of the things we love about Natural Cycles:
Intuitive period tracker: The app provides a calendar that helps you track your menstrual cycles and keeps your moods in mind during high-stress times.
Basal body thermometer with the subscription: You need this thermometer to get the full benefit of the app. This thermometer gives more accurate readings than a normal one, so you can pinpoint ovulation and predict when you’ll be fertile.
Levitt’s class gets right to what helps anxiety: With our busy schedules, it’s easy to let stress take over our lives. Levitt’s class focuses on mindfulness techniques to help us calm down and take control of our emotions. His exercise videos teach breathing techniques and yoga poses to help us learn how to relax when we feel overwhelmed.
Fertile/not fertile days noted: A line across the app indicates this.
The smartphone app is easy to use (though it might take some practice), with a simple calendar that allows you to mark periods, fertile days, symptoms, and moods as they come up. It also provides helpful insights about your fertility pattern and sends notifications about when to use protection or abstain from sex if you’re in the “red zone”—the three days before ovulation when there’s a risk of getting pregnant.
The longer you use the app, the better it gets at predicting your different cycles, which is helpful when you don’t have much to compare it to yet.
6. Flo
Why We Recommend It: The app uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help women predict their fertility and manage their menstrual cycles. Overall, we found the app to be useful and easy to use, but it’s not perfect.
Flo’s AI technology uses historical data from users’ cycles to predict future periods. Because our cycles are irregular, this was a great feature for us. We were able to track our cycle and see when various symptoms occur efficiently—but it only works if you input symptoms manually. If you forget to do this one day or two, you could lose an entire day’s worth of information on what your body did.
It helps when you remember to fill in the little boxes daily. Also, if you take a lot of medications or vitamins or have irregular exercise habits, those things will affect how Flo predicts your cycle. We had some trouble with the reminders not working on time while we were using the app, but this might be because we weren’t using it ideally.
The only problem I’ve encountered with the app is that occasionally the reminders stop working, but this isn’t a huge deal if you’re diligent about checking on your own or using an alternative method like the fertility calculator on their website or a cheap basal thermometer.
The tracking function of the app is reasonably simple: each day, you are asked questions about your symptoms, mood, sleep, and desires. Instead of just saying “today” or “this week,” the application uses this information to produce a fertility estimate for that day, giving you a more accurate schedule. This feature was helpful since it freed us from relying solely on our assessment of when we should have sex to conceive and instead let us utilize Flo’s predictions as a guide. The app also notifies you if your cycle has altered recently, such as when you experience spotting or bleeding between periods or after engaging in sexual activity.
What do you use a period tracker app for?
You’ve probably heard of the period tracker app Clue and seen ads for the period tracker app Daysy. These app calculators tell you when to expect your next period based on how frequently you track your periods. Why would I need this? Tracking your periods can be an excellent way to get a sense of what’s going on with your body, whether just a general awareness of your cycles or something more severe like wanting to conceive.
Tracking down the reasons for irregular periods may have you consulting a doctor. One month is consistently heavy, and another is light. Is it possible you’re pregnant? Or you might be experiencing polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) issues. Perhaps your cycle is erratic, and you can’t figure out why—it could be thyroid related or caused by stress or anxiety. Tracking can help lead you to answers about what’s happening in your body, but it can also be helpful for simply understanding what’s normal for you. If you want to check in with yourself and know where you’re at regarding bodily changes, period-tracking apps are a great way.
Many apps let you add details to your information, like if you have endometriosis or are breastfeeding, so you can learn more about your cycle. It also has a mood tracker that lets you know when your mood may be affected by PMS, so you know what motivates you at any given moment. Many of them also have fertility tracking features, which can help you figure out your ovulation day and maximize the likelihood of getting pregnant.
In addition to the obvious stuff like being able to input your cycle and predict when your period will come, We love how these apps keep you organized. They make it super easy to scroll back and see what your past cycles were like—I use mine for everything from figuring out my average cycle length to ensuring I don’t miss that time of the month. And if you can’t remember when you had sex or started a new pack of birth control pills, it’s easy to look at the calendar in the app and get a quick overview of everything going on with your reproductive system at any given time.
We’ve also noticed that these apps help me keep track of how much caffeine drinking—that’s huge for me because caffeine is our drug of choice, and I drink way too much of it if m not careful! Some apps even let you customize your daily caffeine limit, so it’s easy to stay within your threshold.
Do period tracking apps work? Are period tracker apps accurate?
Period tracking apps are an interesting phenomenon. They’re helpful for those who have irregular cycles, people who want to avoid pregnancy, and anyone interested in learning more about their reproductive health. But just how good are they at tracking your period?
They’re also easier to use than natural family planning methods that use paper calendars and calculations to predict ovulation. But while they can help you track your cycle, they’re not as effective as other birth control methods to avoid getting pregnant. Research suggests that some apps may be about 93% effective. When it comes down to it, these apps are just another way of tracking your menstrual cycle, but there’s no 100% guarantee that these apps will work for everyone who’s using them.
In the case of Natural Cycles, a lot depends on whether it’s being used as contraception. Natural Cycles were recently found to be 93% effective at preventing pregnancy when used correctly. When used as contraception, that number came out at 98%.
Here are some other examples from popular period tracking apps:
- Clue: 92% effective with typical use, 97% effective with perfect use.
- Flo: 91% effective with typical use and 97% effective with perfect use.
- M fertility: 91% effective with typical use and 95% effective with perfect use.
If you’re looking for something that offers some information on your cycle or will help predict your fertile window better than a calendar method can, period trackers might work well for you—as long as they’re used correctly.
Who Uses Fertility Apps?
Fertility apps are a helpful tool for most women when you consider that the typical woman has her period for 30 years of her life and that the majority of women will have at least one pregnancy in their lifetimes. Women who use fertility apps do so to understand their menstrual cycle patterns or to keep track of their cycles so they can determine when they are fertile (or infertile). Menopause and PMS are common among women who use fertility apps, and keeping track of their cycles on a calendar can help them figure out whether these symptoms are specifically related to their reproductive health.
Yet utilizing a fertility app can be advantageous for anyone who menstruates. Men don’t suffer the same hormonal swings as women, so tracking their cycles may not be realistic for them, but it is still possible to enter information pertinent to them. You can enter details like whether you were ill, bloated, or stressed out from work that day, which may impact your ovulation date. Men who desire to become pregnant should also track when they ejaculate and how long after sexual activity the sperm remains viable inside the vagina because these details can affect the likelihood of conception.
