Apps and devices that I recommend (and those that I don’t!)
It’s no secret that convenience rules our lives - everywhere you turn there is a gadget or an app marketed to make your life easier, more accurate and efficient.
This runs true in the Fertility Awareness space as well. There are countless devices and apps marketed to do the work for you and to make your life easier. But, do they work? Within this blog post I will detail some options that you have and what options are worth your time and money.
Devices/Apps that I recommend
Femometer Vina II
The Femometer is (in my humble opinion) the best thermometer option on the market at the moment. I use it, I love it. I could talk about it forever, but I’ll try and keep this as concise as possible.
The best features of the Femometer are:
Orange backlit screen (rather than blue light that can suppress melatonin) to see your temperatures
3 different temping times - fast (30 seconds), normal (1 minute) or mercury (3 minute). This is great because taking your temperature for 3 minutes often yields the most accurate results.
Stores 300 temperature readings
Adjustable beep times (very helpful if you share a bed with someone!)
An app that you can sync the thermometer to and get the temps later in the day
The downside - it can be rather difficult to get in Australia (but very easy to get in America!) especially with shipping delays at the moment. It’s also only available on Amazon - which is a deterrent for some.
Overall, it’s a brilliant piece of FemTech and I highly recommend it!
Read Your Body
Much like the Femometer, I could talk about Read Your Body for hours. I’m a true fan-girl of this app!
It’s an inclusive, fully customisable, no predictions, won’t sell your data to shitty companies, women run charting app and it’s chefs kiss good.
It works with different methods, you can chart any number of custom items (daily supplements, exercise, bowel movements, sleep hours, protein intake, amount of ice creams eaten and so on).
The screenshot below is an example of how a chart can look from Read Your Body.
Read Your Body is a paid app, but the cost is fairly small for what you get!
If you sign up to the app you get 30 days free as a trial period, and I also offer my clients 3 months free access to Ready Your Body when they work with me (which can be used in conjunction with the 30 days free!)
For more information on this epic app click here.
TempDrop
TempDrop is a wearable thermometer that is worn on the upper arm (between the bicep and tricep muscles) secured in place with an armband. It’s worn overnight and it takes your body temperature at several points while you sleep and gives you a temperature reading in the morning that you can then input into your chart.
TempDrop was initally designed for shift workers, new mums and those that suffer from insomnia. For folks that fall into these categories it is a fantastic option and makes the temperature component of some Fertility Awareness methods far more accessable.
TempDrop is an expensive thermometer and it is by no means the gold standard. If you have regular sleep patterns then you do not need a TempDrop to get good temperature data, it’s just an aid to make your life easier.
The only downside of TempDrop is that it can retrospectively change the last 2 temperatures recorded, meaning that some folks wait an additional 2 days to confirm that they have met their temperature rule. This can mean delaying confirming ovulation and being safe for unprotected sex. This is a significant delay for some and something that is taken into consideration when deciding if the device is right for them.
Devices/Apps that I do not recommend
Before I get into the devices that I wouldn’t recommend I would like to really highlight that there is a pretty big spectrum and some of these devices and apps fall on one end and are just not that great if avoiding pregnancy and some of them are on the other end and are downright terrible in general and should not be on the receiving end of your hard earned cash.
In saying that, if you use and like any of these devices in your Fertility Awareness practice then that is absolutely fine, just be aware of the risks that are involved with using them.
Oral Thermometers (Daysy, Natural Cycles)
Daysy/LadyComp
In 2019 a study that claimed Daysy was 99.4% effective was retracted from the Journal of Reproductive Health due to “grave methodical flaws that inflated consumer confidence”. To read the issues that were presented click here. Note - the study wasn’t a clinical trial, like they marketed it to be. It was basically a customer survey (huge red flag!)
Daysy is marketed a lot on Instagram by influencers, that seems really strange to me.
I’ve seen first hand the Daysy device give green (safe for unprotected sex) days while the user had cervical mucus (fertile window open) and only two days away from a temperature shift - that is prime conception time.
They openly state on their website that they are a fertility tracker, and not a contraceptive option.
Natural Cycles
Natural Cycles is an app created by a Swedish couple that is marketed as a “digital contraceptive”
It’s also heavily marketed by Instagram Influencers (this irks me a lot)
Natural Cycles founder, Elina Berglund, has stated that the ideal user of Natural Cycles is “is a woman in a stable relationship who is planning to have children at some point, and who would like a break from hormonal contraception ahead of trying”. So then someone that is really wanting to avoid pregnancy should not use this device.
Natural Cycles researcher, Kristina Gemzell Danielsson, has said “it’s not a good option for women who absolutely want to avoid a pregnancy.” Nor does she think it is a suitable for anyone that “an irregular lifestyle” (disrupted sleep, alcohol and drug consumption, travel, times of increased stress) or anyone that has irregular menstrual cycles.
The ‘research’ conducted by Natural Cycles is dodgy - it wasn’t a clinical trail, but rather a user survey. All other research has been funded directly by Natural Cycles. There’s no independent, scientifically validated research available on the effectiveness.
Both of these apps don’t teach the user modern Fertility Awareness, or how to understand their cycles. They’re just a digital version of a Temperature only Fertility Awareness method that was popular in the 1940’s but fell out of favour when people kept getting pregnant (unsurprisingly) and were replaced by Sympto-thermal methods.
Despite the above points, there is still something that makes these options even more unsuitable. Both of the above devices ONLY use temperature values to determine your fertile window and ovulation prediction days.
Why is this a big deal?
There’s two reasons:
Temperature is a retrospective indicator of ovulation. Which means that you temperature rises after ovulation has occurred. There is nothing about your basal body temperature that indicates that ovulation is approaching and regardless of how much data you have and how many cycles you have charted with these devices - it is impossible to predict ovulation. Ovulation is a variable hormonal event, and it can change for any reason, without warning (which is why cervical mucus is so important!)
Cervical mucus is the queen of the menstrual cycle. The only way to know when your fertile window has opened is by the presence of cervical mucus. To omit this data so blatantly and to then advertise on social media platforms that cervical mucus is “too hard/nuanced/complex for women and people who menstruate to learn” is nothing more than a lie.
If you are seriously avoiding pregnancy you would be far better off investing in working with an educator, learning an actual Fertility Awareness method and having the skill and knowledge for life.
These companies are unethical, they lie to their consumers and they silence/block/delete comments from those that question their statements online. Their devices are expensive and honestly, they aren’t worth your time or investment.
Wearable Thermometers (Ava Bracelet, Oura Ring)
From the outset it is important to note that distal temperatures are not accurate enough for correct basal body tracking especially if you are avoiding pregnancy.
Ava Bracelet
Openly state that they are not a contraceptive device, only use if trying to concieve.
Measures skin temperature, rather than basal body temperature, which is unsuitable for Fertility Awareness.
Uses an algorithm to ‘predict’ ovulation (as you now know, it’s impossible to predict ovulation!)
Oura Ring
The company has partnered with Natural Cycles (see above)
Little to no independent, scientific data on the rings effectiveness, just claims from the company
Period Tracking Apps (Clue, Flo)
Where do I start with these!
If you want an app that you can use to input the dates of your period into then this is a great option. Beyond that - these apps are effectively a digital version of the Rhythm Method and are useless from a contraception and conception point of view.
The Rhythm Method was popular in the 1930’s and was based on the principle that everyone had a 28 day cycle and ovulated on day 14. This is true for a really small percentage of the population. If you don’t fall into this small group, then these apps will be extremely unreliable.
I hope this blog post has been helpful! I am a real big believer in informed consent, so I hope by reading this you have more information to allow you to make fully informed decisions with your charting and contraception.
If you want to learn Fertility Awareness and be able to chart your cycles with confidence I can help you! I teach women & people who menstruate how to chart their cycles and learn a valuable skill for life. For more information click here.