Can you trust an app?
Apps have revolutionised fertility awareness. Tracking your cycle day and cycle length has never been so easy.
But be careful. Some of them fail to protect personal data, or give you a fertile window that only lasts a few days which is not how you avoid pregnancy.
Women can be fertile for as long as 9 days each cycle, and those days move around, especially if you're stressed, which means you need to use condoms or other precautions for at least 11 days a cycle.
What about Natural Cycles? The app that uses an algorithm to tell you when you're fertile.
Well, I appreciate lots of things about it. It's beautiful, simple to use, better than similar products, and very widely publicised. Women need options, but the effectiveness rate isn't as good as it could be.
The most effective approach is to follow NHS advice and learn how to interpret your own cycles if you want to use fertility awareness as contraception.
The only app I recommend is Read Your Body, which works like a paper chart. It helps you record your data so you can interpret it yourself.
This is probably easier than you think, and can be wonderfully liberating. A bit like learning to ride a bike.
It costs about £13 a year. Whether you follow NHS advice and get support or decide to learn on your own, I think it's a good option if paper charts aren't your thing.
Before you start, read Is fertility awareness right for you?
But be careful. Some of them fail to protect personal data, or give you a fertile window that only lasts a few days which is not how you avoid pregnancy.
Women can be fertile for as long as 9 days each cycle, and those days move around, especially if you're stressed, which means you need to use condoms or other precautions for at least 11 days a cycle.
What about Natural Cycles? The app that uses an algorithm to tell you when you're fertile.
Well, I appreciate lots of things about it. It's beautiful, simple to use, better than similar products, and very widely publicised. Women need options, but the effectiveness rate isn't as good as it could be.
The most effective approach is to follow NHS advice and learn how to interpret your own cycles if you want to use fertility awareness as contraception.
The only app I recommend is Read Your Body, which works like a paper chart. It helps you record your data so you can interpret it yourself.
This is probably easier than you think, and can be wonderfully liberating. A bit like learning to ride a bike.
It costs about £13 a year. Whether you follow NHS advice and get support or decide to learn on your own, I think it's a good option if paper charts aren't your thing.
Before you start, read Is fertility awareness right for you?