If you’re one of the millions of women relying on a fertility app to track your cycle, you might want to reconsider.
A new study out of Georgetown University’s School of Medicine has analysed over 95 of the most popular cycle trackers and found that the majority of them are unreliable when it comes to birth control.
Over 50 of the more popular downloads for women’s fertility were discounted after researchers found that they included disclaimers which advised users not to rely on the app as means of preventing pregnancy – 10 of the apps did not attempt to predict a women’s most fertile days.
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Using the remaining 30 apps researchers entered seven cycles worth of information into the data fields. This information was sourced from real women and included things like changes to cervical fluid and basal body temperature, both of which are strong indicators of impending ovulation. The team also included urinalysis results which tested for changes in LZ, a hormone which is responsible for releasing a mature egg from the ovary.
Ovulation tracking involves a women noting changes to her cervical fluid. As she gets closer to ovulation cervical fluid becomes thicker and resembles an egg white consistency. This makes it easy for the sperm to travel to meet the egg. Measuring basal body temperature is also used which spikes just before the egg is released. The hormone LZ also spikes 24 to 36 hours before an egg is released, making this a women's most fertile time for conception.
Alarmingly only six of the included apps in the study were accurate when it came to predicting a women's most fertile days with the best performers being Ovulation Mentor, Sympto.org and iCycleBeads.
The information is not only interesting from a birth control point of view but is also important for those relying on mobile apps in an attempt to get pregnant, a tool professionals are seeing more and more women using.
Dr Marguerite Duane, a family physician and Associate Professor at Georgetown does state that her study however did not look specifically at women using fertility apps to get pregnant, rather those who use them predominantly as means of birth control. She says that in order to assess pregnancy resulting from use of mobile apps, further research and data is required.
The results have prompted researchers to remind people of technology's downfalls, especially when it comes to our health and say that the apps currently in use should not be relied on 100 per cent for pregnancy prevention.
“We have this inherent trust that the more technological it is, the better it is,” she told Mother Jones.
“So if it failed and a woman became pregnant, she would blame the method, not the app.”
The facts, on fertility.
Top Comments
I used apps to track ovulation conceived twice within the first month of trying. I also used apps to avoid pregnancy and conceived within 3 months of avoiding pregnancy. Baby no#3 is due in 7 weeks.
Eek! I'm TTC and have been using Ovia (app). 8 months in, no baby. I'm actually using the app to store data rather than try and predict ovulation (the Ovulation kit does that.. right?). I'm exhausted. Waking at 6.30am every morning to take Basal Body Temperature, peeing on a stick around the time of ovulation, I haven't really checked the fertile mucus - no clear pattern for me.
I found the key was to STOP everything. Stop tracking, stop measuring, stop stressing. I was using Ovia and although it was great, I even went to the lengths of deleting the app. And what do you know... the month I did all that, we conceived! It can be all too easy to let it consume you and if it is in your thoughts every minute of every day, you'll end up stressing yourself out. Best of luck to you! X
I used the Glow app to avoid conception from August last year to April this year. We used no contraception whatsoever. We just used withdrawal on the estimated fertile days.
Then in April I started using the ClearBlue digital ovulation prediction kit (from advice off a top ob-gyn) to get to understand my body better, as from May we were ready TTC. It is the only one measuring 2 key hormones, including your LH surge. It is pretty accurate.
At that point, I found the app helpful data-wise, but I learnt that it was off in accurately predicting my ovulation. I was ovulating early (around day 10) and the app was saying it was 4-5 days later.
In reality, the fertile window is 2-3 days maximum. It helps to pinpoint it. I tested from day 7 of my cycle and was getting peak on the second test, day 8. In April, I was very surprised to get peak on my second test ever and wondered if that could be right. When I did the same in May and it happened again on a Friday morning, we were ready! We got busy Saturday morning, Sunday morning and Monday night - and that was all it ever took for us. Three days in the first cycle. Baby was very planned but the swiftness of it took us both by surprise, as I'm 36, never been pregnant & had had low AMH & AFC results, so it was expected to have been a long and arduous journey for us. But no!
I'll also tell you, due to those test results, I had been having weekly acupuncture for at least 3 months beforehand, plus taking the following supplements daily (I did a lot of reading and research to choose this combo):
Swisse Pregnancy + Ultivite, Co-enzyme Q10, Royal Jelly capsules, Omega 3 fish oils, Vitamin D3 + calcium, and zinc. I also tried to have 2-3 teaspoons of maca root powder or capsules most days, and had started drinking raspberry leaf tea.
I also increased my water intake a lot to help get the very important egg white CM - and it helped A LOT. It showed up on the Sunday and Monday after my peak test. When you see that, drop everything else and get very busy!
Oh and I did the basal body temp thing every morning for months late last year but it just seemed pointless. My app barely changed anything when I noted them. I think it's all in the Clearblue Digital OPK, and tracking your CM - when these two aspects are happening you can't mistake your window. Together, they're your best fertility window predictor - trust me! And good luck.
We tracked for 4 months using condoms on Ovia and the first month we actually TTC using the 4 month data we conceived. It depends on personal fertility and cycles... but a few people i know had a lot of luck with Ovia.