New Fertility App Functions Like Contraceptive Pill: Is It Effective?

Fertility application Natural Cycles promises the same efficiency as a contraceptive pill and assures users that there will be no side effects. This new technology hopes to compete with the traditional pill to avoid being pregnant.

According to Telegraph, this application can tell the fertile period of a woman using her body temperature measurements which are daily monitored and inputted on the app. It explained that the technology can tell when women will ovulate.

Discussing Natural Cycles, the same report said that it will identify red and green days for a woman. Green days mean sex is OK while red ones is an indicator that it should be avoided.

A research on how useful the application is revealed that it is as effective as a contraceptive pill in trying to prevent pregnancies among more than 4,000 women in Sweden. Metro said Natural Cycles had similar scores as the pill on the Pearl Index which measures the effectiveness of birth control methods.

The good thing about this app is that it does not cause nausea, vomiting, headache, weight gain and mood changes like oral pills. Telegraph said 3.5 million women in the United Kingdom have experienced decreased libido and depression since they started on contraceptive pills. Natural Cycles now promises a "liberating way" for women to control pregnancies.

Elina Berglund, one of the creators of the app, said that mobile tech is the way to go for healthcare nowadays. "We are excited to be leading the way and creating a future where every pregnancy is wanted."

"Natural Cycles uses data instead of chemicals to prevent pregnancies thereby allowing women to educate and empower themselves and take control of their fertility," she said. Berglund noted that birth control is about knowing one's body and not alter with hormones which can be harmful to the bodies of women.