Gynae in your cell - Tracking periods on a handheld device
How many phone numbers, birthdays, and doctors’ appointments do you remember? We are so completely surrounded by numbers these days that we tend to forget a lot of them. Most of us use a birthday app to make sure we do not miss out on birthdays. While we have apps for birthdays, contacts, for tracking our cars performance; what is stopping us women from using apps to track our periods?
Today, all it takes is a tap on your touch pad and your handheld device will track your ovulation, menstrual flow (and variations in it), birth control, pregnancy, moods and symptoms. Based on the previous month’s data, these apps can even calculate the date of your next period.
We spoke with John Paul, Founder of Lovecycles, to know more about apps on menstruation and given that there are so many apps in the market doing almost the same things why did they develop another app to track menses. According to John, though there are many apps in the market what makes their app different is that they have tried to give a great user experience.
“Tracking of periods is a private affair and to ensure that we did not make it a digital or inanimate experience we avoided using the words period, tracker, menstruation etc. So we went ahead with the name Lovecycles,” he says.
Remember that it is essential to track your menses not just because you are planning to conceive or stay on the pill; tracking your flow is essential even for ensuring your general well being. An irregular cycle may not be related only to reproductive health trouble but could also indicate other health issues like diabetes, thyroid, hormones etc. Dr. Kavitha Reddy, Bangalore-based OBGYN, says, “It is essential for all women between the ages of 16-17 to 40-50 to track their menses as a change in menstruation cycle or irregular menstruation can be indicative of health issues.”
So here is a list of apps for you to choose from; take your pick!
Period Tracker– Tap the button on the day you get your periods and this app logs the date and calculates average from the last three months data to predict the date of the next period. It allows you to view ovulation and fertile days, moods and symptoms in a simple month-view calendar format. You can view the number of days until your next period or track the delay by the number of days. With 10 million plus downloads, this app was created in 200X by GP International LLC.
Period Calendar– Like other apps it logs dates and tracks ovulation. It also tracks cervical mucus and fertility; and keeps track of fitness, weight and irregular periods. The number of moods and symptoms listed here are more than most apps. Given it has a ten million plus download, it could have had a pregnancy tracker and birth control section. The app has been developed by ABISHKKING.
Lovecycles –This is a relatively new app in the market. Developed by Plackal Tech, it has more than five million downloads. It allows for log of love, weight and temperature along with moods and symptoms. The app has been built keeping user experience in mind. The USP is its design; women using the app love the experience.
My Days- Period & Ovulation– Developed by Christian Albert Mueller, this app has five million plus downloads. It tracks periods and ovulation and allows you to add personal information regarding birth control, intercourse, pills etc. It has customizable colours too.
Woman Log Calendar– It has a fertility and menstrual calendar for women. It has weight tracking, symptoms, pill and pregnancy mode and allows you to track multiple calendars. All the main functions are accessible via the calendar. It has five million plus downloads and its developers are Pro Active App.
Ovulation and Period Calendar– Vipos Apps has created this app. It tracks and predicts menstrual cycle days. It has period, ovulation and medical exam reminders and allows you to share menstrual calendar data with your doctor or partner; a feature most apps don’t have. It also has an ovulation calculator with a cervical mucus tracker. It has one million plus downloads.