A fertility app called Natural Cycles has become the first mobile app to be accepted as a form of contraception.
Launched in 2014, Natural Cycles works by tracking a woman’s Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and/or Luteinizing Hormone (LH) to work out when she is fertile.
Each morning, the user must take their temperature with a special thermometer and input the information into the app.
Based on this data, Natural Cycles will then tell the woman if she is having a “green day” or a “red day”.
A “green day” lets the user know that it is safe to have unprotected sex and a “red day” is used to inform her that she should either abstain from intercourse or use protection.
And the fertility platform Natural Cycles has now been named as a form of contraception by technical service organisation Tüv Süd, becoming the first app to do so.
Diana Mansour, VP of clinical quality for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FSRH), said: “Women who wish to use fertility awareness-based contraception are advised to receive guidance from a qualified teacher to learn how to effectively monitor the different indicators.
“Apps currently do not come with this teaching, leaving room for misunderstanding and inaccurate use.
“As well as requiring regular, consistent monitoring of fertility indicators, all fertility awareness-based contraceptive methods rely on women abstaining from sex or using condoms correctly during the fertile window.
“If women don’t follow these instructions perfectly, their risk of pregnancy greatly increases.”
Since its launch in 2014, Natural Cycles has grown its user base to an impressive 150,000+ members across 161 countries.
To find out more about Natural Cycles please click here.