By Katie Faulkner
Need a reminder to take your birth control pill? Need a prompt to change your tampon? Want to track your ovulation, chart and rate your sexual activity, ask a medical expert for advice, or check out a forum about the latest and greatest contraceptives? There really is an app for that. These days, period tracking apps do so much more than generate predictive blood-drop icons on next month’s calendar. Check out this quick guide to find one that’s perfectly tailored to your needs!
Clue
Discrete and intelligent, this app is the master of menstruation. Sophisticated aesthetics deliver 31 ridiculously detailed biometric tracking options in numerous visual data formats. Record as much or as little as you like about symptoms and receive in-depth, analytical feedback. Multiple reminders are also available.
Glow
Trying to grow your family? Glow makes tracking ovulation and fertility a breeze and allows you to share information with your partner. Glow also offers advice and information for conception and pregnancy.
Eve
Sister app to Glow, Eve offers information on contraceptives courtesy of Bedsider (a birth control support network), and employs sly wit in the reminders and icons of its cycle tracker. This is the go-to app for busy, sexually active women who are avoiding pregnancy and maintaining their health.
Aunt Flo
This masterful app sends alerts before your period, on the day you’re supposed to start, and when you’re ovulating, taking the pressure off you to remember to input information. It also boasts a sleek, attractive design making it easy to read. Its cheeky language makes for a good laugh.
Kindara
More clinical than the average period tracking app, Kindara asks for highly technical information to be tracked, charted, and analyzed. Rather than logging symptoms like your mood or cramp severity, you enter information about your basal body temperature, cervical fluid, and more to achieve optimal ovulation and menstruation tracking.
Period Tracker Lite
While it doesn’t boast the same sophisticated design or discreetness that many of these other apps provide, it still gets the job done. With prompting questions it’s easy to remember to enter your start date, and there is the option of logging symptoms as well. However, any analytical feedback will require an upgrade.
Spot On
This app monitors your cycle, symptoms, and overall sexual health, giving you insights to trends and observations. It also allows you to note when you take your chosen method of birth control and sends alerts if you miss a day.
