As of 2018, an app called Natural Cycles has enabled women to track their temperature and menstrual cycle to know if they are fertile. During this time, the app usage process has not changed significantly. Every morning when you wake up you will be asked to take your temperature with a basal thermometer and record this data. And while Natural Cycles says it’s okay for users to miss a few days, the app is most effective as a method of birth control when someone is methodical. With typical use, the software prevents 93 percent of unwanted pregnancies, according to studies by the company.
Following a filing last fall, Natural Cycles received FDA approval for users to track their temperature with a wearable device, the startup told Fast Company. With the help of 40 women who used an Oura ring, the company found that their software was able to accurately predict when ovulation was about to occur. In fact, the wearable Natural Cycle helped better predict infertile days. The company said the approval makes it “the world’s first wearable birth control,” in a statement it told Engadget.
Currently, the feature is only available through an invitation-only beta, and the company announced to Fast Company that it does not currently have a schedule for when wearable support will be widely rolled out to its users. It is planned to first test a large number of different devices and work on their own first-party offer.
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