Don’t want to get pregnant? There’s an app for that…apparently.
So, you might have seen advertising for Natural Cycle lately, it’s an app that prevents pregnancy. Sound perfect, right? No pills, no extra hormones, no doctors visits. But all might not be what it seems as reports that the app is getting investigated, despite the fact it is now FDA approved.
Now, I’ve seen a lot of influencers talking about this and, personally, it was never something I was going to jump into. I know there’s science behind it but it just seems very risky. Hannah Witton did a very good video, explaining that there are a lot of different variables and it wasn’t for everyone.
Natural fertility cycling is something that’s been done for centuries, it’s not a new thing. This, however, has an app to track your data, learn your body and tell you when you can have sex without the risk of pregnancy. It can also be used to get pregnant.
For it to work you need to:
- Take your temperature at the same time every day
- Not drink alcohol (this will impact the reading)
- Be healthy
- Not be Jetlagged
- Not have woken up 2 hours later than usual or had a bad nights sleep
All of these variables scream accidental pregnancy to me.
Do I like having to rely on hormonal contraception? Not really. Do I wish there was a male equivalent to the pill or implant? Yes, yes I do but that’s a whole other blog topic. For me though, taking the risk of getting pregnant right now isn’t something I want to play with.
I want to have children and I plan to, particularly after the trouble I had a few months ago. That said, accidents happen and they can be the best. I was a happy accident. I just want to do everything in my power to make sure I’m in a good position to have children and, right now, I want to focus on myself and my work. No risks where possible.
What do you think? Would you use an app like Natural Cycle? Let me know in the comments below!
Chloe Metzger 
I am using an app to track my periods. I came off contraception in January. The husband and I have been trying to get on the property ladder, and as soon as we exchange contracts we will start trying to get pregnant. Therefore I wanted my body to be ready to go as soon as we were. That’s why I came off the pill in January.
We don’t use any form of contraception, except a combination of not having penetrative sex on my most fertile days, and the withdrawal method. It has been 8 months and working for us so far.
Would I use this method in a new relationship? NO!
Would I use this method if I definitely didn’t want to get pregnant at all?
NO!
But, I’m married, I’m 29 and my husband and I have agreed if our method failed and we got pregnant we would be happy. But we aren’t going to actively try until we have the keys for our own home.
So in our case an app that’s monitors my cycle and tells me my most fertile days so I can avoid penetrative sex on those days, plus using withdrawal when we do have penetrative sex works for us.
I don’t do temperature readings. The app I use just calculates based on when my periods are, which is less accurate but I’m okay with it.
LikeLike
I agree with you, 100%! At best, I’d use it alongside other methods, but I’d never, ever rely on this alone. It shocks me that others do, even though it’s been portrayed as “safe”, it’s an app, and it has limits.
LikeLike