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The most common forms of contraception include condoms and the Pill; whilst there are other contraceptives, these are often more finicky to deal with, and can also be invasive.
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Earlier this year, though, a natural fertility app which uses various algorithms to monitor female fertility became the first app to be officially approved for use as contraception. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the world’s first certified contraception software: the Natural Cycles app.
Natural Cycles, which has a database of over 100,000 paying users, was recently approved as a contraceptive device by German testing organisation Tüv Süd (one of the certification bodies employed by UK’s Department of Health to test the safety of new drugs and medical devices). In order to attain certification by Tüv Süd, the natural fertility app was required to be fully transparent about all of its operations – including but not limited to its app’s algorithms and designs, customer support, as well as various internal processes.
Apart from this, Natural Cycles also had to submit the results of a clinical trial consisting of data from over 4,000 women. Across the one year trial, the participants of the study had a total of 143 unplanned pregnancies; out of these, ten of them occurred on green days (these are the days in which the app has determined having unprotected sex to be “safe”). All in all, the natural fertility app attained a 99.5 per cent efficacy rating, making it as effective as the pill.
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Natural Cycles was conceived around the fact that women experience higher levels of progesterone during ovulation, which increases their body temperature by up to 0.45 degrees celsius. The premise behind the app is simple: users input their daily temperature into the natural fertility app, and the app compares these readings against those in its dataset to measure the user’s fertility.
The end result flashes on the app’s screen as either “Not fertile” (shown as a green day) or “Use protection” (shown as a red day). On red days, users will have to use some sort of contraception in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
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Behind the natural fertility app’s algorithm is Elina Berglund from the European Organization for Nuclear Research. According to Berglund, the algorithm arose out of her own need: “I wanted to give my body a break from the pill,” she says, “but I couldn’t find any good forms of natural birth control, so I wrote an algorithm for myself.”
Whilst Natural Cycles is now seen as a superior alternative to the pill (because it achieves the same success rates, but with no side effects such as nausea, mood swings, and weight gain), it nevertheless isn’t as failsafe as other methods of contraception. Experts recommend that those who are extremely keen on avoiding a pregnancy use other methods of contraception such as intrauterine contraception or implants (which are more than 99.9% effective in preventing pregnancy).
Fertility consultation with BeNatural’s fertility coach, Marie Otsuka
If you and your partner would like to learn more about conceiving, come down for a 45-minute consultation with Marie Otsuka, BeNatural’s fertility coach. In this session, Marie will seek to understand the couple’s situation, and offer insights she’s gained through her 10 years of experience in working with infertile Singaporeans. Slots are limited and on a first come first serve basis; contact us here to schedule an appointment!
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