https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2018...ontrol-app
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Femtech, or female health technology, is going through a boom phase, with an estimated $1bn of investment raised worldwide in the last three years. Apps such as Clue, Dot, Glow and Spot On are all popular period trackers, but Natural Cycles is the only one certified as contraception. In 2017, it was approved for use across the EU, getting the green light from the German inspection and certification organisation, Tüv Süd.
How does it work? It comprises an app, an annual subscription of about £60, and a thermometer accurate to two decimal points (free in the post). You input your temperature as soon as you wake up, and the app makes predictions about your fertility each day: green for “go have unprotected sex”, red for “not unless you want a baby” (you can also use the app to plan a pregnancy). No hormones, no implant and, supposedly, no stress. It has its own language: users are known as “Cyclers”, and useful information is available via a “Cyclerpedia”. It seems as easy as ordering a takeaway or a taxi from your phone; of course there’s an app for fertility, too.
Natural Cycles has now registered more than 700,000 users from more than 200 countries, 125,000 of them in the UK. But its certification as contraception is under review in Sweden, where the company and its married co-founders are based. In January, a major Swedish hospital reported that 37 of the 668 women who had sought an abortion there between September and December 2017 were using Natural Cycles as their sole birth control, and the Medical Products Agency of Sweden began to investigate. Natural Cycles has responded that the number of pregnancies is proportional to the registered number of Swedish users and “in line with our expectations”; but as someone who didn’t report my own pregnancy last year, keeping it secret even from my parents, I wonder how many more there have been.
