Natural Cycles Review: What to Know About This Birth Control App

There’s an app for almost everything these days, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that there’s also an app for birth control called Natural Cycles.

The fact that Natural Cycles was the first app-based birth control approved by the Food and Drug Administration may be more surprising (FDA).

Natural Cycles says that being cleared means it’s a real medical tool that can be used to stop pregnancy.

So, what is Natural Cycles, and how well does it work to stop women from getting pregnant? Here is what you need to know.

Read on to find out more about preventing pregnancies, how it works, how well it works, how much it costs, and more.

What is Natural Cycles?

This app is an alternative method of birth control for people who don’t want to use things like:

• medications
• hormonal effects
• intrauterine devices (IUDs)
• birth control implant

Natural Cycles tries to figure out when a person is fertile by using an algorithm based on their daily basal basal body temperature and menstrual cycle information.

The name for this kind of tracking is “fertility awareness.”

Fertility awareness is not a way of birth planning, of course.

If you know when you’re most fertile, you can either avoid penis-in-vagina sex or plan for a pregnancy by not doing it or by doing it anyway.

Most of the time, the most fertile time is a few days before or during ovulation.

The Natural Cycles app makes it easier to keep track of the fertility awareness strategy because it is digital and takes into account a lot of different things.

Overall, it’s probably best to think of the app as a useful tool that, if used regularly, can help you figure out when you’re most likely to get pregnant, rather than as a foolproof way to avoid getting pregnant. In the end, there is no surefire way to avoid getting pregnant besides not having sex.

How does it work?

Natural Cycles works by combining your basal temperature readings with information about your menstrual cycle to tell you when you’re likely to be fertile or not. So, the app will tell you in a clear way whether you’re fertile or not: green means you’re not fertile, and red means you are (red).

Research shows that basal temperature, which is a type of temperature taken after resting, can help figure out if a woman is ovulating.

There are, of course, some things that can change how this measuring system works. This is why taking the temperature every morning at the same time can help get a better idea.

On its website, the company says that the Natural Cycles app works 93 percent of the time with average use and 98 percent of the time with perfect use.

How to use Natural Cycles

To use the app, you have to download it and pay for it, then choose one of the plans:

• NC Birth Control (preventing pregnancy)
• NC Plan Pregnancy (finding fertile days)
• NC Follow Pregnancy (monitoring pregnancy)

Before you can start taking basal thermometer readings, the app needs to know about your menstrual cycle, so you’ll need to enter that information first.

You can start taking temperatures once you have your basal thermometer. The company sends a basal thermometer to people who sign up for a year, but monthly subscribers can buy their own at a drugstore.

Readings of the temperature must be done right away in the morning, while you’re still in bed and before you even go to the bathroom. Make sure you get at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep every night for an accurate reading. You’ll tell the app what the temperature is. You don’t have to enter your temperature on days when you might be sick and think your temperature went up because of it.

On the company’s website, it says that you don’t have to take your temperature every day, but doing so most mornings helps the algorithm learn more about your cycle.

Here, Natural Cycles starts to look at your data, like your temperature readings and information about your menstrual cycle. This is how the app lets you know which days are most likely to be fertile, with a clear red (fertile) or green (not fertile) signal (not fertile).

Your screen will either say “Not Fertile” in green or “Use Protection” in red, which means there’s a higher chance of getting pregnant on that day.

The app can also keep track of things like premenstrual syndrome(PMS), pain, changes in mood, and libido.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Research that the FDA has approved shows that it works.
• There are no side effects that can be used to stop or plan pregnancies.
• can keep track of things like a user’s PMS, libido, and mood changes. It can also tell when a user is sick and ignore this temperature so it doesn’t affect the data.

Cons

• It can be pricey and you have to be consistent with temperature readings and data entry for it to be accurate.
• It may take a few cycles before it can predict your fertile or non-fertile days with the most accuracy.

Customer reviews

On Trustpilot, a third-party review site, customers have given Natural Cycles an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars.

Reviewers who liked the app liked that it kept them from getting pregnant without using hormones. They also liked that the app helped them learn more about their bodies.

Reviews that aren’t as good as they could be mention unplanned pregnancies and problems with being charged an auto-renewal fee without notice or other subscription problems.

It’s also important to note that Natural Cycles got some bad press in the UK and Sweden in 2018. This happened when 37 users reported unwanted pregnancies.

Pricing

At the time Natural Cycles was written, it had two plans:

• annual: $89.99
• monthly: $9.99

If you want to try out Natural Cycles before paying for the service, you can download the app and use the free demo mode.

It can also be bought with money from a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or a Health Savings Account (HSA).

Natural Cycles vs. alternatives

There are many paid and free fertility apps out there.

At the moment, Natural Cycles is the only app for birth control that the FDA has given the green light to sell in the U.S. and Europe. And, unlike other apps, it uses information about you instead of general information. Even though the FDA has approved the Clue Birth Control app, it is not yet available in the United States.

For example, some apps use a 28-day cycle to figure out if a person is fertile. However, not everyone has a 28-day cycle.

Here are a few other apps like Natural Cycles:

• Flo: Flo is a free app that keeps track of your period, ovulation, and fertility. It looks like the app can also be used to log your basal body temperature, but this feature doesn’t get as much attention as Natural Cycles’ does.
• Clue: Clue is a free app that you can use to track your period and ovulation. With this app, you can also record your basal body temperature. Clue, too, has been FDA cleared.

If you want more options for birth control that don’t involve hormones, think about the following traditional methods:

• condoms
• diaphragms
• birth control sponges

Where to buy Natural Cycles

You can get Natural Cycles from the App Store if you have an iPhone. You can get Natural Cycles from Google Play if you have an Android.

On the brand’s website, you can buy any accessories you need for the app’s related services. Basal thermometers can be bought at most stores.

Frequently asked questions

Can Natural Cycles get ovulation wrong?

It’s important to note that no method of birth control, including apps, is 100% effective.

The Natural Cycles app has been approved by the FDA, though.

In 2015, a study looked at how well Natural Cycles worked for 317 women ages 18 to 39.

Researchers found that there were only 0.05 percent of days when the app was wrong about not being fertile.

This suggests that the app is a good way to prevent pregnancy without using hormones.

How long does it take for Natural Cycles to work?

You can download the app and enter your menstrual cycle information right away. Shortly after that, you can enter your basal temperature.

On its website, the company says that it can take between one and three periods for the algorithm to figure out what your cycle is like.

Does Natural Cycles really work?

Along with being approved by the FDA, the app has a good online reputation as a brand, as shown by its Trustpilot profile.

Some users have said that they got pregnant without wanting to after using the app. But the company says that you can only get the most accurate information about your fertility if you use it perfectly. This means getting the same readings every morning at the same time.

In general, there is no method of birth control that completely stops pregnancy.

Takeaway

Even though no form of birth control is 100% reliable, new technology like Natural Cycles and other fertility awareness apps can be a useful and effective way to avoid getting pregnant.

If you use the Natural Cycles app to help you make decisions about your health, remember that technology can only tell you when you will ovulate. It can’t give them a promise.

If you want a more traditional way to prevent pregnancy, you might want to talk to a doctor or nurse about your options.