The popular app Clue, best known for its period tracking, is set to launch a new digital birth control app this year to help prevent women from unwanted pregnancy.
The app will calculate the window where someone is most likely to get pregnant based on statistical modeling.
The app will use the likes of the rhythm method to track menstrual history to predict when a woman will be ovulating, helping women and non-binary people who would like to conceive, as well as helping those who want to prevent pregnancy.
Clue states that its digital birth control app is 92 percent effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies, and 97 percent effective under perfect use.
The app has been proven to be side-effect-free, hormone-free, and FDA cleared.
The company is yet to reveal the cost of the app, but has said that it will be considered “premium.”
Adjustments have been made to Clue’s existing period tracker app, and the ovulation window has been removed from the period tracker, therefore making their new app more admirable and unique, compared to the original period tracker app.
The company stated that the ovulation window from the previous app was removed because it could be inaccurate. “We determined that it could be misleading to those who wish to use the fertile window to avoid pregnancy.”
The idea behind the digital birth control app is related to fertility awareness methods of birth control. For example where women track metrics such as the dates of their periods, their temperature, and changes to their cervical mucus to predict when they’re ovulating.
Where women previously had to track their temperatures or changes in their cervical mucus to help them best predict when they are most likely to become pregnant, the new digital app no longer requires all this info, making it much easier to use.
A major step up in the “ease of use” as the method means that women only have to input a single piece of data regularly, that being, the start date of their period.
The app is a good option for those who can’t or don’t want to use hormonal birth control or don’t want the hassle of other barrier methods.
Clue’s birth control app is targeted towards women between the age of 18 and 45 years old who have regular periods, but those who don’t instantly fit this demographic are still able to use the app to its full potential.
The app is less likely to work effectively for women with irregular periods, but there’s no harm in logging your periods and establishing the weeks throughout the month that you are ovulating (and therefore more fertile).
However, Clue states that no method of birth control, including this one, is 100 percent effective, so women should continue to be cautious when having sex.
When Clue birth control is used typically, 8 out of 100 people are expected to become pregnant within one year, a minuscule amount.
When used regularly and efficiently, only 3 out of 100 people are anticipated to become pregnant within a year.
For the app to work efficiently as contraception, users must either abstain from sex on high-risk days or use additional protection (i.e. condoms) to prevent pregnancy effectively.
The convenience of an app-based form of personalised contraception has quickly convinced a new generation of women to try an alternative.
Being on the digital birth control app, now means you can stop worrying about an unplanned pregnancy, and focus entirely on achieving an orgasm.