Fertility Apps: Ovulation Detectors

Fertility Apps: Ovulation Detectors

Disclaimer: I am not being paid by any of the below apps or their competitors. However, I do use two of them on a regular basis.

For the final part in my Fertility Apps series, I'm going to talk about fertility apps that adjust your ovulation date based on your BBT. And though that seems odd, they are the apps that will show you when you actually ovulated rather than when you were supposed to. 

See, not every woman has an ovulation date exactly 14 days before their next period. An ovulation detector will help you figure out when that was. I only found 3 that change their date to match your BBT surge.

Natural Cycles
  • Cost - This is the only app I found that you can't actually use for free. They'll let you try it for 30 days and then you have to pay $11.99 CAD/month or $89.99/year to continue using it. It's for this reason that I don't have a complete concept of everything this app can do. I started using it during an anovulatory cycle, so I can't tell you everything about it.
  • Perks for paying - You get to use the app.
  • Interface - The most basic of the ovulation trackers. 
  • Entry Fields - It only asks for BBT, Menstruation, Intercourse, and LH tests.
  • Ease of Entry - Because of its basic fields, the entry method is quick and easy.
  • Best Thing - I don't have an answer for this based on the limited amount of time I used it.
  • Most Annoying thing - Not only do you have to pay for it, subscribing for a year nets you a Basal Body Thermometer, which you probably already own if you're using this.
  • Privacy/HIPAA - Their Privacy Policy states that they do store your data and that employees that work there may have access if you request support. However, they actually go into their firewalls and encryption software attempts to keep your data safe.
  • Overall - Natural Cycles seems more interested in helping you prevent pregnancy rather than helping you get pregnant, but one assumes, if it can prevent a pregnancy, it can cause one. They rate as a 7 on the Pearl Index which is a little higher than people using a diaphram. 
Ovacue/Ovagraph
  • Cost - Ovacue has the position of being one of the only apps on this list that has no "premium" plan. You get all of its functions for free. However, you can buy their fertility monitor for $299 USD. This sucker looks really cool, and I kind of wish I'd bought two years ago. It would have paid for itself by now.
  • Perks for payingIt takes all your measurements for you and it measures and records the conductivity of your Cervical Mucus.
  • Interface - Has all the typical basics and a few more you wouldn't always check, but always prioritizes the most used options at the top, so you don't have to go into all the rest if you don't want.
  • Entry Fields - Symptoms, moods, medications, supplements, and different fertility practices.
  • Ease of Entry - This is a little glitchy. If you scroll in the wrong way, you can accidentally select one of the medications. There have been a few times I've marked that I'm on Metformin when I am not.
  • Editing - The only app I've found that has a rapid entry option. If you login to their website, you can access a method that you can just enter your BBT and then go to the next day. Using the "Express Save" function, I entered my whole year of back BBTs into the system in less than an hour. Faster than any other app.
  • Ease to Read - There's a quick at-a-glance for each day, and you can access the chart really easily. However, it lacks a calendar view.
  • Best Thing - Express Save entry for fast entry of historical data is the best part of this app.
  • Most Annoying thing - When you click save inside the app, it takes 30-60 seconds to sync with the server. If you go to another app or move the phone wrong, it desynchronizes and causes duplicate data. A duplicate data scan takes about 5 minutes. If this app didn't have 2 years of data in it, I probably would have deleted it just for that.
  • Privacy/HIPAA - They don't have a specific Privacy Policy, but their Terms of Service does state, in part, "We will not sell or share any information that you provide to OvaGraph that personally identifies you."
    That doesn't mean they don't sell your information, they just don't identify you when they do.
  • Overall - This app is part of Fairhaven Health - the people who make Fertiliaid and who own the rights to Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It's pretty scientifically sound for that, but it definitely could use some updating. I would actually kill to have one of their fertility monitors to see how it works.
    Fertility Friend
    • Cost -  $13.99 CAD/month or $62.99 CAD/year
    • Perks for paying - You get the ability to, not only compare your fertility charts to one another, but to compare your charts to others' like them. You also get a "fertility status" that's a stoplight (red, yellow, green) and some other analytics tool.
    • Interface - Defaults to a calendar view that shows your expected fertile period and first day of your next period. Easily shows a very detailed-but-ugly chart.
    • Ease of Entry - The only weird part of entry is that it sets your BBT time for you and you have to change it manually. Otherwise, pretty typical.
    • Ease to Read - Both the calendar and the chart are very easy to read.
    • Best Thing - You know, there's not a lot that stands out as the "best" thing. It's a pretty good all-around app.
    • Most Annoying thing - This is petty and I know it: I hate, hate, hate the BBT chart look. It's just the ugliest thing, and they haven't changed it in over 10 years.
    • Privacy/HIPAA - Their Privacy Policy states that the reason that they charge for membership is so they don't have to pay for advertisers. They see this as giving your data to a third party. That's commendable. They do aggregate data for comparison, and there is some concern that you can compare your charts to someone else's.
    • Overall - Fertility Friend has been around for years. They started in 1998 and might be the first ever digital charting service. They're pretty much the gold standard for fertility data analysis. I just really wish they'd update their look.

    So, at the end of the day, my phone has both Ovacue and Fertility Friend. Some months, one will pick up my ovulation where the other won't. When that happens (it's only been 3 times in a year), it varies which one detects it. Also, given the forward steps they've made, I've reinstalled Glow to give it another chance.

    What fertility app do you use that you want my take on? Let me know!

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