App to identify fertile days as effective as pill

A fertility app for smartphones that analyses a woman’s temperature and ovulation tests in order to identify fertile days is as effective a contraceptive as the pill, according to new clinical research.

The Natural Cycles app creates an algorithm based on a woman’s temperature when taken each morning to build a data plan of fertility — showing the days on which a woman could get pregnant. It then notifies users to take precautions on fertile days in order to avoid the risk of pregnancy.

Now, a clinical trial based in Sweden involving more than 4,000 women aged between 20 and 35 has found the app to be as effective as a form of birth control as the contraceptive pill.